CHAPTER IX.

CONCLUSION.

Having thus considered with some fulness what the Inquisition

accomplished, directly and indirectly, it only remains for us to glance

at what it did not do.

The relations of the Greek Church to the Holy See would almost justify

the assumption that persecution of heresy, far from being a matter of

conscience, was one of expediency, to be enforced or disregarded as the

temporal interests of the papacy might dictate. The Greeks were not only

schismatics, but heretics, for, as St. Raymond of Pennaforte proved,

schism was heresy, as it violated the article of the creed "_unam

sanctam Catholicam ecclesiam_." We have repeatedly seen that to deny the

supremacy of Rome and to disregard its commands was heresy. Boniface

VIII., in the bull "_Unam sanctam_," proclaimed it to be an article of

faith, necessary to salvation, that every human creature is subject to

the Roman pontiff, and he especially includes the Greeks in this.

Besides this, there was the Procession of the Holy Ghost from both the

Father and the Son, in which Charlemagne forced Leo III. to modify the

Nicene symbol, and which the Greeks persistently refused to receive,

rendering them heretics on a doctrinal point assumed to be of the

greatest importance. Yet the Church, when it seemed desirable, could

always establish a _modus vivendi_, and exercise a prudent toleration

towards the Greek Church. It was thus in southern Italy, which had been

withdrawn from Rome and subjected to Constantinople in the eighth

century by Leo the Isaurian during the iconoclastic controversy. In 968

the Patriarch of Constantinople substituted the Greek for the Roman rite

in the churches of Apulia and Calabria, and though some resisted, most

of them submitted and retained it even after the conquest of Naples by

the Normans. Thus in the see of Rossano in 1092, when a Latin bishop was

introduced, the people recalcitrated and obtained from Duke Roger

permission to retain the Greek rite. This lasted until 1460, when the

Observantine Bishop Matteo succeeded in changing it to the Latin

rite.[662]

The Greek churches, which long continued to exist throughout the Slavic

and Majjar territories, were subjected to greater pressure, though it

was fitful and intermittent. In 1204 Andreas II. of Hungary applied to

Innocent III. to appoint Latin priors for the Greek monasteries in his

dominions. In the settlement of 1233, after the kingdom had been placed

under interdict, an oath was exacted of Bela IV. that he would compel

all his subjects to render obedience to the Roman Church, and Gregory

IX. forthwith summoned him to enforce his promise with regard to the

Wallachians, who were addicted to the Greek rite. In 1248 we find

Innocent IV. sending Dominicans to Albania to convert the Greeks, and it

would indicate that persuasion rather than force was relied upon, when

we see these missionaries empowered to grant the ecclesiastics

dispensation for all irregularities, including simony. A hundred years

later Clement VI. and Innocent VI. were more energetic, and ordered the

prelates of the Balkan Peninsula to drive out all schismatics, calling

in the aid of the secular arm if necessary. We have already seen how

fruitless were the efforts to exterminate the Cathari in these regions,

and that the only result of the effort to enforce uniformity of faith

was to facilitate the advance of the Turkish conquest.[663]

The possessions of the Crusaders in the Levant offered a more complex

problem. Although Innocent III. had protested against the conquest of

Constantinople in 1204, when it was successful he was ardent in his

recognition of the mysterious wisdom of God in thus overthrowing the

Greek heresy, and he took prompt action to secure the utmost advantage

to be expected from it. He ordered the crusaders to suspend all priests

ordained by Greek bishops, and to provide Latin priests for the churches

seized, taking care that their property was not dissipated. A hungry

horde of clerics speedily precipitated itself on the new possessions,

embarrassing those in charge, and Innocent, in answer to inquiries,

advised that only those who brought commendatious letters should be

allowed to officiate in public. Thus, in the Latin kingdoms of the East

a new hierarchy was imposed upon the churches, but the people were not

converted, and an embarrassing situation arose concerning which no

clearly defined policy could be preserved.[664]

Strictly speaking, all schismatics and heretics were under _ipso facto_

excommunication, but this could be disregarded if it was politic to do

so, as when, in 1244, Innocent IV., in sending Dominican missionaries to

the Greeks, Jacobines, Nestorians, and other heretics of the East, gave

full authority to participate with them in all the offices of religion.

Where the Greek churches were independent efforts were made to win them

over by persuasion and negotiation, as in the mission sent in 1233 by

Gregory IX. to Germanus, Patriarch of Nicæa, and in 1247 by Innocent IV.

to the Russians; but when these endeavors failed there was no hesitation

in resorting to force, and the disappointed Gregory preached a crusade

for the purpose of reducing the schismatics to obedience. So, in 1267,

when the measureless ambition of Charles of Anjou, inflamed by the

conquest of Naples, dreamed of reconquering Constantinople, his treaty

with the titular emperor, Baldwin II., recites the uniting of the

Eastern Empire with the Church of Rome as the impelling motive.

Charles's enterprise was postponed by the submission of Michael

Palæologus at the Council of Lyons in 1274, but this only stirred up

rebellion among his subjects; Michael Comnenus was placed at the head of

the party sustaining the national church, and war broke out in 1279.

Although Charles hastened to take advantage of this, the Sicilian

Vespers, in 1283, gave him ample occupation at home, and his projects

were, perforce, laid aside.[665]

In the territories subjected to Latin domination the conditions were

somewhat different. It was impossible to uproot the native Church, and

the two rites were necessarily permitted to coexist, with alternations

of tolerance and persecution, of persuasion and coercion. In 1303

Benedict XI., when ordering the Dominican prior of Hungary to send

missionaries to Albania and other provinces, speaks of the Latin

churches and monasteries in a manner to show that the two rites were

allowed side by side, and only intrusions of the Greeks were to be

resisted. Documents which chance to have been preserved concerning the

kingdom of Cyprus illustrate the perplexities of the situation and the

varying policy pursued. In 1216 Innocent III. reduced the bishoprics of

the island from fourteen to four--Nicosia, Famagosta, Limisso, and

Baffo--and provided in each a Greek and Latin bishop for the respective

rites, which was an admission of equality in orthodoxy. Forty years

later we find the Greek monasteries subjected to the Latin Archbishop of

Nicosia, and there seems to have been some ascendency claimed by the

Latin prelates, for in 1250 the Greek archbishop petitioned Innocent IV.

for permission to reconstitute the fourteen sees and consecrate bishops

to fill them; that they should all be independent of the Archbishop of

Nicosia, and that all Greeks and Syrians be subjected to them and not to

the Latins. This prayer was rejected. Alexander IV. gave an express

power of supervision to the Latin prelates, which naturally led to

quarrels, and at times the Greeks were treated as heretics by zealous

churchmen and by those whose authority was set at nought, as we learn

from some appeals to Boniface VIII. in 1295. John XXII. energetically

endeavored to extirpate certain heresies and heretical practices of the

Greeks, but seems to have allowed the regular observance of their rites.

Yet about the same time Bernard Gui, in his collection of inquisitorial

formulas, gives two forms of abjuration of the Greek errors and

reconciliation from the excommunication pronounced by the canons against

the schismatic Greeks, showing that the inquisitors of the West were

accustomed to lay hold of any unlucky Greek who might be found in the

Mediterranean ports of France. Their fate was doubtless the same in

Aragon, for Eymerich does not hesitate to qualify them as heretics. The

persecuting spirit grew, for about 1350 the Council of Nicosia, although

it allowed the four Greek bishops of Cyprus to remain, still ordered all

to be denounced as heretics who did not hold Rome to be the head of all

churches and the pope to be the earthly vicar of Christ, and in 1351 a

proclamation was issued ordering all Greeks to confess once a year to a

Latin priest and to take the sacrament according to the Latin rite. If

this was enforced, it must have provided the Inquisition with abundant

victims, for in 1407 Gregory XII. defined that any Greek who reverted to

schism after participating in orthodox sacraments was a relapsed, and he

ordered the inquisitor Elias Petit to punish him as such, calling in if

necessary the aid of the secular arm.[666]

The Venetians, when masters of Crete, endeavored to starve out the Greek

Church by forbidding any bishop of that rite to enter the island, and

any inhabitant to go to Constantinople for ordination. Yet, in 1373,

Gregory XI. learned with grief that a bishop had succeeded in landing,

and that ordination was constantly sought by Cretans in Constantinople.

He appealed to the Doge, Andrea Contareni, to have the wholesome laws

enforced, but to little purpose, for in 1375 he announced that nearly

all the inhabitants were schismatics, and that nearly all the cures were

in the hands of Greek priests, to whom he offered the alternative of

immediate conversion or ejection.[667]

Efforts so spasmodic were of course unavailing. So far from suppressing

the Greek Church it was found that many Catholics living in a schismatic

population became perverts. To this, in 1449, Nicholas V. called the

attention of the inquisitor of the Greek province, telling him that

although the Oriental rite was praiseworthy, it must be kept distinct

from the Latin, and that all such cases must be coerced, even if the

assistance of the secular arm was necessary. There was scant

encouragement for the Inquisition in those lands, however, for when, in

1490, Innocent VIII. appointed Frà Vincenzo de' Reboni as Inquisitor of

Cyprus, where there were many heretics, and ordered the Bishops of

Nicosia, Famagosta, and Baffo each to give him a prebend for his

support, there was so energetic a remonstrance from the prelates that

Innocent withdrew the demand. From all this it is evident that in its

relations with the Greek Church Rome was governed by policy; that it

could exercise toleration whenever the occasion demanded, and that the

Inquisition was practically quiescent in its dealings with these heretic

populations, although their heresy was of a dye so much deeper than that

of many sectaries who were ruthlessly exterminated.[668]

* * * * *

During the Middle Ages there were few greater pests of society than the

_quæstuarii_, or pardoners--the sellers of indulgences and pardons, who

wandered over the face of Europe with relics and commissions, with

brazen faces and stout lungs, vending exemptions from penance and

purgatory, and prospective admission to paradise; telling all manner of

lies, and at once disgracing the Church and impoverishing the credulous.

Sometimes they were the authorized agents of Rome or of a bishop of a

diocese; sometimes they farmed out a district for a fixed price or for a

portion of the spoils; sometimes they merely bought from the curia or a

local prelate the letters which authorized them to ply their trade.

Tetzel, who stirred the indignation of Luther to rebellion, was only a

representative of a horde of vagabonds who for centuries had fleeced the

populations and had done all in their power to render religion

contemptible in the eyes of thinking men. The Dominican Thomas of

Cantimpré bitterly compares the trifling sums which purchased salvation

from papal emissaries collecting funds for the Italian wars of the Holy

See with the endless labors and austerities of his brethren and of the

Franciscans--the sleepless vigils and the days spent in ministering to

the spiritual needs of fellow-creatures, without obtaining assured

pardon for their sins. The character of these peddlers of salvation is

summed up in a tract presented to the Council of Lyons in 1274 by

Umberto de' Romani, who had resigned the generalate of the Dominican

Order in 1263. He declares that they expose the Church to derision by

their lies and filthiness; they bribe the prelates and thus obtain what

privileges they want; the frauds of their letters of pardon are almost

incredible; they find a fruitful source of gain in false relics, and

though they collect large sums from the people, but little inures to the

ostensible objects for which the collections are made.[669]

These creatures were not to be reached by the ordinary jurisdiction, for

they either bore papal commissions or those of the bishop of the

diocese; their trade was too profitable to all parties to be suppressed,

and the only way of curbing their worst excesses seemed through the

Inquisition. Accordingly the Inquisition had hardly been fully organized

when Alexander IV. had recourse to it for this purpose, and included in

the powers conferred on inquisitors that of restraining the _quæstuarii_

and of forbidding their preaching. This was repeated by successive

popes; it came to be embodied in the canon law, and was customarily

included in the enumeration of duties recited in the commissions issued

to inquisitors. A tithe of the energy shown in hunting down Waldenses

and Spirituals would have effectually suppressed the worst features of

this shameful traffic, but that energy was wholly lacking. In all the

annals of the Inquisition I have met with but a single case, occurring

in 1289, when Berenger Pomilli was brought before the inquisitor

Guillaume de Saint-Seine. He was a married clerk of Narbonne, who stated

that for thirty years he had followed the trade of _quoestuarius_ in the

dioceses of Narbonne, Carcassonne, and elsewhere, collecting the alms of

the pious for the building of churches, bridges, and other objects. He

was wont to preach to the people during the celebration of mass, and

confessed to telling the most outrageous lies--that the cross which

Christ carried to the place of crucifixion was so heavy that it would be

a burden for ten men; that when the Virgin stood at the foot of the

cross it bent over so that she kissed the Saviour's hands and feet,

after which it arose again, and many fables concerning purgatory and the

liberation of souls--the latter, which were the real frauds of his

trade, being prudently suppressed in the official report of his

confession. A question as to his belief in these stories revealed to him

his danger, for to admit it would have been to stamp himself a heretic.

He humbly replied that he knew that he had been habitually uttering

lies, but he told them to move the hearts of his hearers to liberality,

and he at once begged to be penanced. What penance was awarded him does

not appear.[670]

That trials of this sort were rare is evident from the complaint of the

Council of Vienne, in 1311, that these vagabonds were in the habit of

granting plenary indulgences to those who made donations to the churches

which they represented, of dispensing from vows, of absolving for

perjury, homicide, and other crimes, of relieving their benefactors from

a portion of any penance assigned them, or the souls of their relations

from purgatory, and granting immediate admission to paradise. All this

was forbidden for the future, but the Inquisition was no longer relied

upon to coerce the pardoners to obedience; the bishops were ordered to

take the matter in hand and punish the evil-doers. They proved as

inefficient as might have been expected. The abuse continued until it

became the proximate cause of the Reformation, after which the Council

of Trent abolished the profession of pardoner, avowedly because it was

the occasion of great scandal among the faithful, and that all efforts

to reform it had proved useless.[671]

* * * * *

More important was the nonfeasance of the Inquisition with respect to

simony. This was the corroding cancer of the Church throughout the whole

of the Middle Ages--the source whence sprang almost all the evils with

which she afflicted Christendom. From the highest to the lowest, from

the pope to the humblest parish priest, the curse was universal. Those

who had only the sacraments to sell made a trade of them. Those whose

loftier position gave them command of benefices and preferment, of

dispensations and of justice, had no shame in offering their wares in

open market, and preferment thus obtained filled the Church with

mercenary and rapacious men whose sole object was to swell their purses

by extortion and to find enjoyment in ignoble vices. Berthold of

Ratisbon, about the middle of the thirteenth century, preaches that

simony is the worst of sins, worse than homicide, adultery, perjury, but

it now so crazes men that they think through it to serve God.[672]

Instinctively all eyes turned to the Holy See as the source and fountain

of all these evils. A quaint popular satire, current in the thirteenth

century, shows how keenly this was felt:

"Here beginneth the Gospel according to the silver Marks. In those

days the pope said to the Romans: When the Son of Man shall come to

the throne of our majesty, first say to him: Friend, why comest

thou? And if he continue to knock, giving you nothing, ye shall

cast him into outer darkness. And it came to pass that a certain

poor clerk came to the court of the lord pope and cried out,

saying: Have mercy on me, ye gate-keepers of the pope, for the hand

of poverty hath touched me. I am poor and hungry, I pray you to

help my misery. Then were they wroth and said: Friend, thy poverty

perish with thee; get thee behind me Satan, for thou knowest not

the odor of money. Verily, verily, I say unto thee that thou shalt

not enter into the joy of thy Lord until thou hast given thy last

farthing.

"Then the poor man went away and sold his cloak and his coat and

all that he had, and gave it to the cardinals and gate-keepers and

chamberlains. But they said: What is this among so many? And they

cast him beyond the gates, and he wept bitterly and could find

nought to comfort him. Then came to the court a rich clerk, fat and

broad and heavy, who in his wrath had slain a man. First he gave to

the gate-keeper, then to the chamberlain, then to the cardinals;

and they thought they were about to receive more. But the lord

pope, hearing that the cardinals and servants had many gifts from

the clerk, fell sick unto death. Then unto him the rich man sent an

electuary of gold and silver, and straightway he was cured. Then

the lord pope called unto him the cardinals and servants, and said

unto them: Brethren, take heed that no one seduce you with empty

words. I set you an example; even as I take, so shall ye

take."[673]

Vainly the intrepid energy and inflexible will of Hildebrand in the

eleventh century strove to extirpate the ineradicable curse. It only

grew wider and deeper as the Church extended its powers and centralized

them in the Holy See. Simony was recognized in the canon law as a

heresy, punishable as heresy with perpetual seclusion, and as such was

justiciable by the Inquisition. With that organization at the command of

the Holy See the untiring energy which through so many generations

pursued the Cathari and Waldenses could in time have cured this

spreading ulcer and purified the Church, but the Inquisition was never

instructed to prosecute simoniacs, and there is no trace in its records

that it ever volunteered to do so. In fact, had any overzealous official

attempted such uncalled-for work he would speedily have been brought to

his senses, for simony was not only the direct source of profit to the

curia in the sale of preferment, but indirectly so in the sale of

dispensations to those who had incurred its disabilities. It seems

almost a contradiction in terms to speak of the Holy See issuing

dispensations for heresy, and yet this was habitual. Legates and

nuncios, when despatched abroad, were empowered to gather a harvest

among the faithful by issuing dispensations for all manner of

disabilities and irregularities, and among these simony is conspicuously

noted. This ceased when John XXII. systematized the sale of absolutions

and drew everything to the papal penitentiary, when pardon for simony in

a layman could be had for six grossi, in a cleric for seven, and in a

monk for eight. It is easy to see why the Inquisition was not used to

suppress a heresy so profitable in every aspect. Indeed, while under the

canon law it was held to be a heresy, yet it was practically never

treated as such. Guillaume Durand, in his _Speculum Juris_, written in

1271, gives formulas for the accusation, by private individuals, of

simoniacal bishops and priests and monks, but neither he nor his

numerous commentators make the slightest allusion to it as subject to

the procedure against heresy.[674]

It would be impossible to exaggerate the corruption which from this

cause interpenetrated every fibre of the Church, filling benefices with

ignorant and worldly men, eager to wring from the unfortunates committed

to their cure the sums with which they had bought the preferment.

