One thing that strikes me when reading books about Martin Luther and his movement is his harsh anti catholicism propaganda. The pope was antichrist, the devil, and evil can be rightfully blamed and so on. Catholisism was banned for centuries in many protestant countries, and we know there were a lot of anti catholicism propaganda going on.
So the question is just how much? The inquisition doesnt seem to be anything special, considering "witches" and similars were being killed also in protestant countries.
/u/walkingtogetbetter
There were a lot of what was called leyenda negra (black legends), propaganda against Spain and her purported evils. A key part of this was, of course, about the Spanish Inquisition. First, there are a few posts 1, 2, 3, to help you get the context. Over time, even today, legends grew that claim the Spanish Inquisition was all-powerful and begat all sorts of conspiracies. Importantly, you have to distinguish between the Roman Inquisition and the Spanish Inquisition. Speaking of the latter, the eminent english-language scholar on this subject is Henry Kamen, who wrote books on the subject, periodically updated with new information and data. Here's a summary posted on the NYTimes a few years ago. Of course, it's far better to read the book(s) directly.