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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8950642 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69851 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69851) diff --git a/old/69851-0.txt b/old/69851-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fa8520b..0000000 --- a/old/69851-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4069 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The medieval Inquisition, by Charles -Gorman - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The medieval Inquisition - A study in religious persecution - -Author: Charles Gorman - -Release Date: January 21, 2023 [eBook #69851] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Brian Coe, The book cover image was created by the - transcriber and is placed in the public domain, and the - Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images - made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIEVAL -INQUISITION *** - - - - - - THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION - - - - - THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION - - A STUDY IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION - - - BY - CHARLES T. GORHAM, - _Author of “The Spanish Inquisition,” etc._ - - - ISSUED FOR THE NATIONALIST ASSOCIATION, LIMITED - - - LONDON: - WATTS & CO., - 17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4 - 1918 - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER I - -THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH - - PAGE - -Simony 7 - -Clerical Celibacy 12 - - -CHAPTER II - -A CRUSADE AGAINST CHRISTIANS - -Religious Persecution 27 - - -CHAPTER III - -THE FOUNDING, CONSTITUTION, AND PRACTICE OF -THE INQUISITION - -The Inquisitorial Method 37 - -Evidence 39 - -The Defence 41 - -Sentence 42 - -Confiscation 45 - -Relaxation and the Stake 47 - - -CHAPTER IV - -HOW THE INQUISITION OVERRAN EUROPE - -The South of France 49 - -Northern France 54 - -Aragon and Castile 57 - -Italy 58 - -Bosnia 63 - -Germany 64 - -Bohemia 68 - -The Netherlands 70 - -The Spiritual Franciscans 78 - - -CHAPTER V - -MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES - -Political Heresy 82 - -The Templars 83 - -Joan of Arc 85 - -Sorcery and Magic 86 - -Intellect and Faith 94 - -Censorship of Books 97 - -The Greek Church 98 - -Indulgences and Simony 99 - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE GENTLE ART OF WHITEWASHING - - -Bibliography 121 - - - - -THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH - - -Although it has been said of human nature that the more it changes the -more it is the same thing, it is yet true that at different epochs it is -actuated by widely different ideas. The underlying passions are the -same, but the forces evoking them vary so greatly that sometimes, as in -considering the history of the Middle Ages, we seem to be concerned with -beings from another planet. One of the most powerful of these forces is -religion; and, though religion in the abstract is assumed to bring out -all that is best in human nature, it has in the past only too frequently -appealed to and stimulated its baser elements. The evil is due partly to -erroneous religious teaching, but probably still more to the obstinate -imperfection of the material on which religion has to work. The vast -majority of human beings are even now incapable of appreciating and -practising an absolutely pure religion, and probably no such religion -has ever yet had a fair trial. Dogmatic systems there have been in -abundance, but these are not to be identified with religion. It has been -one of the most serious drawbacks to the claims of historic Christianity -that, disregarding the spirit of its own moral precepts, it has treated -religion as a mere system of belief and ceremonial observance, which has -defeated the object it was intended to promote. - -In two respects organized Christianity has been a huge mistake. It has -misunderstood the nature of the salvation it proffered, representing it -as rescue from endless physical torment in another state of existence -instead of moral victory in this. It has made an assumed correctness of -intellectual belief instead of right conduct the condition of this -salvation, with the inevitable consequence that ceremony has usurped the -place of virtue, and religion has become a matter of externals. And its -claim to Divine inspiration and support led naturally to a demand for -obedience so complete that no room was left for liberty of opinion and -mental expansion. The claim to Divine inspiration involved the existence -of a spiritual hierarchy with ever-growing demands and ever-increasing -power. Refusal to obey these demands necessarily implied disbelief in -the doctrines underlying them, of which doctrines the hierarchy was the -sole expositor. Thus every opinion which deviated from the authorized -view became heretical, and, heresy being an impious opposition to the -Divine will and to all that was good and true, deserved the severest -repression. From this dogmatic standard, which the ignorant were unable -to question, arose that terrible system of religious persecution which -has covered organized Christianity with indelible shame. The present -inquiry is not concerned with the truth or falsehood of the Church’s -theological basis, but only with its effects. The general conditions of -the Middle Ages being what they were, those effects were in a sense -inevitable, and the moral condemnation which must be visited upon the -medieval Church applies less to individuals than to the system which -produced them--a system which was incompatible not only with the rights -of individuals, but with the progress of humanity in civilization and -happiness. - -What, then, was the moral condition during the Middle Ages of the -organization which made these extravagant claims to supremacy? To us who -live in the twentieth century it may appear very plain that priestly -domination could not be favourable to improvement in morals or in -knowledge. Prevent people from thinking, and you prevent them from -improving. They lose the desire to improve; they become incapable of -improvement; they neither know nor care for the pleasures of knowledge; -they relapse into a state resembling that of animals. Can it be supposed -that this has no effect upon their morals? And the class which puts -forward the claims in question becomes equally debased. Selfishness, -ignorance, and cruelty become as marked in the shepherds as in the -flocks they are supposed to lead, with the additional vice of a -tyrannical arrogance born of class privilege and the claim to superhuman -authority. - -The religious extortion that went on impoverished the people and -demoralized the clergy. After King John’s surrender to the Pope, England -was bled for the benefit of foreign ecclesiastics to the extent of -thrice the income of the Crown. Throughout Europe the administration of -justice was shockingly corrupt, and was not improved by the Papal -practice of granting letters authorizing the exercise of judicial -functions by any one who could pay the fees. Not only were these letters -frequently forged, but it was easy for unprincipled persons to pretend -that they possessed them, and such was the danger of raising objections -that few of the victims dared to dispute their validity. In Rome itself -there was a factory for the production of these interesting forgeries; -but, though it was suppressed by Innocent III, the practice continued, -and to the people the consequences were the same whether the letters -were genuine or false. With such a system it is not surprising that the -Bishops fleeced their own flocks with little scruple. - -Excommunication was imposed for trifling offences; but, however -unjustly, the victim had to pay for being reconciled to holy Church. The -magnificent abbeys and cathedrals which are the glories of architecture -were to some extent an expression of religious faith, but even more of -the clerical pride which reared them with money exacted from the poor. -Preaching was almost wholly neglected, and this was one of the reasons -why heresy became formidable. Parish priests could not preach without -special licence from the Bishops whose prerogative preaching was, and by -whom it was neglected because they were engrossed with worldly cares and -pleasures and warlike duties. The Lord Bishop was first and foremost a -man of war, especially in the thirteenth century. A story is told about -the Bishop of Beauvais, one of the most ruthless of these warriors for -Christ, who, when captured by the English, complained to the Pope that -his privileges as a Churchman had been violated. In reply to the -remonstrance of His Holiness, Richard I sent him the coat of mail in -which the Bishop had been captured, with the Scriptural inquiry: “Know -whether it be thy son’s coat or no.” Benefices were openly sold, or -bestowed upon children, seven years being the minimum age fixed by some -Popes for the clerical function. The abuses that grew out of the system -of pluralities, the exactions connected with tithes, confessions, -absolutions, marriages, funerals, were endless, a large part of the -Church’s wealth being derived from legacies which the fear of hell -prompted the dying to leave at death or frequently to hand over during -life. - -In 1170 a Papal decree was issued that wills were invalid unless made in -the presence of a parish priest, and notaries were sometimes -excommunicated for failure to comply with this condition. Nor did the -dead escape the clerical maw. It was customary to leave money to the -Church for masses for the repose of the soul, and to present oblations -at the funeral. The corpse was the property of the parish, but the -priest was often deprived of his privileges by a neighbouring monastery -having induced the dying man to bequeath to it his remains. Hence arose -the most unseemly squabbles for possession of the body--a rivalry -further complicated by the rise of the Mendicant Orders and their bitter -struggles for fees. - -Even greater social evils resulted from the immunities from secular law -which the clergy succeeded in gaining. The first of these was that -worthless men were attracted to the Church, and did as they pleased -under the shelter of its privileges. Malefactors habitually pleaded -clerical rights; the Church, in a spirit of comradeship worthy of a -better cause, as regularly took up their defence. Crime flourished, and -the community suffered. Innocent III reinstated a Bishop of -exceptionally bad character who had been imprisoned for rebellion -against the King of Denmark, and decided that priests could not be -arrested by laymen and brought before the episcopal court even when -detected in gross crime. Under these conditions it was almost impossible -for laymen to obtain justice, whether in regard to offences against -person or offences against property. And, the clergy being the only -educated class, their opportunities for exploiting the popular ignorance -were abundant and fully utilized. - -Monasteries were the fruit of good intentions, but, in spite of -occasional examples to the contrary, soon became degraded to an -extraordinary degree. Rome could easily be bribed to grant exemption -from the jurisdiction of the Bishops, and the liberty of monks and nuns -degenerated into the foulest licence. The abodes of religion were -feudal castles, in which the monks lived as riotously as the barons, and -waged private war with equal ferocity. As for the nunneries, many of -them were notoriously no better than brothels. With these varied -attractions, it is not surprising that the lawless found in the monastic -life a congenial refuge; and many a robber baron and many a criminal -temporarily weary of crime discovered a safe and easy way of gratifying -his untamed passions. So little were the obligations of honesty observed -that within the monasteries themselves the inmates had to take special -precautions against theft by their fellows, each monk having to keep a -wary eye on his own spoons, dishes, and bedclothes. The holy tramps who -wandered about selling false relics and working false miracles became so -great a nuisance that they were sometimes killed without mercy when -detected in their frequent crimes. - -The system of indulgences so carefully worked out by the Church produced -the most various results throughout Europe. A death-bed gift to the -Church atoned for an evil life; trifling religious observances were -thought to secure not only remission of the pangs of Purgatory, but -forgiveness of all sins committed after baptism. In short, all sin was -condoned on the most favourable terms, and eternal salvation purchased -for the price of a pair of boots. The bones or the dead bodies of saints -were held to protect believers from all ills, and to ensure prosperity; -even a single glance at the image of St. Christopher preserving one from -disease or sudden death for the rest of the day. Some of the beliefs -connected with the worship of the sacred wafer reveal a credulity which -only carefully-fostered ignorance could render possible. A specimen -wafer placed in a beehive to check disease among the bees was so highly -appreciated by those intelligent insects that they built a little -chapel around it, with windows, roof, and bell-tower all complete, and -an altar inside, on which they reverently placed the wafer. A woman who -crumbled a wafer over her cabbages to protect them from caterpillars was -at once punished by incurable paralysis. - - -_Simony._ - -The scandals connected with the sale of indulgences are too well known -to need description, but the universal prevalence of simony is less -generally realized. Simony is defined as “giving or receiving, or -intending to give or receive, anything temporal for anything -spiritual.”