Stephen Palecz, in a sermon preached before the Council of Constance,

declares that there is scarce a church in Christendom free from the

stain of simony, owing to the desperate struggle of all kinds of men to

obtain the honors, wealth, and luxury attending an ecclesiastical

preferment, and resulting in the promotion of the ignorant, weak, and

wicked, who could not find employment as shepherds or swineherds. So

unblushing was the venality of the Holy See that dialecticians and

jurists of high authority seriously argued that the pope could not

commit simony. This is scarce surprising when popes were found who could

do a sharp stroke of business, like Boniface IX. In want of money to pay

his troopers and defray the cost of his vast buildings, he suddenly

deposed nearly all the prelates who chanced to be at the papal court,

and many absent ones, or he translated them to titular sees, and then

sold to the highest bidder the places thus vacated. Many unlucky ones,

who were unable to buy back their preferment, wandered around the court

without bread to eat, and the confusion and discord caused in many

provinces was indescribable. Theodore a Niem, to whom we are indebted

for this fact, was himself a papal official for thirty-five years, and

knew whereof he spoke when he compared the splendid liberality of the

German prelates with the stingy avarice of the Italians, who gave

nothing in charity, but bent their whole energies to enriching

themselves and their families. But when they die, he says, the

collectors of the apostolic camera seize the whole spoil, and through

this depredation and rapine it would be impossible to exaggerate the

destruction of the Italian cathedrals and monasteries, which are left

almost tenantless. As for the camera itself, its officials have hard

heads and stony bosoms, and hearts more impenetrable to mercy than steel

itself. They are as pitiless to Christians as Turks or Tartars could be,

stripping all newly promoted prelates of everything. If the latter

cannot pay their demands, forbearance for a time is sold at an

immoderate price under terrible oaths, and if anything has been kept

back for the expenses of the homeward journey it is extorted, so that

whoever escapes from their clutches can truly say, _Cantabit vacuus

coram latrone viator_. If you go there to pay a thousand florins and a

single one is light, you are not allowed to depart till you have

replaced it with a heavier one, or made good in silver twice the

deficiency. And if, within a year, the promised sum is not paid, the

bishop becomes a simple priest again, and the abbot a simple monk. Never

satiated, the proper place of these officials is with the infernal

furies, with the harpies, and with the unsatisfied Tantalus. Poggio, who

was papal secretary for forty years, describes the applicants for

preferment as worthy of these officials. They were idle, ignorant,

sordid men, useless for all good purposes, who hung around the curia,

clamoring for benefices or any other favor which they could get. Another

papal official tells us that Boniface IX. filled the German sees with

unfit and useless persons, for he who paid the most obtained the

preferment. Many paid ten times more than it had cost their

predecessors, for some archbishoprics fetched forty thousand florins,

others sixty thousand, and others eighty thousand.[675]

It was in vain that Gerson proved that the papal demand of first-fruits

of preferments was simony. It was in vain that the councils of Constance

and of Siena complained and protested, and that of Basle endeavored to

frame reformatory regulations. Equally vain was the attempt of Charles

VII. and the Emperor Albert II. in the Pragmatic Sanctions of 1438,

against the protests of Eugenius IV., to declare the annates and

first-fruits to be simony. The papal system was too strong for its grasp

to be thrown off, and up to the time of the Reformation simony continued

to be the all-pervading curse.[676]

In addition to this source of infection from above there was an equally

potent cause of demoralization from below in the immunity enjoyed by the

clergy from secular jurisdiction. Not only were the people scandalized

by seeing clerical homicides and criminals of all sorts set free after

the mockery of a trial in the ecclesiastical courts, but the impunity

thus enjoyed drew into the ranks of the Church hosts of vile and

worthless men, who sought in the tonsure security from justice.[677]

Under such a system it is easy to conceive the character of the prelates

and priests with which the Church was everywhere afflicted. Making some

allowance for rhetorical enthusiasm, the invective of Nicholas de

Clemangis must be received as true. As for the bishops, he says, as they

have to spend all the money they can raise to obtain their sees, they

devote themselves exclusively to extortion, neglecting wholly their

pastoral duties and the spiritual welfare of their flocks; and if, by

chance, one of them happens to pay attention to such subjects, he is

despised as unworthy of his order. Preaching is regarded as disgraceful.

All preferment and all sacerdotal functions are sold, as well as every

episcopal ministration, laying on of hands, confession, absolution,

dispensation; and this is openly defended, as they say they have not

received gratis, and are not bound to give gratis. The only benefices

bestowed without payment are to their bastards and jugglers. Their

jurisdiction is turned equally to account. The greatest criminals can

purchase pardon, while their proctors trump up charges against innocent

rustics which have to be compounded. Citations under excommunication,

delays and repeated citations, are employed, until the most obstinate is

worn out and forced to settle, with enormous charges added to the

original trifling fine. Men prefer to live under the most cruel tyrants

rather than undergo the judgments of the bishops. Absenteeism is the

rule. Many of the bishops never see their dioceses; and these are more

useful than those who reside, for the latter contaminate their people by

their evil example. As no examination is made into the lives of

aspirants to the priesthood, but only as to their ability to pay the

stipulated price, the Church is filled with ignorant and immoral men.

Few are able to read. They haunt the taverns and brothels, consuming

time and substance in eating, drinking, and gambling; they quarrel,

fight, and blaspheme, and hasten to the altar from the embraces of their

concubines. Canons are no better; since, for the most part, they have

bought exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, they commit all sorts of

crimes and scandals with impunity. As for monks, they specially avoid

all to which their vows oblige them--chastity, poverty, and

obedience--and are licentious and undisciplined vagabonds. The

Mendicants, who pretend to make amends for the neglect of duty by the

secular clergy, are pharisees and wolves in sheep's clothing. With

incredible eagerness and infinite deceit they seek everywhere for

temporal gain; they abandon themselves beyond all other men to the

pleasures of the flesh, feasting and drinking, and polluting all things

with their burning lusts. As for the nuns, modesty forbids the

description of the nunneries, which are mere brothels, so that to take

the veil is equivalent to becoming a public prostitute.[678]

We might suspect this to be the exaggeration of a soured ascetic if it

were not for the unanimous testimony of all who describe the condition

of the Church from the thirteenth century on. When St. Bonaventura

defended the Mendicants against the charge of assailing, in their

sermons, the vices of the secular clergy, he denied their doing so for

the reason that any such arraignment would be superfluous; and,

moreover, that if they were to unveil the full turpitude of the clerical

class these would all be expelled, and there would be no hope of seeing

their places more worthily filled, for the bishops would not select

virtuous men. To do so, moreover, would deprive the people of all faith

in the Church, and heresy would become uncontrollable. In another tract

he declares that almost all priests were legally incapable of performing

their functions, either through the simony attendant on their ordination

or through the commission of crimes entailing suspension and

deprivation. It was not infrequent, he says, for priests to persuade

women that there was no sin in intercourse with a clerk.[679]

In 1305 Frederic of Trinacria, in a confidential letter to his brother,

Jayme II. of Aragon, says that he has been led to doubt whether the

Gospel was divine revelation or human invention, for three reasons. The

first is the character of the secular clergy, especially of the bishops,

abbots, and other prelates, who are destitute of all spiritual life, and

are pestiferous in their influence through the public display of their

wickedness. The second reason is the character of the regular clergy,

and especially of the Mendicants, whose morals and lives stupefy all

observers; they are so alienated from God that they justify the seculars

and the laity by the comparison; their wickedness is so notorious that

he fears that some day the people will rise against them, for they bring

infection into every house which they frequent. The third reason is the

negligence of the Holy See, which of old, as we are told, used to send

legates through the kingdoms to look after the condition of religion;

but now this is never done, and they are sent only for worldly objects.

We see, he says, that it labors without ceasing to slay schismatics, but

we never see it solicitous to convert them. The eloquence of Arnaldo de

Vilanova was required to persuade Frederic that all this was compatible

with the truth of Christianity, and he undertook to introduce a

reformation in his own kingdom, commencing with himself.[680]

Marsiglio of Padua may be a suspected witness when he assumes, as a

universally recognized fact, the corruption of the mass of

ecclesiastics. They despoiled the poor, they were insatiable in their

greed, and what they wrung from their flocks was wasted in debauchery.

Boys, unlettered men, unknown persons, were promoted to benefices, and

the bishops, by their example, carried to destruction more souls than

they saved by their teaching. But his contemporary, Alvaro Pelayo, the

Franciscan penitentiary of John XXII., is beyond suspicion, and he

describes the Church of his time as completely secularized. There is no

act of secular life in which priests and monks are not busy. As for the

prelates, he can only compare them to the fabled Lamia, with a human

head and the body of a beast--a monstrous fury which tears its own

offspring to pieces and destroys all within its reach. The prelates, he

says, give no teaching to their people, but flay and rend them. The

bread due to the poor is lavished on jesters and dogs. Faith and justice

have abandoned the earth; there is no humanity or kindness; the

voracious flame of wrath and envy destroys the Church and skins the poor

with fraud and simony. Scripture and the canons are regarded as fables.

Through the iniquity of the priests and prelates the evils gather, for

they publicly pervert the law, they render false judgments, they add

blood to blood, for many perish through their frauds and machinations.

They gloss and declare the law as they choose. The doctors and prelates

and priests shed the blood of the just. They take the broad path that

leads to destruction, and will not enter, nor permit others to enter,

the narrow way that conducts to eternal life. This description is fully

borne out by a letter of Benedict XII. to the Archbishop of Narbonne,

describing the utter demoralization of the clergy of his province, so

lately purified of heresy by the tireless labors of the

Inquisition.[681]

Benedict's well-intentioned effort at reformation was fruitless, and

after his death matters only became worse, if possible. Under Clement

VI. vices of all kinds flourished more luxuriantly than ever. In 1351 a

Carmelite, preaching before the pope and cardinals, inveighed against

their turpitude in terms which terrified every one, and caused his

immediate dismissal. Shortly afterwards a letter was affixed to the

portals of the churches addressed to the pope and his cardinals. It was

signed Leviathan, Prince of Darkness, and was dated in the centre of

hell. He saluted his vicar the pope and his servants the cardinals, with

whose help he had overcome Christ; he commended them for all their

vices, and sent them the good wishes of their mother, Pride, and their

sisters, Avarice, Lust, and the rest, who boast of their well-being

through their help. Clement was sorely moved, and fell dangerously sick,

but the writer was never discovered. When Clement died, the next year, a

majority of the cardinals were disposed to cast their votes for Jean

Birel, Prior of the Grande Chartreuse, but the Cardinal of Périgord

warned them that their favorite had such zeal for the Church, and was a

man of such justice, equity, and disregard of persons, that he would

speedily bring them back to their ancient condition, and that in four

months their coursers would be converted into beasts of burden.

Frightened at this prospect, they incontinently elected Innocent

VI.[682]

These stories are verified by Petrarch's descriptions of the papal court

at Avignon, wherein even his glowing rhetoric fails to satisfy the

vehemence of his indignation, while the details which he gives to

justify his ardor are unfit to repeat. It is the Western Babylon, and

nothing which is told of Assyria or Egypt, or even of Tartarus, can

equal it, for all such are fables by comparison. Here you find Nimrod

and Semiramis, Minos and Rhadamanthus, Cerberus consuming all things,

Pasiphaë under the bull, and her offspring, the monster Minotaur. Here

you see confusion, blackness, and horror. It is not a city, but a den of

spectres and goblins, the common sink of all vices, the hell of the

living. Here God is despised, money is worshipped, the laws are trodden

under foot, the good are ridiculed till there scarce is one left to be

laughed at. A deluge is necessary, but there would be no Noah, no

Deucalion to survive it. Avignon is the woman clothed in purple and

scarlet, holding the golden bowl of her abominations and the uncleanness

of her fornications. He returns to the subject again and again with

undiminished wrath, and he casually alludes to one of the cardinals as a

man of a nobler soul, who might have been good had he not belonged to

the sacred college. The mocking spirit of Boccaccio is equally

outspoken. From the highest to the lowest, every one in the papal court

is abandoned to the most abominable vices. The sight of it converts a

Jew, for he argues that Christianity must be of God, seeing that it

spreads and flourishes in spite of the wickedness of its head.[683]

Gregory XI. was the fiercest persecutor of heresy in the fourteenth

century, incessantly active against Brethren of the Free Spirit,

Waldenses, and Fraticelli. He could boast that even as his namesake and

prototype, Gregory IX., had founded the Inquisition, so he had restored

it and had extended it into Germany. Yet, with all this zeal for

compelling unity of faith, St. Birgitta was divinely commissioned to

convey to him this message from the Lord:

"Hear, O Gregory XI., the words I say to thee, and give unto them

diligent attention! Why dost thou hate me so? Why are thy audacity

and presumption so great against me that thy worldly court destroys

my heavenly one? Proudly thou despoilest me of my sheep. The wealth

of the Church which is mine, and the goods of the faithful of the

Church, thou extortest and seizest, and givest to thy worldly

friends. Thou takest unjustly the store of the poor and lavishest

it without shame on thy worldly friends. What have I done to thee,

O Gregory? Patiently have I suffered thee to rise to the

high-priesthood, and I have foretold to thee my will by letters

divinely sent to thee, warning thee of the salvation of thy soul,

and reproaching thy recklessness. How then dost thou repay my many

favors? Why in thy court dost thou suffer unchecked the foulest

pride, insatiable avarice, wantonness execrable to me, and

all-devouring simony? Moreover, thou dost seize and carry away from

me innumerable souls, for well-nigh all who go to thy court thou

plungest into the fire of hell.... Gird up thy loins, then, and

fear not. Arise and bravely seek to reform the Church which I have

purchased with my blood, and it will be restored to its former

state, though now a brothel is more respected than it is. If thou

dost not obey my command, know verily that thou wilt be condemned,

and every devil of hell will have a morsel of thy soul, immortal

and inconsumable."

In another vision St. Birgitta was ordered to represent to the pope the

deplorable state of all orders of the clergy. Priests were rather pimps

of the devil than clerks of God. The monasteries were well-nigh

abandoned, mass was only celebrated in them intermittently, while the

monks resided in their houses and had no shame in acknowledging their

offspring, or wandered around, frequently clad in armor under their

frocks. The doors of the nunneries were open night and day, and they

were rather brothels than holy retreats. Such is the burden of St.

Birgitta's repeated revelations, and nothing that Wickliff or Huss could

say of the depravity of the clergy could exceed the bitterness of her

denunciation.[684]

The inspiration of St. Catharine of Siena was equally outspoken. In her

letters to Gregory XI., Urban VI., and the dignitaries who listened

respectfully to her enunciations of the voice of God, her constant theme

is the corruption of every rank in the hierarchy and the immediate

necessity for reform. To Gregory she announces that God will sharply

rebuke him if he does not cleanse the Church of its impurities; God

demands of him to cast aside lukewarmness and fear, and to become

another man, that he may eradicate the abundance of its iniquity. To

Urban she says that it is not possible for him to put an end to the evil

everywhere committed throughout Christendom, and especially by the

clergy, but at least he can do what lies within his power. The prelates

she describes as caring for nothing but pleasure and ambition; they are

infernal demons carrying off the souls of their subjects, they are

wolves and traffickers in the divine grace. As for the priests, they are

the exact opposites of what they should be, injuring all who come in

contact with them; all their lives are corrupt, and they are not worthy

to be called men, but, rather, beasts, wallowing in filth and indulging

in all the wickedness craved by their bestial appetites; they are not

guardians of souls, but devourers, delivering them up to the Wolf of

Hell.[685] All these warnings fell upon deaf ears, and the Church,

during the Great Schism, plunged, if possible, deeper into the pit of

abominations.

In 1386 Telesforo, the hermit of Cosenza, could only explain the Schism

by the wealth and worldliness of the clergy, whom God could only reform

by stripping them of their temporalities and thus forcing them to live

according to the gospel. Although Henry of Hesse disputed the prophetic

gifts of Telesforo, he, too, had no hesitation in ascribing the Schism

to the simony, avarice, pride, luxury, and vanity of the Church, and he

can only explain it by God sometimes in his wrath allowing his servants

to act according to their own evil desires. Even should the Schism be

healed, he can only look forward to the Church falling from bad to worse

until the coming of Antichrist. This he anticipates speedily, for all

the prophetic signs are present in the extreme iniquity of the world.

