There weren't hundreds of thousands of burnings. Historians point to 50,000-200,000 deaths TOTAL, including inquisitions and such - but not burnings; and THAT'S over a very large period of time. I'm pro-Middle Ages Progress. I'm a bit of a studier of Byzantium and Medieval studies... although I still have more to do there. I've been working slowly through Islamic philosophers a tiny bit too. There's SO MUCH MYTH taught in US schools about the period after the "fall of rome" and The Renaissance... that its ludicrously awful. I was taught crap. Had to relearn. That SAME CRAP is still being taught. Drives me mad. Leads people to erroneous conclusions.. and when I saw my favorite black science guy repeating REALLY BAD HISTORY on TV two years ago, I had to write him off as having anything legitimate to say about history. I hate when Salem, Inquisition, Gallileo, burning at the stake, witchcraft and Christianity are all mixed up. It plays with people's emotions.. and I don't like bad history.