While the Spanish Inquisition had by far the worst record for corruption and malice and succeeded in spreading as far as Venice?, the Church in northern Europe was considerably more benign: the Inquisition was never instituted in England, and had little impact in the German and Scandinavian countries. The Inquisition was used against Protestants in the Netherlands during their war for independence from Spain.
See also Inquisition, the Medieval Inquisition and the Roman Inquisition.