The insatiable avarice and ambition of clergy and laity will lead them

to support any one who promises them worldly advantage, and they will

unite in aiding Antichrist to conquer the world. Bad as were the attacks

of heresy, he says, the peace now enjoyed by the Church after overcoming

the heretics is even worse, for in it the evil spirits succeed in

excluding virtues and substituting vices--a significant admission from

an enthusiastic churchman of the result of the labors of the

Inquisition.[686]

These deplorable statements are confirmed by the supplication of the

Council of Pisa in 1409 to Alexander V., and by the reformers who

gathered around the Council of Constance in hopes of seeing it fulfil

its functions of purifying the Church in its head and members--John

Gerson, Cardinal d'Ailly, Cardinal Zabarella, Bernhardus Baptizatus,

Theodoric Vrie. I have already quoted Nicholas de Clemangis, and need

only say that the others were equally outspoken and equally full of

detail, while the reformatory projects drawn up for consideration by the

council are eloquent as to the evils which they were designed to remove.

At first Sigismund and the Germans, with the French and English nations,

were united in demanding that reformation should precede the election of

a pope in place of the deposed John XXIII., but the close alliance

formed between Sigismund and Henry V. alienated the French; by a skilful

use of this they were won over, and the prospects of reform grew so

desperate that Sigismund seriously contemplated seizing all the

cardinals, as the main obstacle to the wished-for action, and removing

them from Constance. On learning this, far from yielding, they put on

their red hats and wore them in the streets as a token of their

readiness to undergo martyrdom, and a paper was drawn up stigmatizing

the English and Germans as Wickliffites and Hussites. The Germans

responded in a vigorous protest, officially describing the condition of

the Church in terms as decided as those employed by Nicholas de

Clemangis. For this state of things they hold the Holy See solely

responsible, for they date back these abuses to a time, a century and a

half before, when the increasing pretensions of the curia enabled it to

infect all Christendom with its vices, and they allude with special

horror to the use of the papal penitentiary, worse than ordinary simony,

whereby crimes were taxed in proportion to their heinousness and

villainous traffic was made in sin. The Church, they concluded, had

forfeited the reverence of the laity, which regarded it with contempt,

as rather Antichristian than Christian. The steadfast attitude of the

Germans, however, was weakened by the death of their strongest ally,

Robert Hallam, Bishop of Salisbury, and two of Sigismund's most trusted

prelates were bribed to betray the cause. The Archbishop of Riga, who

was tired of his constant quarrels with the Teutonic knights, was

promised the rich bishopric of Liége, and the Bishop of Coire was

promised the archbishopric of Riga. The opposition crumbled away, and

Martin V. was elected. The French quickly saw their mistake, and

appealed to Sigismund, who curtly referred them to the pope whom they

had chosen, and who now had full power of granting or refusing reform.

The council hurriedly adjourned after passing a few canons of little

worth, and providing for a succession of general councils at short

intervals.[687]

We have seen how reform was skilfully eluded at the Council of Siena in

1424. At Basle it fared no better. In 1435 Andreas, Bishop of Minorca,

addressed to the Cardinal-legate Cesarini an exhortation in which he

said, "Evils, sins, and scandals have so increased, especially among the

clergy, that, as the prophet says, already accursed lying and theft, and

adultery and simony, and murder and many other crimes have deluged the

earth.... The avarice and lust of domination and the foul and abominable

lives of the ecclesiastics are the cause of all the misfortunes of

Christendom. The infidel and the heretic say that if the Christian faith

and gospel law were true and holy, the prelates and priests would not

live as they do, nor would the spiritual rulers work such confusion and

scandal in Christendom without instant punishment from the Lord Jesus

Christ, the founder of the gospel and the Church." Bishop Andreas

further urged that the council condemn by an irrefragable decision the

impious doctrine of some canonists that the pope cannot commit simony.

Two years later, in 1437, John Nider, the Dominican, declared that the

general reformation of the Church was hopeless, on account of the

wickedness of the prelates and the lack of good-will of the clergy.

Partial reforms might be practicable, but even in this the difficulty

was almost insuperable. The council, he said, in its six years of

existence had been unable to reform a single nunnery, although aided by

all the force of the secular power.[688]

The council, indeed, attempted some reformation, but Eugenius IV. and

his successors refused to observe its canons. Even in Germany and France

the old abuses were reinstated, with their deplorable consequences. The

writers of the period are as emphatic as their predecessors in

describing the superabounding and universal turpitude of the Church

during the remainder of the century. That they do not exaggerate may be

assumed from one or two instances. In 1459 there died at Arras, at the

age of eighty, Nicaise le Vasseur, canon and head of the chapter of

Arras. He not only had daughters and committed incest with them, but

also with a daughter-granddaughter whom he had by one of them. Yet so

blunted was the moral sense of Church and people that, as we are told,

this monster officiated "_très honorablement_" in divine service on all

feasts and holidays, and the only comment of the chronicler is that he

did it most becomingly. When, in 1474, the death of Sixtus IV. was

received in Rome with a pæan of joy, people commented not so much upon

his selling benefices to the highest bidder and his other devices of

extorting money, as upon the manner in which he rewarded the boys who

served his unnatural lusts by granting to them rich bishoprics and

archbishoprics. Under such men as Innocent VIII. and Alexander VI.,

there could only be deeper degradation expected. Julius II. was a

_condottiere_ rather than a priest; but when political exigencies led

him to summon the Lateran Council, earnest souls like Jacob Wimpfeling

permitted themselves to hope that he would set bounds to the moral

plague which pervaded all the churches. When he died, and Leo X.

conducted the labors of the assembled fathers, Gianfrancesco Pico della

Mirandola addressed him an epistle describing the evils for which

reformation was requisite. It is a repetition of the old complaints. The

worship of God was neglected, the churches were held by pimps and

catamites; the nunneries were dens of prostitution, justice was a matter

of hatred or favor; piety was lost in superstition; the priesthood was

bought and sold; the revenues of the Church ministered only to the

foulest excesses, and the people were repelled from religion by the

example of their pastors. The author of a little anonymous tract printed

about the year 1500 feels obliged to prove by laborious citations that

fornication is forbidden to the clergy, and he attributes the contempt

generally entertained for the Church to the openly scandalous lives of

its members. To appreciate fully the effect on the popular mind of this

degradation of the Church, we must keep in view the supernatural powers

claimed and exercised by the priesthood, which made it the arbiter of

every man's destiny, for salvation depended not so much on individual

desert as on the ministrations of those who controlled the sacraments.

How benumbing was this influence on the moral faculties is visible in

the confession of Anna Miolerin, one of the Tyrolese witches burned in

1506, where the spread of witchcraft is attributed to the sensual and

drunken priests who are unable to confess their penitents properly, or

to baptize children, so that the latter, unprotected by the sacrament,

are easily betrayed to Satan. The priests, she says, ought to baptize

children reverently and repeat all the words of the ceremony.[689]

As for monasticism, Abbot Trithemius gives us a vigorous sketch of its

demoralization. The great Benedictine Order, the mother and exemplar of

the rest, had been founded on a wise and comprehensive system, including

productive labor in the fields and religious observances in the houses:

but he tells us that the monks when abroad were idle and vain, and when

inside the walls were abandoned to carnal delights, with nothing of

decorous to show but the habit, and even this was mostly neglected. No

one thought of enforcing the forgotten discipline. The monasteries had

become stables for clerks, or fortresses for fighting-men, or markets

for traders, or brothels for strumpets, in which the greatest of crimes

was to live without sin. The abbots thought of nothing but of satisfying

their appetites and vanities, their lusts, their ambition, and their

avarice, while the brethren were monks only in name, and were vessels of

wrath and sin. A confirmatory glimpse at the interior life of these

establishments is afforded by Angelus Rumpherus, elected Abbot of

Formbach in 1501, in his account of his immediate predecessor, Leonhard,

who had ruled the abbey since 1474. He was especially fond of using

torture, of which he had infinite ingenious varieties at his service.

Unable to endure his tyranny, a monk named Engelschalk, a man of good

natural parts and disposition, fled, but was taken sick and brought

back. He was thrown into the dungeon of the abbey, a building without

light and ventilation, except a narrow slit through which to pass in

food. Here he died, without even the viaticum, his request for a

confessor being refused, and when, as he was dying, the abbot and some

of the monks entered, the blood flowed copiously from his nose, showing

that they were his murderers.[690]

* * * * *

Under the guidance of a Church such as this, the moral condition of the

laity was unutterably depraved. Uniformity of faith had been enforced by

the Inquisition and its methods, and so long as faith was preserved,

crime and sin were comparatively unimportant except as a source of

revenue to those who sold absolution. As Theodoric Vrie tersely puts it,

hell and purgatory would be emptied if enough money could be found. The

artificial standard thus created is seen in a revelation of the Virgin

to St. Birgitta, that a pope who was free from heresy, no matter how

polluted by sin and vice, is not so wicked but that he has the absolute

power to bind and loose souls. There are many wicked popes plunged in

hell, but all their lawful acts on earth are accepted and confirmed by

God, and all priests who are not heretics administer true sacraments, no

matter how depraved they may be. Correctness of belief was thus the sole

essential; virtue was a wholly subordinate consideration. How completely

under such a system religion and morals came to be dissociated is seen

in the remarks of Pius II. quoted above, that the Franciscans were

excellent theologians, but cared nothing about virtue.[691]

This, in fact, was the direct result of the system of persecution

embodied in the Inquisition. Heretics who were admitted to be patterns

of virtue were ruthlessly exterminated in the name of Christ, while in

the same holy name the orthodox could purchase absolution for the

vilest of crimes for a few coins. When the only unpardonable offence was

persistence in some trifling error of belief, such as the poverty of

Christ; when men had before them the example of their spiritual guides

as leaders in vice and debauchery and contempt of sacred things, all the

sanctions of morality were destroyed and the confusion between right and

wrong became hopeless. The world has probably never seen a society more

vile than that of Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The

brilliant pages of Froissart fascinate us with their pictures of the

artificial courtesies of chivalry; the mystic reveries of Rysbroek and

of Tauler show us that spiritual life survived in some rare souls, but

the mass of the population was plunged into the depths of sensuality and

the most brutal oblivion of the moral law. For this Alvaro Pelayo tells

us that the priesthood were accountable, and that, in comparison with

them, the laity were holy. What was that state of comparative holiness

he proceeds to describe, blushing as he writes, for the benefit of

confessors, giving a terrible sketch of the universal immorality which

nothing could purify but fire and brimstone from heaven. The chroniclers

do not often pause in their narrations to dwell on the moral aspects of

the times, but Meyer, in his annals of Flanders, under date of 1379,

tells us that it would be impossible to describe the prevalence

everywhere of perjuries, blasphemies, adulteries, hatreds, quarrels,

brawls, murder, rapine, thievery, robbery, gambling, whoredom,

debauchery, avarice, oppression of the poor, rape, drunkenness, and

similar vices, and he illustrates his statement with the fact that in

the territory of Ghent, within the space of ten months, there occurred

no less than fourteen hundred murders committed in the bagnios,

brothels, gambling-houses, taverns, and other similar places. When, in

1396, Jean sans Peur led his crusaders to destruction at Nicopolis,

their crimes and cynical debauchery scandalized even the Turks, and led

to the stern rebuke of Bajazet himself, who as the monk of Saint-Denis

admits, was much better than his Christian foes. The same writer,

moralizing over the disaster of Agincourt, attributes it to the general

corruption of the nation. Sexual relations, he says, were an alternation

of disorderly lusts and of incest; commerce was nought but fraud and

trickery; avarice withheld from the Church her tithes, and ordinary

conversation was a succession of blasphemies. The Church, set up by God

as a model and protector for the people, was false to all its

obligations. The bishops, through the basest and most criminal of

motives, were habitual accepters of persons; they anointed themselves

with the last essence extracted from their flocks, and there was in them

nothing of holy, of just, of wise, or even of decent. Luke Wadding is a

witness above suspicion; his conscientious study of original sources

entitles his opinions to weight, and we may accept his description of

Italy in the early part of the fifteenth century: "At that time Italy

was sunk in vice and wickedness. In the Church there was no devotion, in

the laity no faith, no piety, no modesty, no discipline of morals. Every

man cursed his neighbor; the factions of Guelf and Ghibelline flooded

the streets of the towns with fraternal blood, the roads were closed by

robbers, the seas infested with pirates. Parents slew with rejoicing

their children who chanced to be of the opposite faction. The world was

full of sorcery and incantations; the churches deserted, the

gambling-houses filled." The testimony is too uniform to explain it away

with the assumption that it represents only the disenchantment of

puritanism. Æneas Sylvius was no puritan, and his adventurous life had

made him, perhaps, better acquainted with the whole of Christendom than

any other man of his time, and in 1453 he says: "It is for this that I

dread the Turks. Whether I look upon the deeds of princes or of prelates

I find that all have sunk, all are worthless. There is not one who does

right, in no one is there pity or truth. There is no recognition of God

upon earth; you are Christians in name, but you do the work of heathen.

Execration and falsehood and slaughter and theft and adultery are spread

among you, and you add blood to blood. What wonder if God, indignant at

your acts, places on your necks Mahomet, the leader of the Turks, like

another Nebuchadnezzar, for you are either swollen with pride, or

rapacious with avarice, or cruel in wrath, or livid with envy, or

incestuous in lust, or unsparing in cruelty. There is no shame in crime,

for you sin so openly and shamelessly that you seem to take delight in

it." To what extent the Church was responsible for this may be judged by

the terrible condition of Rome under Innocent VIII. as pictured in the

diary of Infessura. Outrages of all kinds were committed with impunity

so long as the criminal had wherewith to compound with the papal

chancery; and when Cardinal Borgia, the vice-chancellor, was reproached

with this, he piously replied that God did not desire the death of the

sinner, but that he should pay and live. A census of the public women

showed them to number sixty-eight hundred, and when the vicar of the

city issued a decree ordering all ecclesiastics to dismiss their

concubines, Innocent sent for him and ordered its withdrawal, saying

that all priests and members of the curia kept them, and that it was no

sin.[692]

This was the outcome of the theocracy whose foundation had been laid by

Hildebrand in the honest belief that it would realize the reign of

Christ on earth. Power such as was claimed and exercised by the Church

could only be wielded by superhuman wisdom. Human nature was too

imperfect not to convert it into an instrumentality for the

gratification of worldly passions and ambition, and its inevitable

result was to plunge society deeper and deeper into corruption, as unity

of faith was enforced by persecution. In this enforcement, as I have

said, faith became the only object of supreme importance, and morals

were completely subordinated, tending naturally to the creation of a

perfectly artificial and arbitrary standard of conduct. If, to win the

favor of Satan, a man trampled on the Eucharist believing it to be the

body of Christ, he was not liable to the pains of heresy; but if he did

so out of disbelief, he was a heretic. If he took interest for money

believing it to be wrong, he was comparatively safe; if believing it to

be right, he was condemned. It was not the act, but the mental process,

that was of primary importance, and wilful wrong-doing was treated more

tenderly than ignorant conscientiousness. Thus the divine law on which

the Church professed to be founded was superseded by human law

administered by those who profited by its abuse. As Cardinal d'Ailly

tells us, the doctors of civil law regarded the imperial jurisprudence

as more binding than the commands of God, while the professors of canon

law taught that the papal decretals were of greater weight than

Scripture. Such a theocracy, practically deeming itself as superior to

its God, when it had overcome all dissidence, could have but one

result.[693]

When we consider, however, the simple earnestness with which such

multitudes of humble heretics endured the extremity of outrage and the

most cruel of deaths, in the endeavor to ascertain and obey the will of

God in the fashioning of their lives, we recognize what material existed

for the development of true Christianity, and for the improvement of the

race, far down in the obscurer ranks of society. We can see now how

greatly advanced might be the condition of humanity had that leaven been

allowed to penetrate the whole mass in place of being burned out with

fire. Unorganized and unresisting, the heretics were unable to withstand

the overwhelming forces arrayed against them. Power and place and wealth

were threatened by their practical interpretation of the teachings of

Christ. The pride of opinion in the vast and laboriously constructed

theories of scholastic theology, the conscientious belief in the

exclusive salvation obtainable through the Church alone, the recognized

duty of exterminating the infected sheep and preserving the vineyard of

the Lord from the ravages of heretical foxes, all united to form a

conservatism against which even the heroic endurance of the sectaries

was unavailing. Yet there are few pages in the history of humanity more

touching, few records of self-sacrifice more inspiring, few examples

more instructive of the height to which the soul can rise above the

weaknesses of the flesh, than those which we may glean from the

fragmentary documents of the Inquisition and the scanty references of

the chroniclers to the abhorred heretics so industriously tracked and so

pitilessly despatched. Ignorant and toiling men and women--peasants,

mechanics, and the like--dimly conscious that the system of society was

wrong, that the commands of God were perverted or neglected, that

humanity was capable of higher development, if it could but find and

follow the Divine Will; striving each in his humble sphere to solve the

inscrutable and awful problems of existence, to secure in tribulation

his own salvation, and to help his fellows in the arduous task--these

forgotten martyrs of the truth drew from themselves alone the strength

which enabled them to dare and to endure martyrdom. No prizes of

ambition lay before them to tempt their departure from the safe and

beaten track, no sympathizing crowds surrounded the piles of fagots and

strengthened them in the fearful trial; but scorn and hatred and

loathing were their portion to the last. Save in cases of relapse, life

could always be saved by recantation and return to the bosom of the

Church, which recognized that even from a worldly point of view a

converted heretic was more valuable than a martyred one, yet the

steadfast resolution, which the orthodox characterized as satanic

hardening of the heart, was too common to excite surprise.[694]

This inestimable material for the elevation of humanity was plucked up

as tares and cast into the furnace. Society, so long as it was orthodox

and docile, was allowed to wallow in all the wickedness which depravity

might suggest. The supreme object of uniformity in faith was practically

attained, and the moral condition of mankind was dismissed from

consideration as of no importance. Yet the incongruity between the ideal

of Christianity and its realization was too unnatural for the situation

to be permanent. In the Church as well as out of it there was a leaven

working. While St. Birgitta was thundering her revelations in the

unwilling ears of Gregory XI., William Langland, the monk of Malvern,

sharpened his bitter denunciations of friar and prelate by reminding

the common-folk that love and truth were the sole essentials of

Christianity--

"Loue is leche of lyf and nexte owre lorde selve,

And also the graith gate that goth in-to heuene;

For-thi I sey as I seide ere by the textis,

Whan alle tresores ben ytryed treuthe is the beste.