[1] The term is derived from Simon Magus, who is stated in -_Acts_ viii, 18, 19, to have offered St. Peter money for the privilege -of communicating the Holy Ghost. This abuse formed one of the great -scandals in the Church, especially in the thirteenth century, and was so -deeply rooted that the efforts of reforming Pontiffs like Gregory VII -produced little result. Less conscientious Popes were such notorious -offenders that the venality of the Papal court became a byword, and some -vicars of Christ amassed enormous private fortunes by this dubious -means. - -Simony was a heresy which came under the jurisdiction of the -Inquisition, and could not long have flourished had that efficient body -determined to stamp it out. There is no record that the Inquisition ever -even undertook a prosecution for simony; it was too profitable to the -Roman Curia. From the highest to the lowest the Church was infected with -this vice: there was scarcely a church in Christendom free from it, and -Pope John XXII drew up a regular scale of absolutions for the most -moderate fees. In order to pay the expenses of his soldiers and of his -building operations, Boniface XI once dismissed suddenly all the -prelates at his Court and many others, and then sold their places to the -highest bidders, with the result that some of the ejected Bishops -wandered about in a state of starvation. Newly appointed prelates were -bled freely, and if the demands were not met they became simple priests -once more. Boniface appointed as Bishops the men who were willing to pay -the most liberally, archbishoprics commanding the high figure of 60,000 -to 80,000 florins. Yet one of the great questions debated in the -thirteenth century was the question whether it was possible for the Pope -to commit simony! Every one knew that many Popes actually did commit an -offence of which the evil effects were far reaching. If the love of -money is not the root of all evil, it is the root of much, and its -effects in the sphere of religion are peculiarly deplorable. The Papal -Court was filled with a swarm of ecclesiastics greedy for preferment by -any means whatever. When they obtained it they at once set to work to -recoup themselves for the time spent and the bribes they had to give, by -extorting money from their flocks, to the complete neglect of their -spiritual duties. In the administration of justice ecclesiastics -acquitted the guilty for bribes, and trumped up charges against the -innocent, which had to be compounded for cash. A bishop who resided in -his diocese was the exception that proved the rule. Men preferred to -live under the tyranny of the baron rather than under the dangerous -protection of the Church. - -Money being the real qualification for the ministry of the Gospel, the -priests were generally as illiterate as they were immoral. “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.”[2] The higher -clergy, who could readily purchase exemptions, considered themselves -free to indulge in every kind of excess; the monks were licentious and -unruly vagabonds, who carefully avoided keeping their vows; the -mendicants, who pretended to greater strictness, gave themselves up to -every kind of fleshly indulgence; the morals of nunneries were such that -to join one was the same thing as becoming a public prostitute. A Jew is -said to have become convinced that Christianity must be of God, since it -continued to exist in spite of the wickedness of the clergy. The visions -of St. Birgitta and the vehement warnings of St. Catherine of Siena were -fruitless to stem the torrent of iniquity. Nearly the whole Church being -in this condition, reform from within was hopeless, as indeed was stated -in 1437 by a Dominican bishop. Exaggeration may be suspected, but that -it was not easy to exaggerate the following incident will show. “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 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 news of 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 for 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.”[3] When Pope Alexander VI was -reproached with Papal connivance with crime, he is said to have made the -cynical reply: “God does not desire the death of a sinner, but that he -should pay, and live.”[4] - -That the Church should have made its principal aim correctness of belief -(or rather obedience to its authority), and purity of life a secondary -consideration, involved the policy of religious persecution -systematically followed by the Inquisition. Except as a source of -revenue, crime was of little consequence. Virtuous heretics were -exterminated, and the guilty orthodox absolved from the worst crimes, in -the name of Christ. A Flemish chronicler relates in 1379 “that it would -be impossible to describe the prevalence everywhere of perjuries, -blasphemies, adulteries, quarrels, brawls, murder, rapine, thieving, -robbery, whoredom, debauchery, avarice, oppression of the poor, -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 1,400 murders committed in bagnios, -brothels, gambling houses, taverns, and other similar places.”[5] In the -Italian Church there was no devotion, in the laity neither faith nor -morals. Factions filled the streets with blood, the roads were closed by -robbers, the seas swarmed with pirates. “Parents slew with rejoicing -their children who chanced to be of the opposite faction.”[6] Æneas -Sylvius wrote in 1453: “Whether I look upon the deeds of princes or of -prelates I find that all have sunk, all are worthless.... Execration and -falsehood and slaughter and theft and adultery are spread among you, and -you add blood to blood..... There is no shame in crime, for you sin so -openly and shamelessly that you seem to take delight in it.”[7] - -The flagrant immorality of many of the Bishops, and the frequency with -which they took part in war, were even in rude times deemed unbecoming -to their profession; but the difficulty of getting them punished by any -ecclesiastical court was so great that in most cases the offenders could -continue to tread the primrose path of dalliance without fear of -retribution. About the worst of these clerical rakes was the Archbishop -of Besançon, who in 1198 was accused of perjury, simony, and incest. He -was formally indicted by his Chapter, but the Pope, on the authority of -the Gospel story of the woman taken in adultery, charitably dismissed -the charge with a caution. The hardened old sinner continued his gay -career for sixteen years, but was at length driven from his see by the -townspeople. It took ten years to get rid of another prelate, a Bishop -of Toul, and a few years later he was killed by his uncle in revenge for -a murder. This gentleman’s favourite mistress was a daughter of his own, -the mother being a nun. - -Whatever were the causes of this appalling state of things, it is -difficult to reconcile it with the claim that the Christian Church is a -Divine institution. Yet it would not be true to say that no virtue -existed. Even in the Church there were good and sincere men who strove -earnestly to check the tide of iniquity. And those whom the Church -hounded to death far surpassed it in purity of life. The poor persecuted -heretics were noted for their blameless conduct, their singular -industry, their self-sacrifice and endurance, which formed a lesson to -the orthodox. “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.”[8] The earnest and devoted ministers of -the Church, the virtuous and humble believers among the laity, were as -drops in the ocean of evil; and it was popularly believed that -Antichrist was ruling in the world, and that the awful Day of Judgment -was at hand. - - -_Clerical Celibacy._ - -The great question whether priests should or should not be permitted to -marry caused the deepest agitation in the Church for many hundreds of -years. As early as the fourth and fifth centuries the Church decided it -in the negative, but this and many later prohibitions were nullified by -the liberty which it allowed in practice. The early Church had so great -a horror of the matrimonial state that some theologians seriously -doubted whether the salvation of married persons came within the -possibilities of the Divine scheme. - -During the eleventh century the Church succeeded, after long and violent -struggles, in enforcing upon its priesthood at least a nominal celibacy, -but it did not succeed in improving the ecclesiastical morals. As the -celibate party were the more fanatical, and usually applied to priests’ -wives the term “concubines,” it was not easy to distinguish lawful or -_quasi_-lawful unions from illicit connections. Anyhow, when priests -found they could not marry, they generally had no hesitation in taking -to themselves concubines, or sometimes a succession of paramours--a -custom so commonly recognized that a layman confessing an illicit amour -was forbidden to name his erring partner because it would give the -priest an opportunity to exploit her frailty. Thus illicit connections -on the part of priests were winked at, while marriage was forbidden--an -excellent example of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. This -eccentric notion of morality led to horrible abuses. Pope Alexander II -declined, in 1064, to deprive of communion a priest who had committed -adultery with the wife of his father, and a little later reduced the -penance imposed on another priest found guilty of incestuous relations -with his own mother. The institution of matrimony afforded to the -priesthood perpetual opportunities for exacting money. The remotest -degree of blood relationship was found to be perilous, but ingenuity and -cash overcame the difficulty. Bishops did not scruple to receive a -tribute known as the “cullagium,” which enabled a “celibate” priest to -solace his holy duties with wife or concubine. The difficulty remained -acute until the fifteenth century, human nature having proved as -rebellious as ever. It was only in 1414 that it was finally settled by -the Council of Constance, the rigid moralists who formed that conclave -being accompanied by an army of prostitutes. The attempt to enforce -clerical celibacy, or, rather, the rule which required its observance, -was a chief contributing cause of the scandalous state of ecclesiastical -morals in the Middle Ages, as, indeed, is expressly stated by Alain -Chartier, a French chronicler of the early fifteenth century. - -In those Anglo-Saxon times, in which romancers have discovered a wealth -of simple virtue, clerical chastity had many chinks in its armour. A -Saxon chronicler of the eleventh century attributes the ruin of the -kingdom to the vices of the clergy having drawn upon it the wrath of -God. It was a common practice for priests to put away their wives, and -live in open adultery with other women. A century later no improvement -was perceptible, many of the clergy having two wives, and changing them -at pleasure. An instance is recorded of the Abbess of Avesbury, whose -recklessness in having three children procured her a life-pension, but -was surpassed by the laxity of her nuns, who were dismissed from their -“abode of love.” Giraldus Cambrensis relates that nearly all parish -priests in England and Wales had companions who were indifferently -regarded as wives or concubines. In Ireland matters were equally bad, -the chief blame being naturally visited on the less guilty women. The -condition of Scotland may be imagined from a single instance in the -sixteenth century. A certain Prior--afterwards Bishop of Moray--once had -a pleasant conversation with his gentlemen regarding the number of their -mistresses, and chuckled in glee over the fact that, though the youngest -man present, he had outdone them all. He rejoiced in twelve mistresses, -of whom seven were the wives of other men. His achievement paled before -that of Cardinal Pier-Leone, who used to make his visitations as Papal -Legate accompanied by a concubine and by his children--who were also his -sister’s. - -Horrors like these were, it may be hoped, exceptional, but there is a -vast mass of evidence proving that society as a whole, and the clerical -element in particular, was morally in a condition that can scarcely be -matched in history. A French writer of the nineteenth century, Abbé -Helsen, alludes to the “ordinary custom” that when a priest’s servant -“becomes pregnant and cannot be saved by a prudent absence he dismisses -her, and takes another, perhaps younger and more attractive.”