ESTABLISHMENT OF A GENERAL INQUISITION AGAINST HERETICS IN THE
THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
In 1203, Pope Innocent III. commissioned Peter de Castelnau and Ralph,
two monks of the order of Cistercians, in the monastery of Fontfroide,
in Narbonnese Gaul, to preach against the Albigenses. Their exhortations
were not in vain, and the success of their mission was a favourable
introduction to a plan which Pope Innocent had formed of instituting
inquisitors independent of the bishops, with the privilege of
prosecuting heretics, as delegates of the holy see.
On the 4th of June, in the seventh year of his pontificate, he named the
abbot of the Cistercians, with Peter and Ralph, apostolical legates. He
gave them full powers to prosecute all heretics; and to facilitate the
execution of the orders of the holy see, they were to engage in the name
of the pope, Philip II., King of France, his son, and all his nobles, to
pursue the heretics, and to promise them full indulgences as a
recompense for their zeal. The pope invested these monks with the
necessary powers to enable them to destroy or establish whatever they
might judge to be favourable to their design, in the ecclesiastical
provinces of Aix, Arles, Narbonne, and other bishoprics where heretics
might be found, only recommending that they should apply to the holy see
in all difficult cases; at the same time he wrote to Philip, requesting
him to assist his commissioners, and even, if it was necessary, to send
the presumptive heir to his throne with an army against the heretics.
The legates encountered many difficulties, because their mission was
displeasing to the bishops. The King of France took no part in the
affair, but the Counts of Toulouse, Foix, Beziers, Cominges, and
Carcassone, and the other nobles of these provinces, seeing that the
Albigenses had singularly increased, and persuaded that a very small
number would be converted, refused to banish them from their states, as
it would lessen the population, and, consequently, be against their
interests: an additional motive for this refusal was, that these
heretics were all peaceful and submissive subjects.
Peter and Ralph commenced preaching against the heretics; they held
conferences with these fanatics, but the number of the converted was
very small. Arnauld, Abbot of the Cistercians, called upon twelve abbots
of his order to assist him; and (during their sojourn at Montpellier)
they admitted two Spaniards to share their labours, who were known under
the names of Diego Acebes, a bishop of Osma, who was returning to his
diocese, and St. Dominic de Guzman, a regular canon of the order of St.
Augustine. They both converted several Albigenses, and when the Spanish
bishop returned to his diocese, he permitted St. Dominic to remain in
France.
The great feudal chiefs of Provence and Narbonne refused to execute the
orders of the legates, to pursue the heretics in their states, alleging
that they were always at war with each other; but the legates threatened
to excommunicate them, and to release their subjects from their oaths of
fidelity. These menaces alarmed the nobles, and they consented to sign a
peace.
The most powerful of these princes was Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse.
His conduct towards Peter de Castelnau, who had threatened him several
times for not performing his promises, induced the Albigenses who were
his subjects to assassinate the legate, who was beatified in 1208. The
pope wrote to all the nobles of the provinces of Narbonne, Arles,
Embrun, Aix, and Vienne in Dauphiny, pressing them to unite and march
against the heretics, and promising them the same indulgences which had
been granted to the crusaders.
The assassination of Peter de Castelnau had excited among the Catholics
the greatest indignation against his murderers. Arnauld took advantage
of this moment to execute the orders which he had received from the
pope. He commissioned the twelve monks, and others whom he had
associated, to preach a crusade against the heretics, to grant
indulgences, to note those who refused to engage in the war, to inform
themselves of their creed, to reconcile the converted, and place all
obstinate heretics at the disposal of Simon de Montfort, commander of
the crusaders. This was the beginning of the Inquisition in 1208.
Pope Innocent III. died on the 16th of July, 1216, before he had
succeeded in giving a permanent form to the delegated inquisition: the
continuation of the war against the Albigenses, and the opposition which
he met with from the bishops in the Council of Lateran, were perhaps the
causes of his failure. Honorius III., who succeeded him, prepared to
finish his undertaking.
Innocent had sent St. Dominic de Guzman to Toulouse, that he might
choose one of the religious orders approved by the church, for the
institution which he intended to form. He preferred that of St.
Augustine; and on his return to Rome with his companions, Honorius
approved his choice on the 22nd of December, 1216.
St. Dominic also established an order for laymen. This order has been
designated as the _Third Order of Penitence_, but most commonly as the
_Militia of Christ_, because those who were members of it fought against
heretics, and assisted the Inquisitors in the exercise of their
functions; they were considered as part of the inquisitorial family, and
on that account bore the name of _Familiars_. This association
afterwards gave rise to that which was called the _Congregation of St.
Peter Martyr_; it was approved by Honorius, and confirmed by his
successor, Gregory IX. Another association was formed in Narbonne, which
also bore the name of _Militia of Christ_; it was soon after blended
with the third order of St. Dominic. Honorius having formed a
constitution against heretics, the Emperor Frederic II. gave it the
sanction of civil law at his coronation. In 1224 the Inquisition already
existed in Italy under the ministry of the Dominican friars, which is
proved by an edict of the Emperor Frederic against heretics at Padua.
The efforts of the Inquisition in Narbonne had not succeeded according
to the expectation of the pope, who imputed its failure to the
negligence of Cardinal Conrad, whom he recalled, and sent Cardinal Roman
in his place. The importunity of this legate induced Louis VIII., King
of France, to place himself at the head of an army to march against the
nobles who protected the Albigenses. But Louis died in the same year,
and the pope followed him, without having succeeded in giving a
permanent form to the new tribunal which had been introduced into
France.
Gregory IX., who ascended the pontifical throne in 1227, finally
established the Inquisition: he had been the zealous protector of St.
Dominic, and the intimate friend of St. Francis d'Assiz. Cardinal Roman
was more fortunate than the legates who preceded him: the nobles, weary
of a war which had lasted twenty years, wished for peace. The Count of
Toulouse, Raymond VII., after the death of his father, who had begun the
war, reconciled himself to St. Louis and the church in a Council of
Narbonne, and promised to drive the heretics from his domains.
In 1229 another council was held at Toulouse. The decrees were nearly
the same as those made at the Councils of Lateran and Verona, except
that laymen were then first prohibited from reading the Scriptures in
the vulgar tongue. In the succeeding year, many other edicts were
published, increasing in severity; but it appears that these rigorous
measures failed in effect, as the heresy of the Albigenses penetrated
even to the capital of Christendom.