Now haue I tolde the what treuthe is, that no tresore is bettere,

I may no lenger lenge the with, now loke the owre lorde!"

(VISION, I. 202-7.)

All such warnings, however, were disregarded, and in the hour of its

unquestionable supremacy the sacerdotal system, which seemed impregnable

to all assaults and to have no assailants, was on the eve of its

overthrow. The Inquisition had been too successful. So complete had been

the triumph of the Church that the old machinery was allowed to become

out of gear and to rust for want of daily use. The Inquisition itself

had ceased to inspire its old-time terror. For a century it had little

to do save an occasional foray upon the peasants of the Alpine valleys,

or an extortion on the Jews of Palermo, or the fomenting of a witchcraft

craze. It no longer had the stimulus of active work or the opportunity

of impressing the minds of the people with the certainty of its

vengeance and the terrors of its holocausts.

At the same time the Great Schism had inflicted a serious blow upon the

veneration entertained for the Holy See by both clergy and laity, which

found expression in the great councils of Constance and Basle. Dexterous

management, it is true, averted the immediate dangers threatened by

these parliaments of Christendom, and the Church remained in theory an

autocracy instead of being converted into a constitutional monarchy, but

nevertheless the old unquestioning confidence in the vicegerent of God

was gone, while the aspirations of Christendom grew stronger under

repression. The invention of printing came to stimulate the spread of

enlightenment, and a reading public gradually formed itself, reached and

influenced by other modes than the pulpit and the lecture-room, which

had been the monopoly of the Church. No longer was culture virtually the

sole appanage of ecclesiastics. The New Learning spread among a daily

increasing class the thirst for knowledge and the critical spirit of

inquiry, which insensibly undermined the traditional claims of the

Church on the veneration and obedience of mankind.

Save in Spain, where racial divisions furnished peculiar factors to the

problem, everything conspired to disarm the Inquisition and render it

powerless when it was most sorely needed. Orthodox uniformity had been

so successfully enforced that the popes of the fifteenth century,

immersed in worldly cares beyond the capacity of the Inquisition to

gratify, scarce gave themselves the trouble to keep up its organization;

and, save when some madness of witchcraft called for victims, the people

and the local clergy made no demand for vindicators of the faith.

Scholastic quarrels, for the most part, were settled by the

universities, which arrogated to themselves much of the jurisdiction of

the Holy Office; and the episcopal ordinaries seemed almost to have

forgotten the functions which were theirs by immemorial right.

Although German orthodoxy had been so uniform that the Inquisition there

had always been weak and unorganized, yet Germany was the inevitable

seat of the revolt. In England and France the power of a monarchy,

backed by a united people, had set some bounds to papal aggression and

assumption. In Italy the pope was regarded more as a temporal prince

than as the head of the Church, and the Ghibellines had never hesitated

to oppose his schemes of political aggrandizement. In Germany, however,

the papal policy of disunion and civil strife had proved fatally

successful, and since the untimely death of Louis of Bavaria there had

been no central power strong enough to defend the people and the local

churches from the avarice and ambition of the representatives of St.

Peter. Luther came when the public mind was receptive and insubordinate,

and when there was no organized instrumentality for his prompt

repression. As I have already pointed out, his scholastic discussion as

to the power of the keys seemed at first too insignificant to require

attention; when the debate enlarged there were no means at hand for its

speedy suppression, and, by the time the Church could marshal its

unwieldy forces, the people had espoused his cause in a region where, as

the Sachsenspiegel shows, there was no hereditary or prescriptive

readiness to venerate the canon law. The hour, the place, and the man

had met by a happy concurrence, and the era of modern civilization and

unfettered thought was opened, in spite of the fact that the reformers

were as rigid as the orthodox in setting bounds to dogmatic

independence.

* * * * *

The review which we have made of the follies and crimes of our ancestors

has revealed to us a scene of almost unrelieved blackness. We have seen

how the wayward heart of man, groping in twilight, has under the best of

impulses inflicted misery and despair on his fellow-creatures while

thinking to serve God, and how the ambitious and unprincipled have

traded on those impulses to gratify the lust of avarice and domination.

Yet such a review, rightly estimated, is full of hope and encouragement.

In the unrest of modern society, where immediate relief is sought from

the mass of evils oppressing mankind, and impatience is eager to

overturn all social organization in the hope of founding a new structure

where preventable misery shall be unknown, it is well occasionally to

take a backward view, to tear away the veil which conceals the passions

and the sufferings of bygone generations, and estimate fairly the

progress already effected. Human development is slow and irregular; to

the observer at a given point it appears stationary or retrogressive,

and it is only by comparing periods removed by a considerable interval

of time that the movement can be appreciated. Such a retrospect as we

have wearily accomplished has shown us how, but a few centuries since,

the infliction of gratuitous evil was deemed the highest duty of man,

and we learn how much has been gained to the empire of Christian love

and charity. We have seen how the administration of law, both spiritual

and secular, was little other than organized wrong and injustice; we

have seen how low were the moral standards, and how debased the mental

condition of the populations of Christendom. We have seen that the Ages

of Faith, to which romantic dreamers regretfully look back, were ages of

force and fraud, where evil seemed to reign almost unchecked, justifying

the current opinion, so constantly reappearing, that the reign of

Antichrist had already begun. Imperfect as are human institutions

to-day, a comparison with the past shows how marvellous has been the

improvement, and the fact that this gain has been made almost wholly

within the last two centuries, and that it is advancing with accelerated

momentum, affords to the sociologist the most cheering encouragement.

Principles have been established which, if allowed to develop themselves

naturally and healthfully, will render the future of mankind very

different from aught that the world has yet seen. The greatest danger to

modern society lies in the impatient theorists who desire to reform the

world at a blow, in place of aiding in the struggle of good with evil

under the guidance of eternal laws. Could they be convinced of the

advance so swiftly made and of its steady development, they might

moderate their ardor and direct their energies to wise construction

rather than to heedless destruction.

A few words will suffice to summarize the career of the mediæval

Inquisition. It introduced a system of jurisprudence which infected the

criminal law of all the lands subjected to its influence, and rendered

the administration of penal justice a cruel mockery for centuries. It

furnished the Holy See with a powerful weapon in aid of political

aggrandizement, it tempted secular sovereigns to imitate the example,

and it prostituted the name of religion to the vilest temporal ends. It

stimulated the morbid sensitiveness to doctrinal aberrations until the

most trifling dissidence was capable of arousing insane fury, and of

convulsing Europe from end to end. On the other hand, when atheism

became fashionable in high places, its thunders were mute. Energetic

only in evil, when its powers might have been used on the side of

virtue, it held its hand and gave the people to understand that the only

sins demanding repression were doubt as to the accuracy of the Church's

knowledge of the unknown, and attendance on the Sabbat. In its long

career of blood and fire, the only credit which it can claim is the

suppression of the pernicious dogmas of the Cathari, and in this its

agency may be regarded as superfluous, for those dogmas carried in

themselves the seeds of self-destruction, and higher wisdom might have

trusted to their self-extinction. Thus the judgment of impartial history

must be that the Inquisition was the monstrous offspring of mistaken

zeal, utilized by selfish greed and lust of power to smother the higher

aspirations of humanity and stimulate its baser appetites.

APPENDIX.

I.

CONFESSION OF A HARBORER OF SPIRITUALS.

(Doat, XXVII. fol. 7 sqq.)

This is one of twenty-two similar cases. The statements have every

appearance of being drawn up to lay before an assembly of experts.

Johannes de Petra, sartor, filius quondam Guillelmi de Petra

oriundus de parrochia Vallis diocesis Mimatensis, habitator

Montispessulani, sicut per ipsius confessionem in judicio sub anno

Domini MCCC vigesimo sexto mense Novembris et Januarii factam,

legitime nobis constat a tribus vel quatuor annis ante tempus

confessionis factæ per eum de infrascriptis contra Guillelmum

Verrerii de Narbona et Petrum Dayssan de Biterris pro hæresi

fugitivos in domo propria multo tempore receptavit, cum eis comedit

et bibit, et ad diversa loca in eorum societate ivit, multosque

alios fugitivos et alios de credentia beguinorum combustorum etiam

in dicta domo sua vidit, et cum eis comedit et bibit frequenter, et

etiam fratrem Raimundum Johannis apostatam ab ordine minorum et a

fide fugitivum in dicta domo propria ad prandendum invitavit,

sibique comedere et bibere de suis bonis dedit, in festo fratris

Petri facto per eos in Montepessulano interfuit et comedit,

aliasque multipliciter et diversimode cum ipsis fugitivis et

quibusdam aliis de credentia beguinorum conversatus fuit non cum

omnibus simul et semel, sed diversis vicibus, aliquando cum uno,

alias cum duobus vel pluribus, sicuti veniebant, sciens eos esse

tales. Item ab eis fugitivis et beguinis seu aliquibus eorum

errores infrascriptos audivit, videlicet: quod beguini qui fuerant

condemnati et combusti in Narbona, Capitestagno, Biterris, Lodeva

et Lunello et alibi fuerant boni homines et catholici, et fuerant

indebite et injuste condemnati, et quod erant sancti et martyres

gloriosi; et idem audivit a quodam quem nominat dici de fratribus

minoribus Massiliæ combustis, videlicet quod erant injuste

condemnati, et quod erant mortui sancti martyres gloriosi, et erant

in Paradiso, et quod tenuerant sanctam vitam et bonam, et viam

veritatis et paupertatis, et quod propter hoc inquisitores

condemnabant eosdem. Item audivit ab eodem quem nominat quod

dominus papa qui nunc est non est verus papa sicut fuit Sanctus

Petrus nee habet illam potestatem quam Dominus Jesus Christus

dederat beato Petro, quodque si fuisset verus papa non consentiret

nec sustineret quod dicti beguini et fratres minores

condemnarentur qui tenebant viam Dei et veritatis. Item quod

cardinales et alii prælati ecclesiæ Romanæ sustinebant et faciebant

prædictas condemnationes propter favorem et timorem dicti domini

papæ, dicens ipse Joannes quod inductus per dictum hominem

prædictos errores credidit, scilicet dictos condemnatos credidit

fuisse injuste condemnatos et esse sanctos et martyres gloriosos et

esse in Paradiso, credidit etiam quod dominus papa non esset verus

papa propter condemnationem prædictorum, sicut a prædicto homine et

pluribus aliis quos nominat se asserit audivisse, et fuit in

credentia prædictorum errorum ab illo tempore citra, quo prædictus

homo sibi prædictos errores dixit usque ad illud tempus quo fuit in

Montepessulano arrestatus de mandato inquisitoris, et tunc poenituit

ut asserit, de prædictis. Item audivit a quibusdam, scilicet a

predicto Guillelmo Verrerii et aliis quod si unus homo fecisset

votum eundi ad Sanctum Jacobum quod melius faceret si daret

pecuniam illam quam expendere posset in via pauperibus latitantibus

et non aliis qui publiæ mendicabant, quia S. Jacobus vel aliquis

alius sanctus non indiget oblationibus quæ sibi offerebantur. Item

quod si unus homo promiserit alicui sancto vel beatæ Mariæ virgini

unam candelam vel ejus valorem, daret pauperibus, et hoc credidit

ipse loquens et in ipsa credentia stetit per unum annum vel quasi

sicut dixit; committens prædicta a prædicto tempore citra celavit

ea nec confiteri voluit, donec captus est et longo tempore sub

arresto positus et denique in muri carcere detentus fuit, et contra

proprium juramentum de prædictis celavit et negavit expressius a

principio veritatem, nec dictos fugitivos detexit nec capi

procuravit, dicens se poenitere.

II.

BULL OF JOHN XXII. ORDERING THE TRANSFER OF PIERRE TRENCAVEL.

(Archives de l'Inquisition de Carcassonne.--Doat, XXXV. fol. 18.)

Johannes episcopus servus servorum Dei dilecto filio Michaeli

Monachi de ordine fratrum minorum inquisitori hæreticæ pravitatis

in partibus Provinciæ auctoritate apostolica deputato salutem et

apostolicam benedictionem. Ex insinuatione dilecti filii Joannis de

Prato de ordine fratrum prædicatorum inquisitoris hæreticæ

pravitatis in partibus Carcassonensibus auctoritate apostolica

deputati nuper accepimus quod Petrus Trencavelli de Aurilhat

Biterrensis diocesis, qui olim de crimine hæresis delatus et

vehementer suspectus captus extitit et in muro inquisitionis

Carcassonæ positus et detentus, de quo muro postmodum temerariis

dicitur ausibus aufugisse, quodque factis subsequente rite

processibus contra eum, ipsoque reperto de crimine hujusmodi

culpabili et resperso, in sermone publico Carcassonæ de eodem fuit

crimine condemnatus tanquam hæreticus, necnon Andræa ejusdem Petri

filia, de prædicto crimine vehementer suspecta et etiam fugitiva,

mancipati tuis carceribus detinentur. Cum autem negotio fidei

expediat quod præfati Petrus et Andræa, ut de aliis per ipsos ut

fertur infectis, ipsorumque fautoribus in eis partibus possit

haberi certitudo plenior, inquisitori restituantur prædicto, nos

qui negotium hujusmodi ubique cupimus, Domino cooperante,

prosperari, præfati inquisitoris in hac parte supplicationibus

inclinati, discretioni tuæ per apostolica scripta mandamus quatinus

eidem inquisitori vel ejus certo nuncio prædictos Petrum

Trencavelli et Andræam filiam ejus restituere, cessante

difficultatis obstaculo, non postponas. Datum Avenione decimo

secundo Kalendas Aprilis, Pontificatus nostri anno undecimo. (21

Mar. 1327.)

III.

SENTENCE OF NAPROUS BONETA.

(Doat, XXVII. fol. 95.)