[9] In -many convents the nuns abandoned themselves “to the most hideous -licentiousness--those who were good-looking prostituting themselves for -hire; those who were not so fortunate hiring men to gratify their -passions, while the older ones acted as procuresses.”[10] In Spain, -according to Pelayo, a fourteenth-century writer, the illegitimate -children of priests were almost as numerous as those of the laity. Of -Avignon, Petrarch says that “chastity was a reproach and licentiousness -a virtue.” The aged priests were fouler in their wickedness than the -younger, while with the Pontiff the vilest crimes were pastimes. And -Petrarch claims to tell only part of the truth. Of all European -countries the same story is told. Details concerning the French clergy -of the eighth century are “unfit for publication” in the twentieth. In -nunneries infanticide was common, and priests had to be forbidden to -have mothers, aunts, or sisters living in their houses. The Archdeacon -of Salzburg in 1175 lamented bitterly his complete failure to reform the -clergy or prevent the ordination of priests who continued to live in -adultery with the wives of other men; while four centuries later the -German prelates were vigorously assailed for allowing such foulness as -still existed in the Church. They excused themselves by pointing to the -example set by the Pope. A specially culpable Spanish priest was charged -in 1535 with blasphemy, theft, cheating, seduction, brothel-haunting, -and other offences. He did not go unpunished. He was fined two ducats, -the costs of his trial, and thirty days’ seclusion! A protest was made -by the Senate of Rome in 1538 against the reforming efforts of Pius V on -the ground that the compulsory celibacy of priests would make it -impossible for the citizens to preserve the virtue of their wives and -daughters. Peter Cantor and others in the twelfth century deplored the -moral superiority of the laity; the same thing had been said in England -as far back as the times of St. Dunstan; and the Beggars’ Petition of -1535 showed that the anomaly still existed more than four hundred years -later. - -It has been hinted that the Church made earnest efforts to reform its -own members. But this is true only so far as its reputable heads were -concerned. Marriage at its best had a taint of sin; its violation was a -trifle; but the fulfilment of religious vows and observances was an -obligation to which everything else must yield. To St. Peter Damiani -marriage was a “frivolous and unmeaning ceremony”; an irregular -celebration of Mass was a “horrible crime.” Sexual licence was a -necessary evil, of much less importance than an infraction of -ecclesiastical laws. Virtue indeed was dangerous when women were -occasionally burnt because they refused to become the victims of -priestly lust.[11] So late as 1801 it was argued in a tract published at -Warsaw that marriage is incestuous and schismatic, and therefore worse -than simple licentiousness.[12] Six centuries earlier the German Church -had been described by Pope Gregory as “abandoned to lasciviousness, -gluttony, and all manner of filthy living,” the clergy “committing -habitually wickedness which laymen would abhor.”[13] - -But the Church did its utmost to stamp out the evil! It did nothing of -the kind. Its attempts to reform its servants were occasional, -mischievously lenient, and sometimes insincere. Priests, being human -beings, were not naturally worse than other human beings. But they -formed part of a system which heaped upon them every kind of privilege -and exposed them to every variety of temptation. A Bishop of Lausanne -who in the thirteenth century tried his hand at reform had to flee for -his life; another Bishop in Rome was murdered. In fifteenth-century -Germany the Bishop of Paderborn strove desperately for seven years to -purify the monasteries. After various attempts had been made to poison -him, he was compelled to give up a task which the example of the Vicar -of Christ made hopeless. Similar efforts made by St. Charles Borromeo in -Milan ended in his failure and narrow escape from martyrdom. In England -Cardinal Wolsey’s attempt to enforce a reforming Bull from Rome was -frustrated by the notoriety of his own vices. The clergy in the public -estimation were given over to a reprobate mind; not only were they -immoral, but they squeezed from the people the money which the Pope -exacted from them. In 1529 a bill was passed in the House of Lords for -the reformation of the clergy, who showed their appreciation of it by a -determined opposition. - -According to Dean Milman, clerical depravity was general in the -thirteenth century throughout all the principal European countries. A -remarkable number of ecclesiastics were accused at the visitation of the -Archbishop of Rouen in 1248 and 1249, but the tenderness of the Church -was satisfied with light punishments, or no punishment at all, for -serious crimes, while the imaginary sins of the heretic were visited -with the most painful of all forms of death. Nor did the Archbishop’s -rigour extend to the worst offences of the lower clergy. Milman refers -to the case of the Bishop of Liège, who at a public banquet boasted that -in less than two years he had had fourteen children.[14] It is related -that when it was decreed that priests should dismiss their concubines -Pope Innocent ordered the command to be withdrawn, as there was no sin -in doing what was done by all priests.[15] In the thirteenth century the -Council of Ratisbon lamented the scarcity of priests who led good lives, -and so late as 1832 the Archbishop of Malines found it necessary to make -a similar complaint.[16] - -Not only were the Church’s thunders ineffective because the higher -clergy could escape them, but the reasons for them failed, even in the -Middle Ages, to command universal assent. Sin was condemned rather -because it violated an ordinance than because it broke a Divine law, or -because it injured society. Some canons of 1476 protested against -crimes, not because of their wickedness, but because they might deprive -the clergy of the privilege of exemption from the Bishops’ jurisdiction. -A scuffle between three priests over a harlot that took place in a house -of ill-fame was reprehended, not because of its disgraceful nature, but -because it occurred on Ash Wednesday. The solicitation by priests of -female penitents was a serious matter for the holy men if committed -during the actual confession, otherwise it was a trifle. It was more -convenient to punish the women. As late as 1707 the Sorbonne decided -that if a woman insisted on denouncing a guilty priest she committed a -mortal sin. Usually the Church contended that the personal character of -the priest had nothing to do with the sanctity of his office--a doctrine -of which unscrupulous men took full advantage. Thus was evolved a -standard of morality which bore no relation to moral truth, and readily -lent itself to perversion. - -For many hundreds of years the Church was an open sore, which made -thought a crime, purity an eccentricity, and progress a dream. From this -festering mass heresy was born, crucified, and rose again. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -A CRUSADE AGAINST CHRISTIANS - - -Heresy in the Middle Ages differed in some respects from the heresy of -the earlier years of Christianity. It was less confined to scholars and -theologians; it originated among the people, who--poor, oppressed, and -helpless--turned in vain to the Church for assistance. And, instead of -being concerned with subtle points of theology, it was inspired mainly -by the iniquities of the ecclesiastical order. Simple men felt, by a -wholesome instinct, that an immoral life was inconsistent with the -function of leading them in the way of righteousness, and some of these -simple men began to inquire whether everything taught by the priesthood -was really true. This was one of the reasons why the lives of heretics -were generally purer than the lives of their oppressors. The mighty of -this world persecuted the heretic; the secular courts were severe, the -ecclesiastical tribunals were severer still; the main stream of public -opinion ran strongly against all innovation in religion. It is not, -therefore, to be supposed that the heretic became a voluntary outcast -from a love of danger, or for the sake of enjoying the pleasures of sin -for a season. The highest authorities in the Church admitted that heresy -was caused, though not justified, by the scandalous lives of her -ministers. When slaying heretics the Church should have remembered that -the chief culprit was herself. - -Sharp controversies as to the efficacy of the Mass arose about the -middle of the eleventh century, and on this subject the Church showed -some vacillation. Its official doctrine was that the virtue of the -sacrament did not depend upon that of the ministrant. The contrary was, -however, asserted by Pope Nicholas II, and the Synod of Rome adopted a -canon forbidding any one to be present at a mass celebrated by a priest -known to be of loose morals. Gregory VII’s revival of this canon -produced great confusion, for virtuous priests were rare exceptions. -Against the official views the heretics consistently protested, but -hundreds of years elapsed before the professions and the conduct of the -clergy were brought into something like agreement. - -In the South of France heresy, mainly of a Manichean or dualistic type, -took firm hold, probably because the great progress which had there been -made in civilization favoured independence of thought and a certain -indifference to the claims of sacerdotalism. St. Bernard (1060-1153) -may, like some other writers, have exaggerated the evil condition of the -Church, but it must have been under a cloud when he could write thus of -the Toulouse district: “The churches are without people, the people -without priests, the priests without the reverence due to them, and -Christians without Christ.... Men die in their sins, and their souls are -hurried to the dread tribunal neither reconciled by penance nor -fortified by the Holy Communion. The little ones of Christ are debarred -from life, since baptism is denied them. The voice of a single heretic -silences all those Apostolic and prophetic voices which have united in -calling all the nations into the Church of Christ.”