Who are these "black-robed judges" with their "inquisitorial voices"?

Edgar Allan Poe’s short Horror story named The Pit and the Pendulum begins with the narrator being condemned to death. In the first paragraph, the one who pass verdict on him have the inquisitorial voice and are black robed judges. While in Paragraph 5, the narrator has come to his intellects sufficient to start reflecting upon his situation. He then references the two words again but it is not until paragraph 12 when he used the word ‘inquisition’. When the narrator refers to his abductors, he calls them inquisitorial judges/agents.