In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen. Cum nos fratres

Henricus de Chamayo Carcassonæ et P. Bruni Tholosanus inquisitores,

et Hugo Augerii et Durandus Catherini commissarii supradicti per

inquisitionem legitime factam invenimus et per confessionem vestram

fatam in judicio legitime nobis constat quod tu Naprous Boneta

filia quondam Stephani Boneti de Sancto Petro de la Cadiera

diocesis Nemausensis, habitatrix Montispessulani, contra veram

fidem catholicam et ecclesiam Romanam sacrosanctam, potestati et

auctoritati sanctæ sedis apostolicæ et domini summi pontificis

detrahendo, de potestate et auctoritate ipsius vicarii Domini

nostri Jesu Christi ac sacrosanctæ ecclesiæ principatum et

fundamentum indissolubile, et claves ac sacramenta blasphemando et

quantum in te est totaliter enervando, et male ac perverse

sentiendo de fide, plures articulos sacris canonibus contrarios,

hæreticales et erroneos sustinuisti et adhuc sustinere niteris

animo pertinaci, sicque tam graviter in crimine hæreseos deliquisti

prout est tibi lectum et recitatum intelligibiliter in vulgari;

idcirco nos inquisitores et commissarii antedicti, præfati illius

vestigiis inhærentes qui non vult mortem peccatoris, sed majus ut

convertatur et vivat, te Naprous Boneta prædictam tantos et tam

enormes errores et hæreses, ut præmittitur sustinentem et defendere

volentem protervia improba et anima pertinaci, sæpe ac sæpius

caritative prius per nostrum prædecessorem multipliciter monitam et

rogatam iteratis vicibus, nihilominus requisivimus, rogavimus,

monuimus et per probos viros religiosos et sæculares moneri et

rogari salubriter et humiliter fecimus ut a prædictis erroribus

resilire et eos revocare verbo et animo ac etiam abjurare velles,

redeundo fideliter et veraciter ad sanctæ matris ecclesiæ unitatem

quæ claudere non consuevit, imo potius aperire gremium ad eam

redire volenti; tu vero monitiones et requisitiones hujusmodi et

preces admittere hactenus recusasti et adhuc etiam recusas tuæ

sævitiæ inhærens et insuper asserens te velle in ipsis erroribus et

hæresibus, quos veros et catholicos asseris, vivere atque mori,

nolens nostris et peritorum proborumque virorum in sacra scriptura

et in utroque jure doctorum consilio credere, quoquomodo attento

per nos, et viso per experientiam manifestam quod per impunitatis

audaciam fiunt qui nequam fuerunt quotidie nequiores, ex nostro

compulsi officio, ad quod cum diligentia exercendum ex præcepto

sanctæ obedientiæ obligamur, nolentes sicuti nec debemus tam

nefanda et totæ ecclesiæ et fidei catholicæ obviantia

periculosissime ulterius tolerare, de multorum virorum religiosorum

et sæcularium peritorum in utroque jure super præmissis consilio

præhabito diligenti, Deum habentes præ oculis, sacrosanctis

evangeliis Jesu Christi positis coram nobis ut de vultu Dei nostrum

prodeat judicium et rectum appareat coram Deo, oculique nostri

videant æquitatem, hac die loco et hora præsentibus per nos

peremptorie assignatis ad audiendum diffinitivam sententiam,

sedentes pro tribunali, Christi nomine invocato, te Naprous, in et

cum his scriptis pronuntiamus, judicamus et declaramus esse

hæreticam et hæresiarcham impoenitentem et in tua duritia

pertinacem, et ecclesia non habeat quid ulterius faciat de talibus,

te, tanquam hæreticam et hæresiarcham impoenitentem et obstinatam

relinquimus curiæ sæculari, eamdem curiam rogantes, prout suadent

canonicas sanctiones, ut tibi vitam et membra citra mortis

periculum illibata conservet.

IV.

CONFESSION OF A FRATICELLO OF LANGUEDOC.

(Doat, XXVII. fol. 202.)

Frater Bartholomeus Bruguiere, sicut per ipsius confessionem sub

anno Domini MCCCXXVIII. mense Februarii factam in judicio, legitime

nobis constat, quod quibusdam quos nominat dixit: _Loquamur de

istis papis_, intelligendo sicut dixit, de Domino Joanne Papa XXII.

et de illo Italico, sic intruso, et subjunxit in veritatem: "Modo

dum Missam celebrabam, et fui in illo puncto in quo est orandum pro

Papa nostro, steti ibi aliquandiu rogitans et hesitans pro quo

istorum Paparum orare debuerem, et dum sic stetissem per aliquod

spatium, non procedens ultra, cogitavi quod unus illorum ecclesie

regimen usurpabat, alio existente vero Papa, et idcirco volui quod

oratio mea esset pro illo qui juste regimen Ecclesie tenebat,

quicunque esset ille." Nec dixit quid determinasset se ad unum nec

ad alium predictorum. Item dixit duobus fratribus predicatoribus:

"Vos alii fratres habetis bonum tempus in isto Papa in istis

partibus, et fratres nostri malum, sed in Lombardia cum illo Papa

Italico est totaliter contrarium." Dixit enim quod audiverat quod

in creatione illius Pape italici fuerunt septuaginta prelati. Item

dum citatus veniret ad inquisitoris penitentiam et jurasset ad

sancta Dei Evangelia certa hora in ejus presentia comparere, hoc

non obstante non comparuit, sed abscondit se nolens venire ad

inquisitoris mandatum. Item frequenter audivit multos fratres sui

ordinis qui dicebant quod bene staret, quod Deus daret Domino

Joanni Pape tales facendas quod de negotiis illius ordinis non

recordaretur, quia videbatur dictis fratribus quod dictus dominus

Papa non haberet aliquid pungere vel restringere nisi ordinem

eorumdem, et dixit seipsum dixisse predicta cum aliis; causam suam

et dictorum fratrum quare ista dicebant assignavit, quia dominus

Papa revocaverat constitutionem per quam dicebant procuratores suos

esse procuratores ecclesie Romane. Item dixit quod audivit

frequenter a multis fratribus sui ordinis fratrem Michaelem quondam

suum ministrum generalem esse injuste depositum et excommunicatum.

Item dixit quod dum semel predicabat dixit ista verba: "Dicitur

quod habemus duos Papas, et tamen ego credo unum esse verum Papam,"

et, aliquibus verbis interjectis, subjunxit hec verba: "Teneant se

ergo cum fortiori." Item dixit quod dum semel in magna societate

fratrum diceret: "Utinam iste Antipapa esset de ordine

predicatorum, vel de statu alio" respondit unus de fratribus: "Plus

volo quod dictus Antipapa sit de ordine nostro, quia si esset de

statu alio, tunc nec ipsum nec istum Joannem Papam haberemus

amicum, et tandem istum Italicum habemus amicum." Cujus dicto

applauserunt omnes presentes dicentes: "Bene comedit se et rodit

semetipsum modo iste Papa Joannes;" et videbatur ipsi qui loquitur,

sicut dixit, quod de ruina, infortuniis ecclesie que Domino Joanni

pape contingebant, tempore sui regiminis, multum gaudebant. Hec

omnia audivit ipse qui loquitur, nec revelavit. Item, mense Maii

sequenti, ipse predicta verba que debuit dicere in sermone,

videlicet: "Habemus duos Papas, teneamus nos cum fortiori" revocat

tanquam falso confessata per eumdem, quam confessionem fecerat,

sicut dixit, metu carceris et catene et jejunii et aque, de quibus

sibi plurimi minabantur ut dixit. Premissa omnia alia asserit esse

vera, dixit tamen quod, istis non obstantibus, nunquam credidit

quin dominus noster Papa Joannes XXII. esset verus Papa. Postque,

anno quo supra, die nona Septembris, sentiens et videns se

convictus per testis super verbis predictis in ipso sermone

prolatis, rediit ad confessionem predictam, et ab ipsa revocatione

penitus resilivit et se supposuit misericordie Inquisitoris.

(Doat, XXXV. fol. 87.)

Joannes episcopus, servus servorum Dei, dilecto filio Inquisitori

heretice pravitatis in partibus Carcassonensibus, auctoritate

apostolica deputato, salutem et apostolicam benedictionem. Exposuit

nobis dilectus filius Raimundus de Ladots ordinis fratrum minorum,

ejusdem ordinis procurator generalis, quod licet Bartholomeus

Brugerie olim predicti ordinis jamdudum, suis culpis et delictis

exigentibus, per dilectum filium Geraldum Ottonis ipsius ordinis

generalem ministrum ab eodem ordine fuerit per sententiam

deffinitivam expulsus, tu tamen ipsum ratione criminis heresis de

qua se respersum reddidit et convictum, cum habitu dictorum fratrum

detines tuis carceribus mancipatum; sane quia in opprobrium

redundaret fratrum et ordinis predictorum si dictus Bartholomeus

postquain sic expulsus extitit ab eorum ordine ipsorum habitum in

carceribus gestaret predictis, discretioni tue per apostolica

scripta mandamus quatenus habitum ejusdem Bartholomei prefato

procuratori vel dilecto filio guardiano fratrum ejusdem ordinis

Carcassone studeas quantocius assignari. Datum Avenione decimo

sexto Kalendas Octobris, Pontificatus nostri anno quintodecimo (16

Sep. 1331).

V.

EXTRACTS FROM THE SENTENCE OF CECCO D'ASCOLI.

Senza nissuna opressione di forza per sua libera e spontanea

voluntà costituito dinanzi a noi in giudizio disse e confessò che

mentre che fu citato e ricevuto per il religioso e reverendo Fr.

Lamberto del Cordiglio del Ordine de' Predicatori, inquisitore

dell' eretica pravità della Provincia de Lombardia comparse

dinanzi a lui e confessò in giudizio che elli aveva detto e

dogmatizato publicamente, leggendo che un uomo poteva nascere sotto

la Costellazione che necessariamente fosse rico o povere e d'esser

decapitato o appiccato, se Iddio non mutasse l'ordine della natura,

nè altrimenti potesse essere parlando della potenza di Dio

ordinata, overo ordinario, benchè per potenza assoluta di Dio

potesse essere altrimenti.

Ancora che aveva detto in una certa sua lezione che dal segno dell'

ottava sfera nascono homini felici di divinità, i quali si chiamo

_dijnabet_, i quali mutano le leggi secondo più o meno, come fu

Moyse, Ermete Mello e Simone Mago.

Ancora che egli aveva detto e dogmatizato perchè Cristo figliolo di

Dio ebbe nella sua nascita la Libra nel decimo grado d' essa per

ascendente, che per ciò doveva essere giusta la sua morte per

destinazione, e doveva morire di quella morte e modo che mori, e

perchè Cristo ebbe il Capricorno nell' angolo della terra però

nacque in una stalla, e perchè ebbe lo Scorpione in secondo grado,

però doveva esser povero, e perchè l' istesso Cristo ebbe Mercurio

in Gemmini in casa propria nella nona parte del cielo, però doveva

avere scienza profonda data sotto metafora.

Ancora perchè aveva detto che l' istesso Anticristo era per venire

in forma di buon soldato et accompagnato nobilmente, ne verrà in

forma di poltrone, como venne Cristo accompagnato da poltroni--

--Ancora disse e confessò che doppo la predetta abiurazione e

penitenza ... confessò d' aver osservato le costellazioni de' corpi

celesti e che secondo il corso della stel a crede che nascono i

costumi degli huomini e azioni e fini e che secondo queste cose

giudicò nel comprare e vendere per argomentare il bene e schifare

il male, et ancora nel fare essercizij et altre azzioni umane.

Ancora disse e confessò che quando fu interrogato da un certo

fiorentino rispose che credeva esser vere quelle cose che si

contengono nell' arte magica o Negromantia, e replicando il

medesimo fiorentino che se fosse vero i principi e potenti huomini

nel mondo acquisterebbero tutto, rispose e disse che non

s'acquistano perchè non sono in tutto il mondo tre astrologi che

sappiano servirsi bene di quell' arte, e questo disse aver detto

per se medesimo perchè fecce più in quell' arte astrologica che

alcun altro che fosse stato da Tolomeo in qua--

--Pronunciamo in questi scritti il predetto Maestro Cecco eretico a

sentire questa sentenza, e costituto in nostra presenza di essere

ricaduto nella eresia abiurata e di essere stato relasso, e per

questo doversi rilassare al giudizio secolare, e lo rilasiamo al

nobil soldato e cavaliere illustrissimo signor Jacopo da Brescia

Vicario fiorentino di questo ducato presente e recipiente, che lo

debba punire con debita considerazione, e di più che il suo

libretto e scritto superstizioso pazzo e negromantico fatto dal

detto Maestro sopra la sfera pieno di eresie falsità e ingane, et

un cert' altro libretto volgare intitolato Acerbo, il nome del

quale esplica benissimo il fatto, avenga che non contenga in se

maturità o dolcezza alcuna Cattolica, ma v' abbiamo trovato molte

acerbità eretiche e principalmente quando v' include che si

appartengono alia virtù e costume che riduce ogni cosa alle stelle

come in causa, e dannando i loro dogmi e dottrine e riprovandoli

deliberiamo e comandiamo per sentenza doversi abbrucciare, et al

eretico desiderando toglier la vena della fonte pestifera per

qualsivoglia meato derivino--

--Il sopradetto Signor Vicario immediatamente e senza dilazione

mandando per il capitano e sua famiglia il predetto Maestro Cecco

al luogo della giustizia dinanzi ad una moltitudine grande radunata

di popolo in quel luoga, lo fece abbrucciare come richiedevano li

suoi errori, sino alla morte sua penale, et a terrore et esempio di

tutti gli altri, come riferiscono di aver visto con li proprij

occhij Signor Vandi dal Borgo, Borghino di Maestro Chiarito dal

Prato, Manovello di Jacopo, e Giovanni Serafino, familiari dell'

Uffizio andando all' istesso luogo, come in Firenze e publico e per

evidenza del fatto manifesto.

VI.

SENTENCE OF A CARMELITE SORCERER.

(Archives de l'Inquisition de Carcassone.--Doat, XXVII. fol. 150.)

In nomine Domini amen. Quoniam nos frater Dominicus Dei gratia et

apostolicæ sedis Appamiæ episcopus et fratres Henricus de Chamayo

Carcassonæ et P. Bruni Tholosanus ordinis prædicatorum inquisitores

hæreticæ pravitatis in regno Franciæ auctoritate apostolica

deputati, per tuam confessionem propriam in judicio legitime factam

coram reverendo patre in Christo domino Jacobo tunc Appamiæ

episcopo nunc vero sedis apostolicæ cardinalis,[695] et postmodum

coram nobis per te recognitam, et etiam duobus vicibus confirmatam

legitime invenimus et nobis constat quod tu, frater Petrus Recordi

ordinis beatæ Mariæ de Carmelo a quinque annis ante confessionem

per te factam in judicio de infrascriptis et citra diversis

temporibus et locis, diabolico seductus consilio et libidinis

ardore succensus, voto castitatis quod in professione tui ordinis

emiseras, pro dolor! violato, multa gravia et enormia commisisti

sortilegia hæresim sapientia, modis et conditionibus variis et

abominabilibus, etiam recitatione indignis, et inter alia quinque

imagines cereas diversis temporibus succesive fecisti et

fabricasti, multas et diversas dæmonum conjurationes et

invocationes dicendo dum dictas imagines fabricabas, et quamplurima

venenosa etiam immiscendo, et sanguinem bufonis terribili et

horribili modo extractum infra dictas imagines infundendo et ipsas

imagines supra unam tabulam tapazeto vel panno coopertam prostratas

de sanguine narium tuarum in ventre spargendo et etiam de saliva

tua immiscendo, intendens per hoc diabolo sacrificare, quas

imagines sic factas et aliis modis recitatione indignis ponebas

clandestine in limine hospitiorum aliquarum mulierum quas

cognoscere volebas carnaliter, et de quarum numero tres isto modo

habuisti et carnaliter cognovisti et duas alias cognovisses

carnaliter nisi de loco ad locum per ordinem tuum transmissus

fuisses; et cognitis eisdem mulieribus et cum eis actu luxuriæ

perpetrato dictas imagines recipiens easdem in flumine jaciebas et

unum papilionem dabas diabolo in sacrificium, et ejusdem diaboli

præsentiam per ventum aut alias sentiebas, credens dictas imagines

habere virtutem astringendi dictas mulieres ad amorem tui vel si

consentire nollent per dæmones affligendi, et in dicta credentia

stetisti per sex annos vel circa usque captus fuisti. Item quamdam

de imaginibus prædictis in ventre percussisti, et inde sanguis

exivit. Item cuidam personæ quam sciebas esse de hæresi culpabilem,

in muro de Alemannis detentæ favorem impertivisti quamdam cedulam

manu tua scriptam cum qua se defenderet scribendo et tradendo

eidem, et multa alia sortilegia commisisti quæ prolixum esset

referre et audientibus forte tædiosum. Multociens in confessionibus

tuis variasti et revocasti eas sæpius contra juramentum proprium

temere veniendo. Demum tamen ad cor rediens ad istas confessiones

pristinas redeundo et eas ratificando et approbando tanquam veras,

dixisti te corde et animo poenitere et velle redire ad viam

veritatis, et sanctæ matris ecclesiæ unitatem, supponens te

humiliter misericordiæ ejusdem sanctæ matris ecclesiæ ac nostræ et

petens absolutionis beneficium a sententia excommunicationis, quam

pro præmissis culpis incurreras tibi per nos misericorditer

impendi, offerendo te paratum portare et complere humiliter pro

posse poenitentiam quam pro prædictis et aliis per te commissis tibi

duxerimus injungendam. Ideirco nos episcopus et inquisitores

præfati, attenta gravitate culparum tuarum prædictarum et aliarum

quæ commisisti, et revocationes varias quas fecisti, considerantes

rectæ intentionis oculo quod si talia nefanda crimina transires

impune, forsitan ad eadem vel similia imposterum iteranda facilius

relabereris et mala malis ultimaque pejora prioribus aggregares;