[17] Heretics -appeared, founded sects, flourished for a time, and were ultimately -silenced. Henry of Lausanne, Arnold of Brescia, and the far more -influential Peter Waldo of Lyons, from whom the famous sect of -Waldenses took its rise, asserted that the power of absolution belonged -alone to good men, that the ministrations of sinful priests were -invalid, that the sacrament of penance was not the prerogative of the -clergy. They rejected indulgences and transubstantiation, forbade all -oaths and all means of self-defence, and held that every lie was a -mortal sin. These principles would have reduced the Church to poverty -and purity, both equally unwelcome. Most of the heretical sects held -such strict views of sexual relationships that there is probably very -little foundation for the charges of immorality which were freely -brought against them. In an extremely loose age they doubtless fell -something short of the moral ideal, but they were at least considerably -nearer to it than their persecutors. In the following terms an -Inquisitor testifies to their good conduct: “Heretics are recognizable -by their customs and speech, for they are modest and well-regulated. -They take no pride in their garments, which are neither costly nor vile. -They do not engage in trade, so as to avoid lies and oaths and frauds, -but live by their labour as mechanics--their teachers are cobblers. They -do not accumulate wealth, but are content with necessaries. They are -just, and temperate in meat and drink. They do not frequent taverns, or -dances, or other vanities. They restrain themselves from anger. They are -always at work; they teach and learn, and consequently pray but -little.”[18] This remarkable purity of life brought upon these poor -people the full fury of persecution. Virtue was an indication of heresy, -and one priest whose exhortations had weaned women from vain adornments -ran a serious risk of being burnt as a heretic. - -The system of dualism known as Manichæism, a peculiar mixture of -Oriental and Christian elements, became popular through the influence of -the Cathari (“the pure”), who, even according to the testimony of their -enemy St. Bernard, lived a good and harmless life. The Church, however, -recognized no religion as true but its own, and the rapid growth of -Catharism stirred it to action of the most rigorous kind. All over -Europe the heretics were becoming numerous and influential, but it was -in the South of France, especially in the territories of the Counts of -Toulouse, that the smouldering embers burst into flame. - -In 1178 Pope Alexander III proclaimed the first crusade against -Christians, which resulted in failure. Early in the thirteenth century -matters came to a climax. In an address to the Lateran Council Innocent -III had plainly asserted that “the corruption of the people has its -chief source in the clergy”; but, fearless as he was, he hesitated to -attempt the cleansing of the Augean stable, and adopted the simpler -method of trying to rid Christendom of the heretics who troubled its -serenity. Despite their active missionary labours, they lived with their -orthodox neighbours in a tolerant and friendly spirit, of which the -Church bitterly disapproved as being fatal to its exclusive claims. -Papal emissaries succeeded in getting the civil authorities, and -afterwards the Count of Toulouse, to promise the expulsion of heretics; -but the promises remained usually a dead letter, and the strength of the -heretics was shown by the fact that the tables were turned on the Bishop -of Carcassonne, who was expelled from the city for reprimanding his -heretical flock. A threatened crusade and vigorous mission work having -also failed, Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, one of the most powerful -princes in Europe, was excommunicated. He made peace, and the curse was -lifted; but he failed to see the importance of the Papal point of view, -and obeyed it as little as possible. Unfortunately, the murder, in -January, 1208, of the Papal Legate, Peter of Castlenau, by a gentleman -of Raymond’s court, gave the Pope a pretext for sterner action. Raymond -was accused of being party to the crime (he was probably innocent), and -was excommunicated with greater solemnity than before. He submitted, -and, after being soundly flogged, was absolved. - -This murder formed one of the principal reasons for the great crusade -which the Church was determined to go on with, though the Count’s -submission had deprived it of the official excuse. The passions of the -bigoted and the mercenary were successfully appealed to, and the most -appalling campaign in history was begun under the furious stimulation of -the Papal Legates. It was proposed to the inhabitants of Bezier that if -the chief heretics were expelled or given up the town would be spared. -To the special honour of the Catholic inhabitants, who lived in entire -peace with their heretical fellow townsmen, the two parties made common -cause and refused the terms, whereupon the town was stormed in July, -1209, and about 20,000 of the people massacred. In August Carcassonne, a -fortress of immense strength, was surrendered to the crusading army -commanded by the elder Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. By the end -of the autumn 500 towns and castles had been wrested from the grasp of -the heretics; and, considering their task almost completed, several of -the leaders withdrew, and the army was reduced to a small force obliged -to maintain itself by partizan fighting. - -In the spring de Montfort was reinforced and captured many more towns, -the inhabitants being offered the choice of submission to Rome or the -stake. Hundreds of obscure enthusiasts embraced the heroic alternative, -often cheerfully leaping into the flames of their own accord. At Lavaur -in May, 1211, as many as 400 heretics are said to have been burnt in one -vast pyre, and the moral sensibilities of the age may be estimated from -the statement that this dreadful spectacle caused great rejoicing among -the Crusaders. The slackness of Count Raymond in persecuting his -subjects was not pleasing to the Church, and he was summoned to purge -himself from the suspicion of favouring heresy, and to submit -unreservedly to the Pope’s demands. He presented himself in the Church -of St. Gilles, Toulouse, with his guarantees in the confident hope of -full reconciliation, and was then told that, having neglected to fulfil -his promises to extirpate heresy, his submission could not be received. -The facts that the promises had been forced from him, and that it was -beyond his power to give them full effect, were not taken into account. -Raymond’s bitter tears, instead of arousing pity, were regarded as -further proof of his depravity, and renewed abasement led only to the -infliction of harsher terms. His capital city, Toulouse, was besieged in -1211, but offered so vigorous a resistance that the Crusaders received a -serious check, and a fresh excommunication was hurled at the unfortunate -Raymond for “persecuting” the soldiers of the Cross. The military -abilities of de Montfort, however, won so many successes as to arouse -the alarm of Pedro, King of Aragon; and the Pope, remembering that -Raymond had never been tried and condemned, began to suspect that there -might, after all, be some injustice in depriving him of nearly the whole -of his territory. His promise that the Count (who was an independent -Prince) should receive a fair trial was broken, in consequence of -innumerable letters written by Bishops enlarging on the benefits which -had already resulted from the Crusade, and urging its vigorous -prosecution. Pedro at length declared war against de Montfort, advanced -to the support of Raymond and his friends, and laid siege to Muret, ten -miles from Toulouse. Here a battle took place, with disastrous results -to the better cause. Pedro’s army was utterly routed, with a loss of -from 15,000 to 20,000 men, that of de Montfort’s forces being only -twenty. If these figures are correct, this must have been one of the -most remarkable victories on record. The Crusaders saw in their triumph -a visible mark of God’s approval of their cause, the prosperity of which -increased daily. Fresh hordes of Crusaders, greedy for plunder, swarmed -into the fair provinces of the south; their conquest was completed in -1213; Raymond was deposed, and de Montfort made lord of the land, the -territories in the Rhône district of South Eastern France being held by -the Church for the benefit of the younger Raymond. The youth, then only -eighteen years of age, went thither in 1216, and was received with -acclamations. All the south of France rose in revolt, and while de -Montfort was engaged in successfully subduing it he was suddenly -recalled West by tidings that Toulouse was again in rebellion. He began -the second siege with his usual vigour, but one summer day in 1218 was -killed by a stone hurled from a mangonel worked, it is said, by women. -His conquests went to pieces in the hands of his incapable son Amauri, -who, six years after his father’s death, assigned all his rights to the -King of France, and Raymond was confronted with another powerful enemy. -With the Pope he made terms that amounted to complete submission. Even -this did not seem to the Church sufficient compensation for his lack of -zeal in the prosecution of heresy, and in 1226 another crusade on a -great scale was organized, ostensibly for religious, but still more for -political, reasons. King Louis VIII marched to the south with a large -and splendid army, and laid siege to Avignon. Surprised by the strength -of its resistance and ill provided with food, he was about to abandon -the siege when the city surrendered. Louis’s march on Toulouse was -broken off for reasons not fully known, and he retired from the -campaign, dying of sickness in November, 1226, when on his way home. - -In the following year the war went on with varying fortunes, and towards -its close both sides were anxious to terminate a conflict which had -lasted for nearly twenty years. Two years later Raymond agreed to hard -and humiliating terms, which involved the loss of two-thirds of his -great dominions, their reversion to the King of France, and an oath to -persecute heresy to the utmost of his power--concessions wrung from him -by the distracted condition of his realm and of his unfortunate people. -The way was left open to the Church to reap the fruits of victory, and -the Inquisition was set to work among the people who for so long had -bidden it defiance. - - -_Religious Persecution._ - -To what extent the spirit of persecution is sanctioned by the New -Testament is not very easy to determine. Giving all due weight to its -gentler precepts, it is unhappily true that passages which reflect more -than a tinge of the temper of intolerance are to be found with some -frequency in the New Testament, and very many injunctions to extreme -severity in the Old. It was inevitable that in rude ages the latter -should exert a more potent influence on human conduct than the former, -because they harmonized more completely with the existing tendencies of -human nature. - -Until Christianity became the State religion of the Roman Empire the -persecuting spirit wrought comparatively little harm. When the Church -was weak it perceived the blessings of toleration; when the Church grew -powerful it held toleration to be sinful. Even Constantine’s severe -edicts do not appear to have resulted in much actual persecution, the -few cases which occurred in the fourth century being looked upon as -horrifying novelties. After that, however, the systematic repression of -heretical opinions became general, and was warmly advocated by even the -holiest doctors of the Church. Chrysostom and Augustine taught that -heresy must be suppressed, but did not recommend the infliction of -death. Jerome heartily approved the heretic being made to suffer -corporal death in order to secure the eternal welfare of his soul, and -the harsh laws of Theodosius doubtless represented a public opinion -which was ever becoming more rigid and dangerous. It is somewhat curious -that outrages upon the heterodox were, until the twelfth century, -committed more frequently by “orthodox” mobs than by the ecclesiastical -authorities--a fact which does not indicate a very effective teaching -influence on the part of the Church. When, at Cologne in 1145, some -Cathari were burnt despite the opposition of the clergy, St. Bernard, -though arguing that they should have been won over by reason, quoted, -with some inconsistency, St. Paul’s dictum that the monarch was the -instrument of God’s wrath upon him that doeth evil. - -The duty of the Church remained uncertain till about the close of the -twelfth century. The incalculable mischief caused by certain passages in -a book believed to be Divine is exemplified by the decree of Lucius III -in 1184, which ordered heretics to be delivered to the secular arm for -punishment, and expressly quoted John xv, 6, as authority for the -infliction of death by fire. It “commanded that all potentates should -take an oath before their bishops to enforce the ecclesiastical laws -against heresy fully and efficaciously. Any refusal or neglect was to be -punished by excommunication, deprivation of rank, and incapacity to -hold other station, while in the case of cities they were to be -segregated and debarred from all commerce with other places. The Church -thus undertook to coerce the sovereign to persecution. It would not -listen to mercy, it would not hear of expediency. The monarch held his -crown by the tenure of extirpating heresy, of seeing that the laws were -sharp and were pitilessly enforced. Any hesitation was visited with -excommunication, and if this proved inefficacious his dominions were -thrown open to the first hardy adventurer, whom the Church would supply -with an army for his overthrow.”