quodque si austeritatem justitiæ et rigorem apud te vellemus cum

totali severitate judicialiter exercere gravibus poenis et quasi

insupportabilibus punire deberes, quia tamen ecclesia non claudit

gremium redeunti humiliter misericordiam et gratiam postulanti,

æstimantes et per experientiam æstimantes te corde bono et

intentione non ficta demum fuisse confessum, et recognovisse de te

et aliis veritatem, necnon toto posse ad promotionem negotii

inquisitionis existens in carcere cum quibusdam personis de hæresi

culpabilibus et delatis, veritatem super dicto crimine celantibus

et confiteri nolentibus, ad confitendum multipliciter induxisti

multaque gravia quæ ab ipsis audiveras revelare curasti, de quibus

in fidei negotio et dictæ inquisitionis officio bonum spirituale

non modicum provenit et in futurum etiam provenire poterit, Domino

annuente, propter quod majori gratia et misericordia te reddidisti

in hoc casu spiritualiter digniorem, et insuper pensato dicti

ordinis tui honore, cui quantum bono modo poterimus deferre

volumus, et ipsius confusionem effugere, gratiose in facto

hujusmodi procedentes, te præfatum fratrem Petrum Recordi a

sententia excommunicationis qua ligatus eras pro culpis prædictis,

abjurata primitus per te in judicio coram nobis omni imaginum

talium indebita fabricatione, adoratione, et dæmonum sacrificiis et

immolatione, ac credentia sortilegiorum aliorutn quorumcumque

hæreticam sapientium pravitatem, et aliam quamcumque et specialiter

omnem fautoriam hæreticorum et etiam hæresim necnon credentiam et

receptationem et fautoriam sortilegorum et hæreticorum

quorumcumque, de peritorum consilio super hoc habito

misericorditer duximus absolvendum, et sedentes pro tribunali,

sacrosanctis Dei evangeliis positis coram nobis, ut de vultu Dei

nostrum prodeat judicium, et oculi nostri videant æquitatem rectum

quoque appareat coram ipso, hac die loco et hora præsentibus tibi

per nos peremptorie assignatis, de prædictorum peritorum consilio,

in et cum his scriptis, per hanc nostram diffinitivam sententiam

dicimus et pronunciamus te fuisse sortilegum ac immolatorem dæmonum

et fautorem hæreticorum et te tanquam talem et corde non ficto ut

asseris poenitentem et ad sinum matris ecclesiæ reversum, et nostris

mandatis obedire paratum, promittentemque pro posse tuo complere

pænitentiam tibi per nos injungendam in et cum eisdem præsentibus

scriptis te primitus omni sacerdotali et quocumque alio

ecclesiastico seu clericali ordine dicimus et decernimus

degradandum, et te sicut præmittitur postquam degradatus fueris ad

agendum pænitentiam pro commissis ex nunc pro tunc et ex tunc pro

nunc ad perpetuum carcerem in Tholosano conventu tui ordinis tibi

per nos deputatum sententialiter condemnamus et etiam adjudicamus;

in quo quidem carcere in vinculis et compedibus ferreis detineri et

panem et aquam dumtaxat pro omni cibo et potu tibi ministrari

volumus et mandamus, ut ibidem perpetuo peccata tua defleas et

panem pro cibo doloris et aquam pro potu tribulationis habeas et

recipias patienter; ita quod vivere inibi sapiat tibi mortem, et

mors quam ibi tuleris tibi vitam tribuat sempiternam. Verum si,

quod absit et Deus avertat, te in posterum antequam ad dictum

carcerem venias vel in ipso fueris intrusus, diabolico instinctu

fugere contigerit vel ipso carcere modo quolibet exire vel frangere

absque nostro speciali mandato vel licentia et negligere aut non

complere poenitentiam prædictam tibi per nos impositam, volumus,

ordinamus, et præsentis scripti serie declaramus absolutionem per

nos et gratiam tibi factam penitus esse nullam, et te tanquam

impoenitentem ficteque et dolose conversum, pristinæ

excommunicationis vinculo fore totaliter irretitum. Porro, ne

priores et fratres dicti conventus ubi fueris in carcere detrusus

negligenter aut scienter te permiserint evadere vel licentiam

dederint evadendi, vel procurantibus assenserint, opem vel auxilium

dederint scienter, protestamur eisdem et auctoritate qua fungimur

nobis et nostris in officio successoribus potestatem specialiter

reservamus procedendi contra ipsos et eorum quemlibet prout de

jure, stylo, cursu, usu et privilegiis inquisitionis fuerit

procedendum; retinemus autem nobis et nostris in hoc officio

successoribus liberam potestatem et auctoritatem mutandi in dicta

poenitentia, et eam mitigandi vel minuendi, vel ipsam totaliter

remittendi, si et quando et prout de peritorum consilio nobis visum

fuerit faciendum, et in favorem tui ordinis super degradatione

actualiter facienda de speciali gratia dispensamus, et dictam

degradationem facere nec fieri volumus ob reverentiam ordinis

memorati. Lata fuit hæc sententia anno Domini MCCC vicesimo octavo,

die Martis in crastino festi Sti. Marcelli (17 Jan. 1329),

indictione XII., pontificatus SSmi patris et domini, Domini

Joannis divina providentia papæ XXII. anno decimo tertio, in aula

episcopali urbis Appamiæ, præsentibus venerabilibus et discretis

viris (sequuntur 43 nomina), testibus ... et notariis....

VII.

BULL OF JOHN XXII. REMOVING SORCERY FROM THE JURISDICTION OF THE

INQUISITION.

(Archives des Frères-prêcheurs de Toulouse.--Doat, XXXIV. fol.

181.)

Johannes episcopus servus servorum Dei venerabilibus fratribus

archiepiscopo tholosano ejusque suffraganeis et dilecto filio

inquisitori hæreticæ pravitatis in regno Franciæ per sedem

apostolicam depututo, Tholosæ residenti, salutem et apostolicam

benedictionem. Dudum venerabilis frater noster Guillelmus episcopus

Sabinensis scripsit tibi, fili inquisitor, de mandato nostro per

suas litteras in hac forma: Guillelmus miseratione divina episcopus

Sabinensis religioso viro inquisitori hæreticæ pravitatis in

partibus tholosanis salutem in Domino sempiternam. Sanctissimus

pater noster et dominus, dominus Johannes divina providentia papa

vicesimus secundus optans ferventer maleficos infectores gregis

Dominici effugare de medio domus Dei, vult, ordinat, vobisque

committit quod auctoritate sua contra eos qui dæmonibus immolant

vel ipsos adorant aut homagium ipsis faciant, dando eis in signum

cartam scriptam seu aliud quodcumque; vel qui expressa pacta

obligatoria faciunt cum eisdem, aut qui operantur vel operari

procurant quamcumque imaginem vel quodcumque aliud ad dæmonem

alligandum seu cum dæmonum invocatione ad quodcumque maleficium

perpetrandum, aut qui sacramento baptismatis abutendo imaginem de

cera seu re alia factam baptizant, sive faciunt baptizare, seu

alias cum invocatione dæmonum ipsam fabricant quomodolibet, aut

faciunt fabricari, aut si scienter baptismus seu ordo vel

confirmatio iterantur. Item de sortilegis et maleficis qui

sacramento eucharistiæ seu hostia consecrata necnon et aliis

sacramentis ecclesiæ, seu ipsorum aliquo, quoad eorum formam vel

materiam utendo eis in suis sortilegiis seu maleficiis abutuntur,

possitis inquirere et alias procedere contra ipsos, modis tamen

servatis qui de procedendo cum prælatis in facto heresis vobis a

canonibus sunt præfixi. Ipse namque dominus noster præfatus

potestatem inquisitoribus datam a jure quoad Inquisitionis officium

contra hæreticos, necnon et privilegia, ad prætactos casus omnes et

singulos ex certa scientia ampliat et extendit quoadusque duxerit

revocandum. Nos itaque præmissa omnia vobis significamus per has

nostras patentes litteras de præfati Domini nostri Papæ speciali

mandato facto nobis ab ipso oraculo vivæ vocis. Datum Avenione die

vicesima secunda mensis Augusti anno Domini MCCC vicesimo,

pontificatus prædicti Domini Papæ anno quarto. Sane noviter

intellecto quod errores et abominationes in eisdem litteris

comprehensi in partibus illis, de quibus in litteris ipsis habetur

mentio, adhuc vigent, nos cupientes super ipsis, ne deinceps

pullulent, plenius providere, discretioni vestræ præsentium tenore

committimus et mandamus quatinus omnes inquisitiones quas

auctoritate litterarum hujusmodi, vos, fratres Archiepiscope et

suffraganei, prout quemlibet vestrum tangit, et tu inquisitor

præfate, cum singulis eorumdem insimul, vel tu inquisitor solus per

teipsum inchoastis, si completæ non fuerint, vos, Archiepiscope et

suffraganei, quilibet vestrum videlicet in sua diocesi per se vel

alium, quem ad huc deputandum duxeritis, et tu inquisitor

prædicte, insimul celeriter compleatis; quas postquam compleveritis

una cum illis quæ jam per te solum, præfate inquisitor, forsitan

sunt completæ, nobis sub vestris sigillis fideliter interclusas

quanto citius poteritis transmittatis, ut eis visis quid faciendum

sit tam super illis de quibus fuerit inquisitum, quam super omnibus

cæteris de quibus nondum est inceptum inquiri, plenius et certius,

auctore Domino, disponamus. Tu vero, inquisitor prædicte, super

illis de quibus adhuc inquirere non coepisti prætextu dictarum

litterarum, nisi forsan aliud a nobis receperis in mandatis, te

nullatenus intromittas. Per hæc autem non intendimus vobis vel

vestrum alicui, quantum ad illa quæ a jure vobis alias sunt

permissa, in aliquibus derogari. Datum Avinione secundo Nonas

Novembris, pontificatus nostri anno decimo quinto (Nov. 4, 1330).

VIII.

DECISION OF THE COUNCIL OF VENICE CONCERNING THE WITCHES OF

BRESCIA.

(Archivio di Venezia. Misti Cons. X. Vol. 44, p. 7.)

1521 Die 21 Martii in Cons. X. cum additione. É sta sempre

instituto del religiosissimo stato nostro in scontar li heretici et

extirpar cussi detestando crimine, siccome nella promission del

Serenissimo Principe et capitular de conseieri nei primi capituli

se leze. Dal che sine dubbio è processa la protectione che sempre

el Signer Dio ha havuta della Republica nostra come per infinite

experiente de tempo in tempo se ha veduto. Unde essendo in questa

materia de i strigoni et heretici da proceder cum gran maturità

però l' andarà parte che chiamado nel collegio nostro el Revmo

Legato intervenendo i capi di questo conseio li sia per el Sermo

Prencipe nostro cum quelle grave et accomodate parole pareranno

alla sapientia de sua serenità dechiarito quanto l' importi che

questa materia sia cum maturità et justicia rite et recte et per

ministri che manchino de ogni suspitione tractata et terminata in

forma che iuxta la intention et desiderio nostro tutto passi

iuridicamente et cum satisfaction dell' honor del Signor Dio et

della fede catholica. E però ne par debino esser deputadi ad questa

inquisitione uno o doi Reverendi Episcopi insieme cum uno

venerabile Inquisitor i qual tutti siano de doctrina, bontà et

integrità prestanti ac omni exceptione majores: Azò non se incorri

nelli errori vien ditto esser seguiti fin questo jorno et

unitamente cum doi excellenti doctori de Bressa habbino a formar

legitime i processi contra i dicti strigoni et heretici. Formati

veramente i processi (citra tamen torturam) siano portati a Bressa

dove per i predicti cum la presentia et intervento de ambi li

Rectori nostri et cum la corte del Podestà et quattro altri Doctori

de Bressa della qualità sopradicta: siano lecti essi processi facti

cum al dir etiam i rei et intender se i ratificheranno i loro dicti

o se i voranno dir altro nec non far nove examinatione o

repetitione et etiam torturar se cussi indiciaranno. Le quel cose

facte cum ogni diligentia et circumspectione se procedi poi alla

sententia per quelli a chi l' appartien, iuxta el conseio dei

sopranominati. Ala execution de la qual servatis omnibus premissis

et non aliter, sia dato el brachio secular; et questo che se ha a

servar neli processi da esser formati nel advenir sia medesimamente

servato et exequito neli processi formati per avanti; non obstante

che le sententie fusseno sta facte sopra de quelli. Preterea sia

efficacemente parlato cum dicto Revmo Legato e datogli cargo che

circa la spese da esser fatte per la inquisitione el facci tal

limitatione che sia conveniente e senza extorsion o manzarie come

se dice esser sta facte fin al presente. Sed in primis se trovi

alcun expediente che lo appetito del danaro non sia causa de far

condennar o vergognar alcuno senza aver cum minima culpa sicome

vien divulgato finhora in molti esser seguito. Et die cader in

considerazione che quelli poveri di Valcamonica sono gente simplice

et de grossissimo inzegno et che hariano non minor bisogno de

predicatori cum prudente instructione della fede catholica che de

persecutori cum animadversione essendo uno tanto numero de anime

quante se ritrovano in quelli monti e vallade.

Demum sia suaso el Rmo Legato a la deputation de alcune persone

idonee qual habbino ad reveder et investigar le manzarie et altre

cose mal fatte che fusseno sta commesse fin questo jorno ne la

inquisitione, et che habbino ad syndicar et castigar quelli che

havesseno perpetrati de i mancamenti che si divulgano cum

murmuration universale. Et questo sia facto de presenti senza

interposition de tempo per bon exemplo de tutti.

Et ex nunc captum sit: che da poi facta la presente execution cum

el Rmo Legato se vegni a questo Conseio per deliberar quanto se

havrà ad scriver alli Rectori nostri de Bressa et altrove sicome

sarà indicato necessario. Et sia etiam preso che tutte le

pignoration ordinate et facte da poi la sospension presa a dì XII

Dicembre proximo preterito in questo conseio siano irrite et nulle

ne haver debbino alcuna executione.

De parte--24. De non--1. Non sinceri--2.

IX.

CONFESSION OF A PARDONER.

(Doat, XXVI. fol. 314.)

Anno Domini MCCLXXXIX quinto Kalendas Aprilis, Berengarius Pomilli

clericus uxoratus de Narbona predicator questuarius citatus

comparuit Carcassone coram fratre Guillelmo de Sancto Secano

inquisitore, et juratus super sancta Dei evangelia dicere

veritatem, requisitus per dictum inquisitorem sponte recognovit et

dixit quod officium questuarii exercuerat pro fabrica pontium et

ecclesiarum et pro aliis negotiis triginta annis vel circa in

diocesi Carcassone et Narbone et quibusdam aliis. Dixit etiam quod

in diocesi Carcassonensi infra annum pluries predicavit publice

clero et populo, dum missa solemniter celebrabatur, et inter alia

predicavit ut dixit quod qui daret ei pro hospitali Sancti Johannis

unam poneriam bladi pro dicta mensura haberet triginta missas. Item

dixit quod crux, in qua pependit Dominus Jesus Christus et quam

portavit in suis humeris, erat adeo magna et tanti ponderis quod

decem homines essent onerati de ea portanda. Item dixit quod cum

beata Virgo staret ad pedem crucis, ad preces ipsius crux

inclinata est ad eam versus terram, et ipsa osculata est pedes et

manus filii sui dum penderet in dicta cruce, et iterato crux se

erexit. Dixit etiam quod beata Maria Magdalena quandocumque esset

peccatrix et exposita operibus luxurie, non tamen se exponebat

hominibus effectu libidinis vel desiderio voluptatis carnalis, sed

cum ipsa vocaretur Maria et Christus debebat concipi et nasci de

Maria, credebat quod Christum debebat concipere et parere, et se

diversis hominibus exponebat. Dixit etiam se predicasse quedam

fabulosa de Purgatorio et de liberatione animarum benefacto

eleemosinarum et Missarum, que tamen in scriptura reperiuntur, sed

dixit se a bonis hominibus audivisse; et ista predicavit in

presentia fratris Berengarii de ordinis hospitalis sancti Johannis

qui moratur Narbone. Requisitus si predicta que superius scripta

sunt credit et credidit esse vera, respondit quod non, sed falsa et

mendosa et erronea, sed ea predicavit ut moveret homines quod

darent sibi aliquid. Dixit etiam quod predicta predicavit in

ecclesiis de Podionauterio, de Aragone, de Villasicca, de Sancta

Eulalia, de Comelano, de Monteclaro, de Roffiaco. Inquisitus si

intelligit Latinum, respondit quod non. Super quibus petivit

penitentiam et indulgentiam quam predictus inquisitor voluerit sibi

injungere. Hec deposuit coram predicto inquisitore, presentibus

fratribus Petro de Leva, Petro Regis, Joanne de Felgosio, ordinis

fratrum predicatorum, et me Raimundo de Malveriis, notario

inquisitionis qui hec scripsi et recepi.

INDEX.

ABBREVIATIONS.--Abp. = Archbishop.--Bp. = Bishop.--C. = Council.--exc. =

excommunication or excommunicated.--Inq. = Inquisition.--inq. =

inquisitor.

Abelard on the sale of salvation, i. 41. his "_Sic et Non_," i. 57.

Abjuration of penitents in _autos de fé_, i. 392.

of suspects, i. 456.

by confessed heretics, i. 457.

receivable at the stake, i. 542.

necessity of, ii. 476.

required of Huss, ii. 485.

modified offered to Huss, ii. 488, 489.

of Jerome of Prague, ii. 499.

of Joan of Arc, iii. 370.

of sorcery, iii. 499.

not required of Savonarola, iii. 234; nor of Gilles de Rais, iii. 486.

Abruzzi, a refuge for Cathari, ii. 245.

Absentees, trial of, i. 403.

confiscation of their property, i. 504.

Absolution by wholesale, i. 40.

concurrence of bishop and inq. in, i. 336.

of familiars, i. 381.

mutual, of inqs., i. 422.

priestly, unavailing, i. 462.

Abundia, Domina, iii. 494.

Abuses of familiars, i. 382.

pecuniary, of Inq., i. 477.

Abyssinia, Dominican missions in, i. 298.

Inq. in, i. 355.

Academy of Rome, iii. 570.

Acciajuoli, their debt to Clement VI., ii. 277.

Accomplices, evidence of, i. 434.

Accursio, Frà, his proceedings against Ghibellines, iii. 201.

burns Cecco d'Ascoli, iii. 443.

Accusatio, i. 310.

discouraged by Inq., i. 401.

Accusations of heresy, their political utility, iii. 191.

Accused, examination of, i. 410.

preliminary oath of, i. 399.

Accuser, security required of, i. 402.

Acerinus, St., i. 460.

Achaia, Templars prosecuted in, iii. 285.

Acquittal prohibited, i. 453; iii. 513.

Acre, fall of, in 1291, iii. 246.

Acts, unimportance of, i. 100; iii. 644.

Ada d'Avesnes, her piety, i. 45

Adalbert, Bp., teaches angel-worship, iii. 412.

Adam, inquisitorial trial of, i. 406.

Adam of Bremen, his account of northern church, iii. 183.

Adam de Marisco, his belief in pseudo-Joachim, iii. 13.

Adamites in Bohemia, ii. 518.

Adamo da Como, his rigor, ii. 244.

_Ad conditorem_, bull, iii. 133.

_Ad extirpanda_, bull, i. 337, 421, 510; ii. 214; iii. 191, 431.

Adjuration for mercy, i. 227, 534.

Adoptianism, i. 217.

Adoration of heretics, its significance, i. 95, 450.

_Ad providam_, bull, iii. 323.

Adrian IV. overcomes Arnald of Brescia, i. 74.

Adrian V. protects John of Parma, iii. 25.

Adrian VI. commends Maximus, i. 214.

orders persecution of witches, iii. 546.

Advocates of heretics, their punishment, i. 321.

denial of, i. 444; ii. 478.

appointed by inq., iii. 517.

Æneas Sylvius--see Pius II.

Æsir, their magic powers, iii. 403.

Affirmative apostoli, i. 451.

Affonso II. (Portugal) persecutes heresy, ii. 188.

Africa, Inq. in, i. 355.

Age for holding benefices, i. 25; ii. 433.

of inqs., i. 374.

of responsibility, i. 402, 436; ii. 399.

_Agnus Dei_, iii. 410.

Agostino Luciano serves Calixtins, ii. 565.

Agobard (St.) of Lyons denies sorcery, iii. 414.

Agrippa, Cornelius, on suspicion of heresy, i. 455.

his belief in Joachim, iii. 11.

defends a witch, iii. 545.

Ahriman, influence of the conception of, iii. 379.

Aicardo, Abp. of Milan, tries Matteo Visconti, iii. 199.

Aikenhead, hanged for heresy, i. 354.

Ailly, Pierre d', on toleration, i. 540.

recognizes the Inq., ii. 139.

condemns William of Hilderniss, ii. 406.

condemns Matthew Grabon, ii. 410.

his dealing with Huss, ii. 485, 489.

favors Jerome of Prague, ii. 501.

his belief in Joachim, iii. 11.

his astrological work, iii. 438, 445.

Aimeric Castel, son of Castel Fabri, ii. 69, 73, 90, 93, 102, 574.

Akkads, lustful spirits of, iii. 383.

Alain de l'Isle refutes the Waldenses, i. 79.

his derivation of Cathari, iii. 495.

Alaman de Roaix, case of, i. 508, 550.

Albanenses, i. 115; ii. 193.

Albania, inq. provided for, ii. 311.

Greek Church in, iii. 617, 619.

Albano, Pierre, Cardinal of, i. 284, 332, 370; iii. 426.

Alberic of Ostia confutes Éon, i. 66.

Alberic, legate, assails Henry of Lausanne, i. 70.

Alberico, first inq. in Lombardy, ii. 201.

Alberico da Romano, his death, ii, 228.

Albero of Mercke, his heresy, i. 63.

Albert, inq., burns Martin of Mainz, ii. 395.

Albert of Austria, his reign in Bohemia, ii. 539.

Albert, Bp. of Halberstadt, tried for heresy, ii. 392.

Albert of Saxony protects Gregory of Heimburg, ii. 418.

Albertino, Arnaldo, on Lully, iii. 589.

Alberto de' Capitanei, his crusade against Waldenses, ii. 160, 266.

Alberto, Giovanni, his Inq. resisted, ii. 259.

Alberto of Pisa, Franciscan general, iii. 7.

Albertus Magnus controverts the Ortlibenses, ii. 323.

overcomes Wm. of St. Amour, iii. 23.

Albi, Henricians in, i. 70.

struggle with Cathari in, i. 117.

quarrel between bishop and inq., i. 363.

viguier of, disabled, i. 380.

bribery of inqs. at, i. 478.

Inq. in, ii. 10.

insurrection in 1234, ii. 12.

zeal against heresy, ii. 40.

appeals to Philippe III., ii. 58.

quarrels with Bp. Bernard, ii. 68, 78.

arrest of citizens in 1299, ii. 71, 76, 81, 83.

persecution of Dominicans, ii. 82.

suspension of persecution, ii. 87.

it escapes by bribery, ii. 89.

petition of clergy against Inq., ii. 91, 571.

accuses the Inq., ii. 92, 574.

state of prisons at, ii. 94.

prisoners of, delay in their trials, ii. 95, 572.

question of their guilt, ii. 603.

reconciliation of, ii. 102.

Albi, Bp. of, imprisoned, i. 123.

share in confiscations, i. 515.

Albi, C. of, 1254, regulates the Inq., ii. 51, 317, 340,

350, 380, 432, 435, 444, 476, 489, 507, 526.

Albigenses, i. 115.

Albigensian crusades, i. 147.

Albik of Unicow, ii. 447.

Albizio, Cardinal, on burning heretics, i. 536.

on political heresy, iii. 198.

Alchemy not considered a crime, iii. 482.

aid of Satan requisite, iii. 436, 473.

cultivated by Arnaldo de Vilanova iii. 52.

Lully's opinion, iii. 582.

Alcoran des Cordeliers, i. 262.

Aldhelm, St., his test of continence, iii. 109.

Aldobrandini, Accursio, case of, i. 433.

Aldobrandini, Frà, prosecutes Armanno Pongilupo, ii. 241.

Alessandro da Alessandria, iii. 61.

Alexander II., his laxity, i. 32.

Alexander III. exempts Templars from papal legates, i. 16.

on promotion of minors, i. 25.

regulates wills, i. 29.

maintains monastic exemption, i. 35.

on abuse of indulgences, i. 41.

his leniency to Cathari, i. 112, 220.

his measures against heresy, i. 118.

prohibits ordeals, i. 306.

his uncertainty as to penalties, i. 308.

his leniency to sorcery, iii. 422.

Alexander IV. supports the Mendicants, i. 284.

condemns Wm. of St. Amour, i. 287.

bull to Franciscan missionaries, i. 297.

restricts legatine Inq., i. 317; ii. 51.

annuls episcopal concurrence in sentences, i. 335.

forces Mantua to obey the Inq., i. 341.

case of Capello di Chia, i. 343.

on removability of inquisitors, i. 344.

revises bull _ad extirpanda_, i. 339.

orders capture of Niccolò da Vercelli, i. 397.

allows inqs. to torture, i. 422.

admits heretics as witnesses, i. 435.

lightens disabilities of descendants, i. 498.

assumes the confiscations, i. 510.

suspends Inq. in Besançon, i. 530; ii. 120.

punishment for relapse, i. 546.

on relapse in suspicion, i. 547.

on unfulfilled penance, i. 548.

his energetic support of Inq., ii. 222.

orders crusade against Ezzelin da Romano, ii. 227.

his treatment of Uberto Pallavicino, ii. 228, 230.

urges suppression of heresy, in 1258, ii. 238.

Alexander IV. introduces Inq. in Bohemia, ii. 428.

forces John of Parma to resign, iii. 24.

on the question of poverty, iii. 27, 28.

preaches crusade against Manfred, iii. 193.

grants restricted jurisdiction on sorcery to Inq., iii. 434.

his dealings with Greek Church, iii. 619.

on _quæstuarii_, iii. 622.

Alexander V. provides for expenses of Inq., i. 532; ii. 138.

orders Talmud burned, i. 556.

orders Wickliff's books suppressed, ii. 443.

orders Hussitism suppressed, ii. 447.

his instructions to Pons Feugeyron, ii. 157; iii. 204.

Alexander VI., his excommunication scorned in France, ii. 137.

tolerates Waldenses, ii. 160.

supports the Mendicants, i. 292.

his dealings with Savonarola, iii. 214-21, 232.

orders persecution of witches, iii. 546.

rehabilitates Giov. Pico, iii. 574.

evades question of Immaculate Conception, iii. 602.

his cynicism, iii. 644.

Alexander VIII. canonizes Capistrano, ii. 555.

Alexians, ii. 351.

Alexis Comnenus converts the Paulicians, i. 90.

Alfonso I. (Naples), his Humanism, iii. 566, 567.

Algisius releases heretics, i. 452.

commutes penances, i. 473.

Alibi, resort to, i. 447.

Alienations by heretics invalid, i. 520.

Allart on Templar possessions, iii. 252.

Allegiance dissolved by heresy, ii. 469.

_Alma mater_, bull, iii. 297.

Alonso I. (Aragon), his bequest to Military Orders, iii. 240.

addicted to divination, iii. 429.

Alonso II. (Aragon), persecutes Waldenses, i. 81.

decrees confiscation, i. 502.

Alonso V. (Aragon) favors Lullism, iii. 587.

Alonso IX. (Castile) wins battle of Las Navas, i. 169.

Alonso X. (Castile), his laws on heresy, i. 221; ii. 183.

on Jewish books, i. 555.

on occult arts, iii. 430.

on denial of immortality, iii. 560.

denounced as Antichrist, iii. 24.

Alonso XI. (Castile) retains Templar property, iii. 333.

Alonso de Almarzo, his heresy, ii. 186.

Alonso of Avila on plenary indulgence, i. 43.

on Spanish Inq., ii. 186.

Alonso de Spina on death-penalty, i. 535.

on condition of Spain, ii. 186, 187.

condemns astrology, iii. 445.

disbelieves the Sabbat, iii. 496.

Aloutier, Jean, denies sinlessness of Virgin, iii. 603.

Alphonse of Poitiers marries Jeanne of Toulouse, i. 206.

urges use of synodal witnesses, i. 317.

commutes confiscations, i. 515.

his zeal for the Inq., i. 519, 527, 528; ii. 48.

grants jurisdiction to Inq., iii. 435.

his death, ii. 56.

Alphonse of Portugal, burning of, ii. 142.

Altburg, Beguines ejected, ii. 413.

Altenesch, battle of, 1234, iii. 188.

Amadeo VI. (Savoy) ordered to persecute, ii. 153, 261.

Amadeo VII., his lukewarmness, ii. 256, 261.

Amadeo VIII. elected pope, ii. 533.

Amadeo de' Landi, case of, ii. 271.

Amasis of Egypt, iii. 418.

Amauri de Bène, his heresy, ii. 320.

influences German mysticism, ii. 354, 360.

Amauri de Montfort, i. 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 198, 205.

Amauri of Tyre arrests Templars of Cyprus, iii. 309.

Amaurians, their suppression, ii. 321.

doctrine of the three eras, iii. 17.

Ambrose, St., excommunicates Maximus, i. 214.

Amelius of Toulouse represses Cathari, i. 117.

Amiel de Perles, i. 393; ii. 106, 107, 130, 240.

Amiens, Bp. of, refuses to burn witches, iii. 533.

Amistance of Narbonne, ii. 13.

Amizzoni, Lanfranco de', inq., iii. 98.

Amosites, ii. 566.

Amselfeld, battles of, ii. 306, 311.

Amulets, relics worn as, i. 49.

Anagni, Commission of, condemns Joachim, iii. 16, 22.

prevalence of heresy in 1258, ii. 238.

Anathema, papal, heresy of disregarding, iii. 181.

Ancona, Clareni in, iii. 40.

Franciscan laxity in, iii. 34.

Fraticelli persecuted, iii. 175, 176, 177.

Andrea Saramita, iii. 91, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 101.

Andrea da Segna protects Spirituals, iii. 40.

Andreani, burned at Pisa, ii. 282.

Andreas of Caffa, inq. of Tartary, i. 355.

Andreas of Hungary, ii. 294.

Andreas of Krain summons a general council, iii. 223.

Andreas, Bp. of Minorca, on corruption of Church, iii. 638.

Andreas of Prague condemned, ii. 437.

Andres, abbey of, its litigation, i. 22.

Aneberg, Count, accused of heresy, ii. 339.

Angel-worship, iii. 412.

Angèle de la Barthe, her demon child, iii. 384.

Angelo da Clarino, his punishment, iii. 33.

his expatriation, iii. 38.

returns to Italy, iii. 39.

becomes chief of Spirituals, iii. 40.

his estimate of Clementines, ii. 97; iii. 60.

his pacific temper, iii. 64.

imprisoned and released, iii. 70.

denounced by Olivists, iii. 81.

his death and beatification, iii. 65.

Angelo Ricciardino persecutes Waldenses, ii. 267.

Angelo of Verbosa, ii. 308, 315.

Angermünde, Luciferans burned at, i. 456; ii. 375.

Waldenses suppressed, ii. 416.

Anglo-Saxon legislation on sorcery, iii. 420.

Angrogna, Waldenses of, ii. 195, 259, 267.

Anhalt, Flagellants burned in, ii. 409.

Anjou, number of heretics in, i. 127.

C. of, 1294, on sorcery, iii. 426.

Annibaldo, his laws against heresy, i. 324.

sent to Aragon, ii. 163.

sent to Milan, ii. 200.

sent to Germany, ii. 331.

Anno of Cologne, his tolerance, i. 219.

Anquira, C. of, on the Sabbat, iii. 494.

Anselm of Liége, his tolerance, i. 219.

Anselm, St., on the Conception of the Virgin, iii. 596.

Antichrist, belief in, iii. 527.

Antipopes of Spirituals, iii. 38, 63, 65, 80.

Antisacerdotal heresies, i. 62.

Antisacerdotalism of Waldensianism, i. 83.

of Flagellants, ii. 407.

of Wickliff, ii. 441.

of Apostolic Brethren, iii. 121.

Antonino, St., on the Templars, iii. 328.

Antonio, Frà, his failure at Venice, ii. 253.

Antonio da Brescia, ii. 272.

Antonio, Bp. of Massa, his campaign against Waldenses, ii. 154.

Antony, St., of Padua, persecutes heretics, i. 197.

scourged by Elias, iii. 6.

his canonization, i. 256.

Antwerp, church of, in eleventh century, i. 64.

origin of Lollards in, ii. 350.

Apollonius of Tyana, iii. 389, 390.

transmits Notory Art, iii. 436.

Apostasy of Jewish converts, ii. 63.

Apostates, confiscation for, i. 502.

Apostoli, i. 361.

application for, i. 451.

in witch-trials, iii. 517.

Apostolic Brethren, iii. 103.

their growth, iii. 105.

their austerity, iii. 108.

their doctrines, iii. 109, 111, 121.

their organization, iii. 112.

persecuted in Spain ii. 184.

burned in Mecklenburg, ii. 402.

Apostolic Succession in Bohemia, ii. 564.

Appeals from Inq., i. 450.

punished, ii. 62.

refused in witch-trials, iii. 517, 531.

Appellate jurisdiction of Rome, its influence, i. 17.

Appointment of bishops, i. 6.

of inqs., i. 344; ii. 272.

of notaries, i. 379.

Appuleius, his trial, iii. 391.

Apulia, Waldensian settlements in, ii. 248, 259, 268.

Aquila, Bp. of, his fate, i. 558.

Aquileia, nature-worship in, ii. 301.

Aquinas, St. Thomas, on punishment of heresy, i. 229, 535.

on guilt of heresy, i. 236.

on burning for relapse, i. 546.

answers William of St. Amour, i. 286.

confutes Joachim, iii. 14.

on withdrawal of cup from laity, ii. 473.

concessions as to poverty, iii. 1.

denies papal dispensation for vows, iii. 77.

on heresy of disobedience, iii. 192.

on Incubi and Succubi, iii. 385.

admits sorcerers' power over elements, iii. 415.

on Ars Notoria, iii. 436.

condemns astrology, iii. 439.

on divination by dreams, iii. 447.

on the Divine Vision, iii. 591.

denies Immaculate Conception, iii. 598.

on papal simony, iii. 628.

Aquitaine, Cathari appear in, i. 108.

number of heretics in, i. 127.

confiscations in, ii. 112.

Arabic literature of magic, iii. 429.

Aragon, Waldenses persecuted in, 1194, i. 81.

its subjection to St. Peter, i. 157.

inqs. appointed, i. 302.

legislation of Jayme I., i. 319, 323.

subjection of State, i. 340.

confiscation for heresy, i. 502.

expenses of Inquisition, i. 531.

Jewish books seized, i. 555.

lampoons on Church, ii. 3.

career of Inq. in, ii. 162.

Arnaldo de Vilanova, iii. 55.