[19] - -Burning alive was first legalized in 1197, but it was the Albigensian -Crusade which afforded the earliest opportunity on a great scale for the -working out of the principle of religious persecution. This principle -was gradually embodied first in the canon law and then in the secular -law of Europe. The Inquisition codified and collated the various -enactments into a logical system, which, having behind it the united -authority of Church and State, became an irresistible engine of -terrorism and tyranny.[20] The suppression of heresy was, indeed, the -paramount duty of every Christian to the full extent of his power. No -matter who was the guilty party--father, son, husband, wife, or -sister--each must be denounced for concealing heresy; there could be no -excuse. “It was an absolute rule that faith was not to be kept with -heretics. As Innocent III emphatically phrased it, ‘According to the -canons, faith is not to be kept with him who keeps not faith with God.’ -No oath of secrecy, therefore, was binding in the matter of heresy, for -if one is faithful to a heretic he is unfaithful to God.”[21] - -With teaching of this sort drilled into an ignorant and obedient people, -it is not surprising that the popular prejudice against religious -innovations was strong enough to make life in general very unpleasant -for any one who had a taste for independent thought. In our own day all -Reformed Churches unite in disclaiming the idea of persecution, but the -Church of Rome still accepts as its greatest authority St. Thomas -Aquinas, whose language on the subject is clear. To him heresy was the -greatest of all sins, and its repression was more than defensible--it -was a duty. To corrupt the faith is a greater wickedness than to debase -the coinage, and if coiners are executed much more should heretics be. -In its great charity the Church pardons the repentant heretic once, or -perhaps twice; but if he sins again he is not to be released from the -penalty of death. This became the settled policy and the unalterable -practice of the Church. Even the dead heretic was not allowed Christian -burial, and, if he had been favoured with it by mistake, the body was -dug up and burned, and the grave remained for ever an accursed spot. In -times of ignorance this sort of thing paralyses people with terror, and -renders them an easy prey to the most absurd and debasing superstitions. -This universal dread of the unseen was ably and thoroughly exploited by -the Church of Christ. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE FOUNDING, CONSTITUTION, AND PRACTICE OF THE INQUISITION - - -It is extremely doubtful whether Dominic actually founded the -Inquisition, for as an organization it did not exist till ten years -after his death. He was, however, an Inquisitor in all but the -possession of full judicial powers. There was, in fact, no formal -founding of the Holy Office; it simply grew by degrees out of the social -and religious conditions of the early thirteenth century. Nor was it -exclusively confided to the Dominican Order, but, as that was the most -intolerant and the most zealous in heresy-hunting, its members were, -from the outset, more closely associated with that occupation.[22] -Commissions were frequently entrusted to the Franciscans also, but most -of the early Inquisitors were Dominican monks. The jealousies and -quarrels between the two Orders which their holy labours occasioned were -so frequent as to be a source of scandals in the Church, which -threatened to last for ever. - -Under ecclesiastical tuition the people of Europe had, during the -twelfth century, developed, in what passed for religion, a spirit of -rancour that went beyond even the cruel legislation of the time. Heresy -had previously been detected mainly by means of ordeals, but these were -found to be somewhat unreliable in the matter of results. The Bishops, -under the authority of the State, had usually controlled the -proceedings, but they had now grown sluggish and lax, and their -machinery had become rusty. Pope Alexander III, in 1179, “invited -sovereigns to employ force of arms and protect Christian people from the -violence [!] of the Cathari,” and “offered indulgences to those who -should accomplish this work of piety.”[23] The decrees of Lucius III in -1184 might, had they been put into effective operation, have resulted in -an episcopal instead of a Papal Inquisition. Not only were rulers bound -by oath to assist the Church in rooting out heresy, but all prelates -were compelled to visit towns and villages, to call the people together, -and take evidence as to the existence of suspected heretics. The Bishops -were, indeed, by virtue of their office, Inquisitors also,[24] but of so -lukewarm a description that a sterner organization was deemed necessary. - -Thus the ancient civil and canon law furnished the basis of the -Inquisitorial procedure, and the first detectors of heresy were the -laymen of each locality, with whom priests were afterwards associated. -For various reasons the Bishops, as a body, proved unequal to their -task; trained experts were needed, and the Church was impelled to action -both by the force of public opinion and by the logic of its dogmas. The -hands of the Church were strengthened by a secular legislation which -recognized a gigantic evil, but failed to combat it with vigour and -uniformity. Under the presidency of Pope Innocent III, the Lateran -Council of 1215 framed a number of severe regulations, but did not -succeed in getting them consistently enforced. From 1220 to 1239, -therefore, Rome elaborated a series of enactments, based on the Lateran -regulations, which amounted to a complete system of persecution. The -chief of these enactments was Gregory IX’s Bull of 1231, under which -suspected persons were required to prove their innocence or lose their -civil rights. Very trivial circumstances, even such as a pale face, were -enough to arouse suspicion. Heretics were to be outlawed, and, when -condemned, to be burnt, all their property being in that case -confiscated and their heirs disinherited. Their houses were to be -destroyed, and never rebuilt. The evidence of a heretic was not to be -received in a court of justice _except against another heretic_. All -rulers and magistrates had to swear, not that they would do justice, but -that they would exterminate all heretics. The lands of nobles who -favoured the unorthodox were to be forfeited. Every thinker was in a -permanently tight corner. Refusal to submit to ecclesiastical authority -was the greatest of sins. The Papal zeal for reform took a peculiar -shape when it established the Inquisition. - -The whole Church hailed these savage laws with joy, and they soon became -a terrible reality. The fact that secular Inquisitions were established -in Sicily during the same year shows that public opinion was too strong -for even a royal Freethinker like Frederick II to resist, though he was -reproached with occasionally burning Catholics instead of heretics--not -a very common miscarriage of justice. A commission issued in 1227 may be -taken as giving the Inquisition a start. Its tone and its provisions are -somewhat indefinite, but it led in a short time to the selection of -suitable priests to undertake the duty of detecting and examining -heretics, and this remained a permanent feature of the Inquisitorial -system. The round holes were provided with round pegs. - -At the time, however, there seems to have been little thought of a -permanent system which should take the place of the Bishops’ -jurisdiction. The basis of the persecuting body was more thoroughly -settled at the Council of Narbonne in 1244, when the control of heresy -was surrendered by the Bishops to the Inquisition, with the prudent -proviso that the prelates reserved to themselves the pecuniary results. -This transfer was not everywhere made complete, for even after that date -many Inquisitors recognized the authority of episcopal tribunals, and in -1273 Gregory X also admitted their supremacy. Evidently the Holy Office -was long regarded as a temporary expedient, and every Pope had renewed -its charter. - -In May, 1252, Innocent IV issued his famous Bull _Ad Extirpanda_, which -was a complete exposition of the laws against heresy, and set up the -machinery for its detection. In addition to all the known regulations, -it laid down further provisions binding all rulers to outlaw heretics -and empowering any one to seize suspected persons and take possession of -their goods (being thereby entitled to a share of the proceeds). This -vigilance was rewarded by exemption from public services and by freedom -of personal action. Every one, including all State officials, was bound -to give assistance; men of good repute had to be sworn to reveal -anything they knew, or suspected, of any person in their district. The -State was responsible for the seizure of heretics; it was commanded to -execute judgment against them and to torture those who would not confess -and betray their accomplices. Lists of suspected persons were to be made -out and read in public three times a year, and copies given to the -Bishops, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans. - -The provisions of this Bull were strictly enforced, and it is -significant of the state of public opinion that it aroused no effective -resistance. By a later Bull of 1265, Pope Urban IV confirmed its -instructions, and made the Inquisition supreme in all countries. It -became a maxim of law that all statutes which interfered with the -Inquisition were void and their authors punishable. The Holy Office had -a free hand, and was not liable to excommunication in the discharge of -its sacred duties, or to suspicion by even a Papal Legate. Nicholas IV -gave a finishing touch by making the Inquisitors’ commissions perpetual. -Bishops were not liable to be judged by Inquisitors, but nevertheless -had to obey them, and, though at times they tried cases of heresy in -their own courts, they were compelled to allow an Inquisitor to take -part in the sentence. - -Popular feeling, it is true, occasionally revolted against this tyranny; -but, as any one who in any way opposed the Inquisition was thereby -excommunicated, the resistance was easily and remorselessly crushed. The -tenacious memory and sleepless vigilance of the Inquisition hunted out -persons who years before had said a kind word to a heretic, or sent a -copper to a sick person under suspicion. Public confidence was destroyed -by the general dread that a careless word might ruin a man; that stories -might, unknown to him, be circulated about him and come to the -Inquisitors’ ears; that an enemy might secretly and safely gratify an -old grudge, until at last poor wretches would inform against others -rather than be themselves betrayed. - -It was a rule of the Inquisition that all testimony should be taken down -in the presence of two impartial persons unconnected with the -institution, but sworn to absolute secrecy. This precautionary act of -justice was soon disregarded, and the bulky documents of the Inquisition -were generally held to be unworthy of trust. In some of the revolts -against its tyranny the populace were careful to destroy the records, -for it was well known that the Inquisitors had an unpleasant habit of -discovering among them facts damaging to those whom they desired to -injure. - -As if the Inquisitors themselves were not dangerous enough, they were -allowed to employ a swarm of hangers-on known as Familiars (by a -pleasing fiction they became part of the family), who were permitted to -carry the arms denied to ordinary civilians, and who enjoyed immunities -and powers which they abused with the utmost freedom. For the most part -they were a rabble of unruly ruffians, who squeezed money out of people -under the threat of accusing them of heresy or of impeding the -Inquisition in its beneficent duties. Any restriction in the number of -these rascals was resented as unlawful; but the State did sometimes, as -at Venice in 1450, succeed in reducing their numbers. They were wholly -unnecessary, as the Holy Office could command the services of the State, -as well as the assistance of the clergy and of the civil population. - -As a precaution against miscarriages of justice, there was held at -irregular intervals an assembly which finally determined the fate of -accused persons. At these gatherings learned Bishops were supposed to be -present in order to give the Inquisitors the benefit of their advice, -but they were so little zealous for popular rights that it became a -practice for an Inquisitor to represent one or more Bishops. It was -doubtful whether the Inquisition ought to obey the finding of the court, -and the occasion became a mere form, from which the episcopal -co-operation was frequently absent. Sometimes a number of sentenced -persons remained in gaol, and were added to from time to time, so that -the _auto de fe_ could be made more impressive. At one of these -ceremonies held in Toulouse in 1310, out of 108 persons sentenced 18 -were burnt alive. In the previous year one unfortunate had hit upon the -expedient of voluntary starvation. The Inquisition had a more effective -retort than forcible feeding; its preparations were hurried on, and the -solitary victim was burnt, a similar case occurring four years later. -Very seldom did any one escape by flight from the clutches of the Holy -Office. Its agents were everywhere, its jurisdiction had no limits, a -complete network of private information existed, and flight was a sure -presumption of guilt. A boy of fifteen, sentenced after two years’ -imprisonment to wear the crosses which indicated his punishment, at -length threw them off, and worked as a boatman on the Garonne. He was -discovered, cited to appear, and in default was excommunicated and -condemned as a heretic in an _auto_ of 1319. Two years later he was -arrested, escaped, was recaptured, and finally sentenced to imprisonment -on a diet of bread and water. His original crime was that he, a mere -boy, had “adored” a heretic at the command of his father. - - -_The Inquisitorial Method._ - -The duty of the Inquisitor was the detection of heresy--that is, to -ascertain the secret thoughts of the accused. External acts were of -consequence only as they indicated a particular frame of mind. This was -a task possible to omniscience only, but the Inquisitor willingly -undertook it, preferring to sacrifice a hundred innocent persons rather -than let one guilty person escape. The safeguards of justice were -nominal; it was found convenient to assume guilt from the outset. In the -secular courts there were a few provisions which gave an accused some -faint chance of obtaining justice; but these, under the pressure of the -Inquisition, gradually fell into abeyance. Even death was no escape so -far as the culprit’s property was concerned. At Ferrara the Bishop and -the Inquisitor squabbled for thirty-two years over the remains of a -heretic, and in 1313 a Florentine family found themselves the victims -of a prosecution brought against an ancestor who had died sixty-three -years before. - -Delation was an indispensable and certainly very useful feature of the -Inquisition’s procedure. A woman of Toulouse in 1254 furnished a list of -169 persons incriminated by her, and all the names, with addresses, were -carefully noted for later use. Each of these persons would be persuaded -to supply further names, and so the Inquisition’s net was constantly -growing larger. To give information against others was the truest sign -of repentance, and the Inquisitors were untiring in their efforts to -secure it. In order to elicit confession every conceivable means were -employed: if kindness seemed to promise the best results, kindness would -be shown; an emissary would visit the prisoner’s cell urging confession -and promising mercy--with the mental reservation that severity was the -truest mercy to a heretic. Sometimes a man’s wife and children were -permitted in his dungeon that they might work upon his feelings. On -occasion protracted delay was used to break the prisoner’s spirit; he -would be tried, receive no definite sentence, and be left in gaol -perhaps for many years. Thus a woman who was imprisoned and confessed in -1297 was not formally sentenced for thirteen years, while at Carcassonne -a man made his confession in 1321 after an imprisonment of thirty years. - -If, on the other hand, it was thought desirable to hasten the sinner’s -repentance, the confinement was made so terribly harsh that it -frequently brought about the result desired. Torture had not been -greatly employed in the earlier half of the thirteenth century, but Pope -Innocent’s Bull of 1252 expressly authorized its use by the secular -authorities to discover heresy. The secular courts were slow to adopt -it, but its rapid extension by the Holy Office showed how useful it was. -Although not frequently mentioned in the records, various indications -prove that it was freely employed. Not only accused persons, but -witnesses whose statements appeared doubtful or unsatisfactory, were put -to the torture; and the Inquisition had an ingenious way of -manufacturing witnesses, for a person who had confessed his own offence -would be treated as a witness to the guilt of others, and was tortured -to betray them. Confessions made under torture were subject to -confirmation; if they were not confirmed, but denied, the accused was -treated as an obstinate impenitent and perjurer, and handed over to the -secular arm. - - -_Evidence._ - -Lea remarks that “the matter-of-course way in which rules destructive of -every principle of justice are laid down by men presumably correct in -the ordinary affairs of life affords a wholesome lesson as to the power -of fanaticism to warp the intellect of the most acute.”[25] Such rules -as there were for the protection of accused persons were systematically -set aside, and the lives of even devout Catholics hung on the merest -trifles and technicalities. A new crime termed “suspicion of heresy” was -invented, and of this three degrees were formulated--light suspicion, -vehement suspicion, and violent suspicion, all of which offered ample -scope to inquisitorial ingenuity. A merchant found it a dangerous -civility to bow to acquaintances who, unknown to him, were heretics. Two -witnesses were required to prove heresy, but at a pinch one was made to -suffice, and if the one witness revoked testimony in favour of the -accused his revocation annulled the evidence, while if the original -testimony was adverse to the defence it was the revocation that became -void! The minimum age of witnesses was also liable to fluctuation. By -the Italian civil law it was twenty years, but the Holy Office was not -particular to a year or two, and a case is recorded in which the -evidence of a boy of ten was accepted against his own family and -sixty-six other people who had listened to a heretical sermon a year -before. Wives, children, and servants could not testify in favour of an -accused; against him their evidence was readily accepted. The only thing -that disabled a witness was proof that he was actuated by mortal enmity -against the accused; but, as the accused was kept in ignorance of the -witness’s identity, proof of this sort was made practically impossible. - -Witnesses seldom refused to testify. If they did, the torture chamber -generally induced them to reconsider the matter; in fact, an unlucky -witness ran as great a risk as the defendant of an acquaintance with the -rack or the pulleys. Nor was the secrecy of the confessional of much -avail, for all priests were instructed to use every means in their power -to induce confessions of heresy, and the results were conveyed to the -tribunals in a judiciously indirect manner. - -All these precautions, thorough and effective as they were, were not -thought sufficient, and were supplemented by instructions to the -Inquisitors that less evidence was needed to prove heresy than to prove -any other crime. The crowning infamy of keeping secret the names of -witnesses was a peculiarity of the ecclesiastical procedure, of which -its administrators were a little ashamed; but the feeble protests of one -or two councils were ignored. As a slight concession to justice the -accused was, though rarely, shown a list of names, but without being -told which of them applied to his own case; and also a witness would -sometimes be sworn in the presence of the accused, but _examined apart_. -On occasion the whole of the evidence was withheld from the knowledge -of the accused, and if a witness retracted his testimony the fact was -not revealed to the interested party. In practice it was found best to -leave all these details to the Inquisitors’ discretion. - -The field which all this secrecy opened to malice, slander, and perjury -may be faintly imagined. Serious abuses in connection with the handling -of evidence were exposed in the fourteenth century by conscientious -Inquisitors themselves, and the fact suggests that an appalling amount -of injustice remained undiscovered. The extraordinary rule by which a -perjured witness was to be punished, but his testimony was to hold good, -was a development that might have been expected from an organization -bent on the manufacture of criminals. And, because it was fairly safe, -perjury by witnesses for the prosecution was by no means uncommon. - - -_The Defence._ - -The whole tendency of the Inquisitorial procedure was to afford as few -opportunities as possible for an effective answer to a charge of heresy. -Inquisitors were expressly ordered not to worry about legal forms, but -to extract confessions. In the early part of the thirteenth century the -accused was gratuitously allowed an advocate, but, as the lawyer -entrusted with this delicate duty rendered himself liable to a charge of -heresy if he showed zeal on behalf of his client, the office became -little sought after, and the benefit inappreciable. In time the practice -was more honoured in the breach than in the observance; and, as the -Inquisition could deprive an advocate of his papers and put him in the -dangerous position of a witness, it is doubtful whether his services -were of much value, or, indeed, whether, in many cases, they were -rendered at all. It was sometimes impossible to secure advocates, and -instances are known in which prisoners, in despair, declined to exercise -their right to call for copies of the evidence against them. The -Inquisitors then placed on record that the privilege had been offered -and refused, without superfluous detail as to reasons. Denial of the -accusation of heresy, or refusal to plead, rendered the person charged -liable to torture or the stake. If the Inquisitors did happen to break -the rules and expose themselves to appeal against their judgments, there -were manuals available in which they were instructed in the numerous -devices and deceptions by which they could escape responsibility. An -acquittal never took place; the Inquisitors were expressly authorized to -pronounce no one innocent, as it was always desirable to leave a -loophole for future proceedings. The rare verdict, “Not proven,” was the -utmost length to which the mercy of the Holy Office would extend. - - -_Sentence._ - -Strange though it may appear, what the Inquisition really wanted was the -salvation of the sinner’s soul, the appropriation of his goods being -quite a secondary consideration. Its penalties were benevolently -designed to wash away the stain of mortal guilt, and thus prepare him -for a future state of bliss. Assuming the reality of this state, its -enjoyments would certainly be enhanced by contrast with the heretic’s -earthly experiences. The exact condition of the soul, however, being -difficult to ascertain, the chastisement of the body was believed to -afford the most efficacious means of purification. Accordingly the -Church, in its tenderness, did not condemn to death; it merely withdrew -its protection from the unrepentant. It did