Spirituals in, iii. 85.

Fraticelli, iii. 168.

crusade against Pedro III., iii. 190.

bequest of Alonso I. to the Templars, iii. 240.

proceedings against Templars, iii. 310.

Templar property, iii. 332.

laws on sorcery, iii. 430.

controversy over Lully, iii. 584.

Arbitrary procedure, i. 406, 440.

Archdeacons superseded, i. 309.

Ardingho, Bishop of Florence, his statutes, i. 327.

Argentières, Waldenses of, ii. 147, 154, 157, 160.

Arians, persecution by, i. 216.

Aristotle, his works suppressed, i. 58, 554; ii. 322.

Arius, his writings suppressed, i. 213.

Arles, conference of, in 1211, i. 166.

Aries, C. of, 1234, orders synodal witnesses, i. 317.

regulates episcopal Inq., i. 331.

orders converts imprisoned, i. 484.

C. of, 1265, condemns the Joachites, iii. 26.

Arlotto di Prato condemns Olivi's writings, iii. 44.

Arms, familiars to bear, i. 382.

licenses to bear, sold by inqs., i. 383.

Armanno Pongilupo, case of, i. 404; ii. 240.

Armenia, Franciscan missions in, i. 298.

Inq. in, i. 355.

Paulicians in, i. 90.

Spirituals sent to, iii. 35.

Arnald of Brescia, i. 72.

Arnaldistas, i. 75.

Arnaldo of Castelbo, his condemnation, ii. 169.

Arnaldo di Pelagrua leads crusade against Ferrara, iii. 195.

Arnaldo de Vilanova, his career, iii. 52.

intercedes for Spirituals, iii. 56.

his description of inqs., ii. 249.

his writings burned, iii. 85.

Arnaud Catala, ii. 8, 10, 12.

Arnaud of Citeaux appointed legate, i. 139.

orders crusade preached, i. 147.

leads the crusade, i. 153.

his ferocity at Béziers, i. 154.

selects de Montfort, i. 159.

obtains archbishopric of Narbonne, i. 15, 168.

leads crusade into Spain, i. 169.

supports Raymond VI., i. 182.

exc. de Montfort, i. 184.

his death, i. 196.

Arnaud Dominique, his murder, ii. 16.

Arnaud Garsia resists the Inq., ii. 82, 100, 101.

Arnaud Morlana, ii. 60.

Arnaud Novelli, of Fontfroide, ii. 87, 572.

Arnest of Prague persecutes heresy, ii. 434.

Arnold the Catharan burned at Cologne, i. 104.

Arnold of Trèves buys off papal legates, i. 16.

Arnoul, Bp. of Lisieux, iii. 422.

Arrabbiati, opponents of Savonarola, iii. 215, 221.

Arras, Bp. of, burns Beghards, ii. 127.

Vaudois of, i. 505, 532; iii. 384, 519.

Arrest, preliminaries requisite to, ii. 139.

destroys power of witches, iii. 509.

Arringer of Ragusa, ii. 292.

Ars Notoria, iii. 429, 436.

Art of Lully, iii. 582.

Art of St. George, iii. 436.

Articles, the four, of the Hussites, ii. 519, 533, 534.

the forty-five of Wickliff, ii. 446, 482.

Artisson, Robert, the demon, iii. 457.

Artois, Cathari in, 1153, i. 111.

Artus III. (Brit.) persecutes witches, iii. 537.

Ascalon, siege of, iii. 242.

execution of witches, iii. 396.

Asceticism a sign of heresy, i. 87.

akin to Manichæism, i. 100.

of Cathari, i. 96, 101.

of St. Dominic, i. 251.

of Observantines, iii. 179.

of Order of the Temple, iii. 239.

of Ortlibenses, ii. 357.

of Peter Martyr, ii. 214.

of Waldenses, i. 86; ii. 150.

influence of, i. 238.

Aschaffenburg, C. of, 1292, condemns Beghards, ii. 367.

Aschersleben, Flagellants of, ii. 408.

Ashes of heretics thrown in river, i. 75, 553; ii. 420, 493;

iii. 234, 374, 608.

Asia, Inq. in, i. 355.

Assalit, Arnaud, his accounts, i. 528.

Assembly of experts, i. 377, 387, 389, 390.

not used in northern France, ii. 123; iii. 367.

Assessors in the case of Joan of Arc, iii. 361.

Assisi, church of St. Francis in, iii. 4.

Assises de Jerusalem, heresy in, i. 356; iii. 431.

Assistants of inqs, i. 374.

Assizes of Clarendon, i. 113, 311, 481.

Assyrian Lil and Lilit, iii. 383.

Asti, introduction of Inq., i. 322; ii. 221.

Astrolabe, punishment for use of, iii. 422.

Astrologers employed in behalf of church, ii. 227.

burned by Ramiro I., iii. 429.

Astrology, forbidden in Rome, iii. 392, 437.

its connection with necromancy, iii. 426, 444.

permitted in Spain, iii. 430.

its origin, iii. 437.

tacit toleration in the Middle Ages, iii. 438.

condemned as fatalistic, iii. 439.

condemned in France, iii. 446.

used by Henry III. (Eng.), i. 196.

Marsilio Ficino's belief, iii. 572.

Pomponazio's belief, iii. 575.

Astruchio da Piera, his heresy, ii. 175.

Asylum, right of, denied to heretics, ii. 121.

Athelstan, King, on sorcery, iii. 420.

Atto of Vercelli on angel-worship, iii. 412.

on clerical sorcerers, iii. 416.

Aubinas, C. of, in 1208, i. 149.

Aubriot, Hughes, case of, ii. 127.

Aubry, Huguet, iii. 526, 532.

Audeneham, Marshal, defends the Inq., ii. 132.

Augury by birds, iii. 403. 429, 431.

Augustin, St., on persecution, i. 211, 214.

disbelieves in incubi, iii. 384.

on magic transformation, iii. 391.

on efficacy of prayer, iii. 395.

disbelieves in astrology, iii. 437.

on the Divine Vision, iii. 590.

Augustin (England), his missionary labors,

iii. 400.

Augustinians, Order of, iii. 32, 103.

Ausch, Abp. of, summoned to persecute, i. 136.

Waldenses in, ii. 148.

Austria, Inq. in, i. 301; ii. 347.

Luciferans in, ii. 358, 375.

Waldenses in, ii. 400, 416.

order to arrest Templars in, iii, 303.

_Auto de fé_, or sermo, i. 389, 391.

in Rome in 1231, ii. 200.

Auvergne, Templar possessions in, iii. 251.

Auzon, charter of, in 1260, i. 407, 423.

Avegliana, disregard of Inq. in, ii. 263.

Averrhoes, iii. 558.

Averrhoism, iii. 561.

of Limoux Noir, ii. 108.

toleration of, in 15th cent., iii. 574.

taught throughout 16th cent., iii. 577.

in Aragon, ii. 169.

in Castile, ii. 183.

in Portugal, ii. 188.

Averrhoists, their numbers, iii. 564.

Avignon, besieged by crusaders, i. 199.

magistrates present at trials, i. 377.

Inq. introduced in, ii. 118.

Waldenses in, ii. 147.

the Black Death in, ii. 379.

Fraticelli burned in, iii. 168.

Petrarch's description of, iii. 633.

C. of 1209, on preaching, i. 23.

establishes episcopal Inq. i. 314.

C. of 1457, asserts Immaculate

Conception, iii. 600.

Avignonet, massacre of, ii. 35.

Avis, Order of, in Portugal, iii. 317.

Aymeri de Collet, Catharan bp., ii. 26.

Aymon, Bp. of Vercelli, his capture, i. 11.

Aymond Picard rejects transubstantiation,

ii. 144.

Azzo IX. attacks Ezzelin, ii. 228.

Azzo X. settles case of Armanno Pongilupo,

ii. 241.

Bacon, Roger, his career, iii. 552.

on civil law, i. 309.

on magic, iii. 425.

on alchemy, iii. 436.

on Notory Art, iii. 436.

on astrology, iii. 439.

Bafomet, iii. 270.

Bail taken of accused, i. 407, 476.

Baines, Bp. Peter A., on Immaculate Conception,

iii. 611.

Bajolenses, i. 98; ii. 193.

Balardi, Tommaso, his witch-trials, iii. 518.

Balbinus, his praise of Huss, ii. 445.

Baldwin of Toulouse, his fate, i. 168.

Bamberg, quarrels with its bp., ii. 532.

Observantine reformation in, iii. 173.

witches burned in, iii. 549.

C. of 1491, on heresy, ii. 413, 423.

Bandello, Vincenzo, denies Immaculate Conception,

iii. 601.

Banishment for heresy, i. 220, 462; ii. 170.

Barbara, Empress, her character, ii. 539.

Barbarian codes, sorcery in, iii. 409.

Barbarians, toleration under, i. 216.

their helpful spirits, iii. 382.

their magic, iii. 401.

Barbes, their missionary circuits, ii. 248, 268.

Barcelona, its subjection to Charlemagne, ii. 162.

Inq. organized in, ii. 166.

separate Inq. for, ii. 179.

complains of Eymerich, iii. 586.

Baroni of Florence, their protection of heresy,

ii. 209, 210.

their prosecution, i. 496; ii. 211.

Barozzi, Bp. of Padua, protects Nifo, iii. 576.

Bartholomew the Augustinian, ii. 360.

Bartolino da Perugia, his inquest at Todi, iii. 149.

Bartolo, his perplexity as to witchcraft, iii. 534.

Bartolomeo da Cervere, his martyrdom, ii. 264.

Bartolomeo di Tybuli, i. 355.

Bartolomeo of Pisa, his belief in Joachim, iii. 11.

Basilius the sorcerer burned, iii. 399.

Basle, its reconciliation in 1348, iii. 157.

Beguines persecuted in, 1400, ii. 403.

C. of, indicated, ii. 528.

abolishes annates, ii. 530.

its quarrels with Eugenius IV., ii. 531,

533.

negotiates with Hussites, ii. 530, 533,

534, 536, 537.

withdraws cup from laity, ii. 473, 539.

burns Nicholas of Buldesdorf, iii. 89.

decides in favor of Observantines, iii.

173.

asserts Immaculate Conception, iii. 600.

failure of its reform, iii. 638.

Bassani, Giacobba de', iii. 98, 100.

Bavaria, the Inq. in, ii. 347.

slaughter of Jews, ii. 379.

Waldenses in, ii. 397.

Beatific Vision, the, iii. 590.

Beaucaire, siege of, i. 184.

restriction on bearing arms, i. 382.

Beauffort, Payen de, case of, iii. 523, 525.

529, 532.

Beaumanoir on sorcery, iii. 427.

Beaurevoir, Joan of Arc confined in, iii. 359

Beauvais, Bp. of, his capture, i. 11.

Bech, Giacomo, case of, ii. 265.

Bedford, Regent, on Joan of Arc, iii. 346.

purchases Joan of Arc, iii. 358.

Beggary, holy, ii. 352.

its merit called in question, ii. 367; iii. 131.

of the Templars, iii. 242.

Beghards and Beguines (see also Ortlibenses and Brethren

of the Free Spirit).

their origin, ii. 350.

efforts at repression, ii. 354,

confusion as to the name, ii. 355.

commencement of persecution, ii. 367.

condemned by C. of Vienne, ii. 369.

persecuted under the Clementines, ii. 371.

as Tertiaries of Mendicant Orders, ii. 371, 413.

severely persecuted, ii. 386, 387, 390, 392, 395, 401, 403, 411.

their houses confiscated, i. 530; ii. 389, 391.

protected by bishops, ii. 394.

Wasmod's account of them, ii. 397.

protected by C. of Constance, ii. 409.

aid the Reformation, ii. 413.

in Bohemia, ii. 430, 435, 517.

Beguinages, ii. 352, 363.

canon of Vienne concerning, ii. 369.

their destruction under the Clementines, ii. 371.

Beguines, or Olivists of Languedoc, iii. 50, 77, 81.

Beirut, Bp. of, iii. 520, 522, 529.

Beissera, case of, ii. 12.

Bela IV. (Hungary), his crusades against Bosnia, ii. 295, 296, 297.

Belgrade, victory of, ii. 553.

Bellarmine, Card., condemns Lully, iii. 588.

Bembo, Card., protects Pomponazio, iii. 576.

Benedict XI. tries to reconcile clergy and Mendicants, i. 290.

deprives bps. of financial control, i. 336.

represses extortion, i. 478.

regulates confiscations, i. 510, 512.

favors the Inq. of Languedoc, ii. 84.

prejudges Pequigny, ii. 85.

orders arrest of Bern. Délicieux, ii. 86.

reconciles Philippe le Bel, ii. 86.

his mercy to Ghibellines, ii. 236.

introduces Inq. in Sicily, ii. 248.

releases Jacopone da Todi, iii. 41.

penances Arnaldo de Vilanova, iii. 55.

summons Ubertino da Casale, iii. 59.

reconciles the Colonnas, iii. 194.

his dealings with Greek Church, iii. 619.

Benedict XII. urges Inq. on England, i. 354.

his persecution of Waldenses, ii. 151.

annuls the laws of Siena, ii. 275.

persecutes Cathari of Dalmatia and Croatia, ii. 301, 302.

appoints inqs. in Bohemia, ii. 431.

builds palace of Avignon, iii. 68.

rejects appeal of Felipe of Majorca, iii. 81.

orders Dolcinists suppressed, iii. 123.

refuses submission of Louis of Bavaria, iii. 155.

assails the Fraticelli, iii. 159.

annuls condemnation of Visconti, iii. 202.

burns sorcerers, iii. 459.

asserts the Divine Vision, iii. 595.

on clerical demoralization, iii. 632.

tries Pierre Recordi, iii. 657.

Benedict XIII. on Savonarola's saintliness, iii. 236.

Benedict XIV. regards Savonarola as a saint, iii. 236.

on Raymond Lully, iii. 589.

on Immaculate Conception, iii. 611.

Benedict XIII. (antipope) protects Vicente Ferrer, ii. 176.

divides Inq. of Majorca, ii. 177.

Benedictines, their corruption, i. 37; iii. 640.

as inqs., ii. 118.

Benefices, distribution of, i. 24.

Benevento, battle of, ii. 232.

witches' gathering-place, iii. 500.

Benigno, Frà, his extortions, i. 478.

Berard, Thomas, purchases Sidon, iii. 271.

Bérard Tremoux, inq., imprisonment of, ii. 141.

Berardo da Rajano, ii. 246, 585.

Berenger of Carcassonne, expelled by heretics, i. 138.

Berenger de Frèdole, iii. 278, 283.

Berenger of Narbonne, his trial, i. 15.

refuses assistance against heresy, i. 137.

Berenger de Palau organizes Inq. in Barcelona, ii. 166.

Berenger of Tours, his heresy, i. 218.

accused of magic, iii. 419.

Bergamo, Waldensian conference, i. 76; ii. 196.

toleration of heresy in 1232, ii. 202.

its laws against the Inq., ii. 230.

persistence of heresy, ii. 239, 271.

witches of, contest over, i. 539; iii. 546.

C. of, 1311, revives episcopal Inq., i. 359.

Berlaiges, heretics burned at, i. 537; ii. 46.

Berger, W., his argument as to Huss's safe-conduct, ii. 463.

Bernabo Visconti condemned as heretic, iii. 202.

Bernard, St., his condemnation of the Church, i. 16, 24, 52.

on the study of the civil law, i. 59.

confutes Henry of Lausanne, i. 70.

opposes Arnald of Brescia, i. 73.

admits the virtues of Cathari, i. 101.

his uncertainty of tolerance, i. 219.

approves of ordeal in heresy trials, i. 306.

frames the Templar Rule, iii. 239.

denies Immaculate Conception, iii. 596.

Bernard Aspa, case of, iii. 73.

Bernard Audoyn, ii. 240.

Bernard de Castanet as inq., i. 356.

his liberality, i. 516.

his persecution of heretics, ii. 67, 71.

his reception at Albi, ii. 78.

deprived of inquisitorial power, ii. 93.

his trial, ii. 572.

Bernard de Caux issues sentences in his own name, i. 333.

complained of by Jayme I., i. 395.

mercy shown by, i. 486, 550.

his liberality, i. 528.

imprisons for relapse, i. 544.

his activity in 1246, ii. 45.

Bernard de Combret, his agreement with St. Louis, i. 515.

Bernard Délicieux, his character and career, ii. 75.

his impeding Inq., i. 349.

on falsification of records, i. 380; ii. 72.

on hopelessness of defence, i. 450; ii. 570.

defends Castel Fabri, i. 445; ii. 73.

attacks the Inq., ii. 70, 79, 81, 82, 84, 87.

his arrest and release, ii. 86.

before Philippe at Toulouse, ii. 87.

negotiates with Ferrand of Majorca, ii. 88.

his treason pardoned, ii. 90.

appeals to Clement V., ii. 92.

his belief in Joachim, iii. 11, 73.

his relations with Arnaldo de Vilanova, iii. 55.

appeals to John XXII., iii. 70.

accused of magic, iii. 452.

his trial and fate, ii. 100.

Bernard l'Espinasser, ii. 52.