not confiscate his property; -all it did was to declare him guilty of a crime which rendered him -incapable of holding property. If it imposed a fine, it was because the -proceeds were to be employed in works of charity, which, of course, -included the upkeep of its own organization. The ultimate disposal of -the condemned heretic could safely be left in the hands of the obedient -civil power. - -The Church must receive whatever credit may be due for its kindly -intentions, though they sometimes worked out strangely. Almost always -the heretic came off disastrously, but there were episodes of mildness -for which it is not easy to account. When, at the end of the thirteenth -century, an Inquisitor was murdered, the man who hired the assassins was -merely ordered to present himself to the Pope and receive penance. Even -his neglect to do this was visited by nothing worse than a mild order to -arrest him if he could be found. We shall meet with more of this -unaccountable clemency. - -The light penances imposed by the Inquisition were Prayers, Churchgoing, -Discipline, Fasting, Pilgrimages, and Fines. As punishments these -penances do not sound excessive, but, as interpreted by the elastic -discretion of the Holy Office, they could make a penitent extremely ill -at ease, and when several were combined in one sentence life became a -heavy burden. During a long pilgrimage a man’s family might starve. In -1322 pilgrimages were imposed on three men who nearly twenty years -before had seen some Waldenses in their father’s house without knowing -that they were heretics. Fines naturally gave opportunities for -extortion which only exceptional men were able to refrain from using. As -already mentioned, the Inquisition appropriated the property of all -persons sentenced for heresy. A man who died in 1252, before completing -a five years’ pilgrimage, left an estate of twenty livres, and the -Inquisitors promptly claimed the whole of this immense sum. Bail was -simply another word for bribery, and extortion became a system -exploited to the utmost by men who were sleeplessly on the look-out for -plunder. - -The second grade of penance was the compulsory wearing of yellow -crosses, sewn on to the clothing as an indication that the wearer had -been condemned for heresy. This badge, which corresponded to the _san -benito_ commonly used in Spain, was so great a disgrace that efforts -were constantly made to avoid it; but though, for special reasons, -permission was sometimes given to dispense with it, usually it was -insisted upon, and escape from the vigilant eye of the Inquisition was -impossible. - -Penance became far more severe in the third grade, which was -imprisonment for life. A comprehensive penalty of this character was -incurred by every one who did not come forward within the time specified -by the Edict of Grace, confess his own sins, and denounce those of -others. The Inquisition of Toulouse, between 1246 and 1248, records 192 -cases, of which 127 were of perpetual imprisonment, 6 for ten years, 16 -for an indefinite term in the discretion of the Church, and the -remaining 43 were of absentees. The Council of Narbonne, in 1244, made -the sentence invariably for life. The confinement was solitary; the diet -consisted of bread and water, and in the harsher sentence the penitent -was chained by the feet, sometimes by the hands as well, and, in extreme -cases, to the wall of a dark, noisome dungeon. It is not surprising that -prisoners did not attain a green old age. - -The Inquisition reserved the right, in the exercise of its discretion, -to mitigate or re-impose its penalties. This right was frequently used, -especially in regard to the wearing of crosses; but seldom did the -prisoner find his punishment any the lighter. If he had the unusual good -fortune to be released, he might, for the slightest lapse, be punished -again, and this time without mercy and without the formality of a fresh -trial. Every victim relinquished by the Holy Office was a -ticket-of-leave man, liable at any moment to utter ruin. He could never -feel sure that something might not be discovered, perhaps a youthful -indiscretion of his grandfather’s, which would require his appearance -before the dread Tribunal, or that for some unguarded act or expression -he might not bring himself under the most effective of all -excommunications--that of the Holy Inquisition. - - -_Confiscation._ - -By decree of Innocent III in 1215 and the Bull of Innocent IV in 1252, -confiscation of the property of heretics and their children was made a -necessary penalty, and all temporal rulers were required to enforce it. -Of the proceeds one-third was to go to the State, one-third to the -Papacy, and one-third to the Inquisition. Each party, as a matter of -course, tried to cheat the others; but the wily Inquisitors almost -invariably obtained the lion’s share of the spoil, which was, nominally -at any rate, devoted to the furtherance of their own method of -propagating the Gospel. Between them the victim had as much chance of -escape as a mouse in a trap. The Church had some difficulty in getting -confiscation sanctioned by the State, but it succeeded. - -The heretic was not permitted to dispose of his property, but if he did -succeed in doing so the transaction was void; and, even though the -property had passed through several hands, the last possessor was -cheerfully deprived of it. As debts due to heretics and securities for -loans by them were also void, business became almost impossible. -Numerous complaints of the Inquisition’s rapacity show that no possessor -of property felt safe. It is not easy to understand how society could -continue to hold together when a stimulus was thus deliberately given -to fraud, jealousy, quarrelling, litigation, commercial anarchy, and -domestic misery. Possibly religious zeal was the original motive of the -folly, but when persecution is made a paying concern the reins are given -to greed and injustice of every conceivable kind. - -Venice made a stand against ecclesiastical corruption, and in 1289 -enacted that the whole proceeds of confiscation should go to the State; -and in the latter part of the fifteenth century Piedmont adopted a -similar course, allowing the Inquisition only its expenses. - -A further abuse was that, from the beginning of its career, the -Inquisition frequently made confiscations before the accused had been -convicted, sometimes before he confessed. In 1319 sentence was passed in -southern France on a man who had been charged in 1284, yet in 1301 the -officials were quarrelling over his estate. These legal robberies were -carried out with relentless severity, everything being seized to the -last penny. On arrest for suspicion of heresy, the Holy Office took -possession of a person’s property, promising that if the charge was not -proven (a rare event) some of it would be returned for the support of -his family. In the meantime the family were turned into the streets to -starve, or to live on such charity as they could get. The case of one -secret heretic, Gherardo, a rich noble of Florence and consul of the -city, was a bad one. Between sixty and seventy years after his death the -Inquisitor of the city started a successful persecution against his -memory, and eleven of his descendants, who were not heretics, were -included in the condemnation, and presumably reduced to penury. - -It was confiscation that kept alive religious persecution, because the -heretics were ingeniously made to furnish the means for their own -destruction, and when all the heretics had been disposed of the -languishing state of the Holy Office began to arouse real concern on the -part of those who made good livings out of it. Confiscation of property -for an assumed crime was one of the most effectual agencies for the -destruction of civilization, and it is strange that Rome did not see the -error of its ways when countries that had no Inquisition were increasing -in prosperity and happiness. - - -_Relaxation and the Stake._ - -It might be supposed that relaxation meant either release from custody -or mitigation of punishment. The Holy Office, however, rose superior to -verbal conventionalities, and defined the term to mean that the accused -person should, after condemnation, be handed over to the civil power. It -was equally well understood that the duty of the civil power was to burn -him alive. The condemned was delivered to the magistrates with an appeal -for mercy, which every one knew to be a transparent piece of hypocrisy. -The Church was mainly responsible for these ferocious laws, and insisted -on their being carried out, salving its conscience by giving out -publicly that it had nothing more to do with the matter. Pope Boniface -VIII embodied in the Canon Law rigid instructions for the punishment of -those condemned by the Inquisition, and all magistrates who failed to -carry out those instructions were cautioned to speak only in a general -way of punishment, though the only penalty for obstinate heresy -recognized by the Church was death by fire. Usually the civil -authorities carried out willingly enough the behests of the Church, but -they made occasional protests, and relaxation was not always treated as -equivalent to death. Several of these protests are on record, but they -were overruled, and the magistrates did their duty. Under the teaching -of the Church the best men of the time regarded heresy as a manifest -crime and the burning of heretics as an act of righteousness. - -Sham and enforced conversions were numerous, and resulted in a large -number of relapses, which were punished mercilessly, though not always -by burning. The definition of relapse became more and more difficult, -and some Inquisitors were not disposed to bring every trifle under that -category. Bernard de Caux and his successor, Jean de St. Pierre, usually -condemned to imprisonment, and the latter frequently protested against -the indiscriminate burnings inflicted by the civil authorities of -Toulouse. It is indeed remarkable that burnings were not more numerous. -Thus Bernard Gui, the celebrated Inquisitor of Toulouse, is said to have -declared that between 1308 and 1328 he had put to death 637 heretics. It -appears, however, from the records that this figure represents the total -number of sentences passed by him; of these only 40 were of -condemnations to the stake of living persons, and 67 more were of -persons already dead and therefore not personally interested in the -proceedings. Evidently the chief efforts of the Inquisitors were -directed to the exaction of confessions, with, of course, confiscation -of goods, rather than to create a host of martyrs, an occasional -cremation being merely a salutary example. The Church was not slow to -profit by the experience of the Inquisition, and its spiritual courts -rapidly extended the use of torture and other methods of persuasion. -Probably an even more disastrous effect was produced upon the civil law -of Europe, the increased severity and flagrant injustice of which are -largely traceable to the influence of the Holy Office. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -HOW THE INQUISITION OVERRAN EUROPE - - -_The South of France._ - -The Inquisition had uphill work before it in the South of France. There -was plenty of heresy, but also plenty of popular sympathy with it. The -Church’s repressive powers were not fully organized, the clergy were -unpopular, the Bishops looked with a jealous eye on the Inquisition, and -the Papal commands to assist the Inquisitors were frequently disobeyed. -The Dominican priesthood, however, was burning with zeal, and succeeded -in so far inflaming the popular feeling as to be able to commit serious -acts of persecution without episcopal protest. The notorious Inquisition -of Toulouse was set up in 1233, and, although for some years the Bishops -maintained their superior jurisdiction, the Inquisitors seized every -opportunity to disregard it and act independently. A revolting case -occurred in 1234, when a dying woman confessed her heresy to the Bishop -of Toulouse under the impression that he was a heretic Bishop. She was -carried off on her bed and burnt, and the Bishop was able to go back to -an interrupted dinner and return thanks to God for his achievement. - -The popular sentiment vented itself many times in risings and tumults, -especially at Albi and Toulouse, but with only temporary effect, though -in 1234 a civil war broke out in Narbonne which lasted for three years. -Count Raymond of Toulouse (the seventh of his name) was, like his -predecessor, placed in a very difficult position between a persecuting -Church and an angry people. His indifference to religion exposed him to -the accusation of heresy, and, life being unbearable with the Church at -constant enmity, he was compelled to persecute his own people, and his -natural slackness in that unpleasant task kept him plentifully supplied -with trouble. Bigotry was at that time less tinctured with financial -greed than it afterwards became; the persecutors were mostly good men, -whose sincerity brings into stronger relief the appalling results of -their actions. - -By about 1237 the Inquisition had established a definite supremacy over -the Bishops, and reduced the terror-stricken people to obedience--a -result to which the conversion of Raymond Gros, one of the heretical -leaders, strikingly contributed. By the execution, two years later, of -180 Cathari at Montwimer, the heretical sect received a blow from which -it never recovered. Count Raymond, however, actually succeeded in -getting the Inquisition suspended in his dominions for three years, -during which time his people were at least able to breathe; but by 1241 -the Inquisitors, knowing the negligence of the Bishops and emphasizing -to Rome the growing power of heresy, were able to resume active -persecution. In that year occurred the death of Pope Gregory IX, one of -the principal founders of the Inquisition, and for two years the Papal -throne was virtually vacant. But the Inquisition had sufficient -authority to proceed with vigour, and that it did so is shown by the -large number of sentences and the speed with which the criminal list was -got through. At the small town of Montauban, in one week of May, 1242, -no fewer than 252 persons were sentenced for heresy--a plain indication -that the infection was general. The punishments were mostly penances, -but some of them involved real hardship. Three pilgrimages--one of 500 -miles--for eating at the same table with heretics was a severe return -for a friendly action, and showed the need of carefully choosing one’s -company. These harsh penalties became so frequent that some localities -were almost depopulated. - -The massacre of a whole tribunal of Inquisitors and their Familiars in -1242, at a castle in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, was followed by war, -in which Count Raymond was defeated; and his reconciliation with the -Church marked the triumph of the Inquisition. A determined band of -heretics threw themselves into the strong castle of Mont Ségur, and held -out till 1244, when the place was captured by treachery and 205 men and -women were cast into the flames. The energetic labours of the -Inquisitors extended over half Languedoc, and some thousands of heresy -cases were dealt with in the space of two years. Count Raymond, who had, -in the latter part of his life, become a vigorous persecutor, died in -1249, and the Inquisition, relieved of its doubtful ally, had a halcyon -time for the next twenty years. A more troublous period followed, for -with the diminution of the power of great nobles, such as the Counts of -Toulouse and Foix, that of the Crown became consolidated, and men began -to turn to it for relief from the insufferable tyranny of the -Inquisition. Opposition to its secret and arbitrary influence arose, not -from heretics only, but also from good Catholics, who perceived that the -land was being ruined, and whose humanity was outraged by the constant -use of torture. With its superior concentration of purpose, the -Inquisition fully held its own until, in 1291, Philippe le Bel, the King -of France, ordered his officials to disobey the commands of the -Inquisitors, except in the case of confessed heresy. Under threat of -excommunication Philippe came to an understanding with the Pope which -lasted for two years, when the quarrel broke out afresh, and the -Carcassonne Inquisition had to suspend operations for three months. - -A case occurred in 1300 which illustrates the power of the Inquisition. -The Pope, Boniface VIII, had sworn to burn all the inhabitants of -Carcassonne, because one of its citizens had declined to bribe a Papal -Cardinal when proffering complaints. Gastel Fabre, the man’s father, who -had died in 1278, was declared a heretic (the documents are believed to -be forgeries); an ineffectual appeal was made, but the man’s estates -were confiscated, and so long after as 1329 the bones of his wife were -exhumed by the vengeful Inquisition. The sharp quarrels which arose -early in the century between the Franciscans and the Dominicans led to -the powers of the Inquisition being in some respects curtailed, and thus -brought about a slackening of persecution, which proved to be only -temporary. A more decided check was experienced in 1308, when Pope -Clement V and his Cardinals gave a judgment against the Holy Office, -which was considered responsible for the evil condition of the South of -France. - -Certain reforms were outlined by the Council of Vienne in 1312, -particularly in regard to the use of torture, the improvement of the -loathsome dungeons of the Inquisition, and the conduct of its officials; -but the restrictions imposed were evaded with the customary ingenuity, -and soon became a dead letter. With the accession of John XXII to the -Papal chair matters became easier for the Inquisition. In 1319 the -esteemed Franciscan, Bernard Delicieux, the only man who had dared to -offer consistent opposition to the Holy Office, was tried on numerous -charges, tortured in spite of his advanced age, and condemned to -degradation from Holy orders and life-long imprisonment in chains, with -a diet of bread and water, in the prison at Carcassonne. Under these -severities his death in a few months relieved the Inquisition of a -formidable enemy. - -The reaction went on rapidly. The cities which had struggled against the -Inquisition were reduced to subjection and public repentance in 1319, -and the persecutors were at length free to reap the fruits of their -victory. The Catharist leaders were sent to the stake, and the heresy -became practically extinct. Its fate was not entirely unmerited, but the -agency that brought it about must be wholly condemned. It had propagated -a queer medley of doctrines, the anti-social effect of which was not -fully perceived by their advocates, though the Church understood from -the first how its privileges would fare if liberty of thought were -allowed to the people. - -In that beautiful, sunny land of Languedoc a civilization of splendid -promise, reaching out far in advance of the age into civic activities, -industry, art, and science, had been developed by an energetic and -patriotic people. Unfortunately for them, their civilization was not of -the ecclesiastical type, and the Church felt that it had a legitimate -grievance. The Inquisition left Languedoc in ruins; it found a garden, -and made it a wilderness. It descended upon happy homes, and left them -in desolation and mourning. External unity of faith was achieved, but -with it the moral debasement of the Church. By the unscrupulous, -systematic, and long-continued abuse of power it gained a triumph for -the evil effects of which no repentance can atone. - - The moving finger writes; and, having writ, - Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit - Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, - Nor all your tears wash out a word of it. - -The only good result of the Inquisition’s activities was one which it -never intended. In its greed for money it forgot an equally greedy and -much more deserving rival. The Crown, seeing how profitable persecution -had become, at length exercised the right, when it possessed the power, -to take the proceeds, and seized for more useful purposes the -confiscations of heretic property. The estates of a ruined nobility were -taken over by the king’s officers, and the Holy Office unwittingly aided -the consolidation of a secular power which in the end reduced it to a -nullity. - - -_Northern France._ - -In the year 1233 a relentless Dominican bigot named Friar Robert was -appointed Inquisitor for Western Burgundy. This crazy fanatic raged -through the north of France, burning large numbers of people. So -notorious became his excesses that after some years his commission was -withdrawn, and he spent the rest of his days in prison. Persecution was -not greatly checked, for the intensity of the general feeling against -heresy was such that even the saintly Louis IX declared that the only -argument to use with a heretic was to thrust him through with a sword up -to the hilt. In the hands of the Dominicans persecution went on -vigorously all over France, then a much smaller country than now, and -the zeal of the orthodox was frequently stimulated by Papal Bulls urging -greater vigour. Milman relates a terrible occurrence in 1239, but does -not state that it took place by order of the Inquisition. In the -presence of the Archbishop of Rheims, seventeen bishops, and 100,000 -persons, no fewer than 183 Manichæans were burnt outside the city of -Rheims, and all of them perished without fear.[26] The right of asylum -in churches was withdrawn from heretics in 1281 by Pope Martin IV. - -Not until 1310, however, did the first formal burning alive by the -Inquisition take place in France. The Manichean holocaust, formal -enough in a practical sense, appears to have been an irregularity. On -May 30 of that year a woman who had advocated free love and other -heresies died at the stake with such devotion that the spectators were -moved to tears. The sect to which she belonged, the Brethren of the Free -Spirit, furnished a good many victims in the course of the next few -years, when the Inquisition reached the height of its power. But with -the growth and consolidation of the authority of the Crown the -Inquisition was absorbed by the secular courts till it became little -more than a department of the State. Its comparative impotence was made -more perceptible by the removal of the Holy See from Rome to Avignon, -and by the Great Schism (1378-1447) which shook the Papacy to its -foundations. The wars with the English, which were then so frequent and -prolonged, also made conditions unfavourable to the Inquisition by -causing the withdrawal of the royal stipend; and the University of Paris -to a large extent took its place as an investigator of heresy cases. -When the wars were over an attempt was made by Pope Nicholas V in 1451 -to revive and increase the activity of persecution, but with no -permanent success. So far had the Holy Office become out of touch with -the spirit of the times that the roving commissions which were -frequently granted to special Inquisitors also failed to re-establish -the authority of the institution. The people of Lyons in 1458 were even -bold enough to throw their Inquisitor into prison, and it was only with -difficulty that he was released. A few years later Jean Laillier, a -priest in Paris, spoke his mind freely about the clergy, and the -Inquisition did not feel strong enough to burn him. Two other priests, -who at mass threw the Host on the floor and trampled on it, committed an -unpardonable crime, and duly suffered at the stake. - -In the south of France the Waldensians remained powerful in the -fourteenth century, even after the terrible persecutions through which -they had gone. The most obnoxious of their tenets appears to have been -the not unreasonable proposition that the sacraments were valueless when -administered by sinful priests. To stamp out this peculiar heresy -vigorous efforts were made by Pope Gregory XI in 1375, and a little -later great hauls of heretics were made, and many burnings resulted. Men -and women were torn from their homes to rot in the overcrowded prisons, -yet still the remorseless pontiff reproached the Inquisitors with their -slackness, and spurred them to greater energy. One ecclesiastic, St. -Vincent Ferrer, hit upon a daring novelty, and tried the effect of -kindness; but, although he made many converts, who were content to lose -some of their property to save the rest, the Church was dubious about -such experiments, and went on methodically with its burnings. In 1393 -Inquisitor Borel of Grenoble is credited with having brought to the -stake 150 persons in one day. This exceptional achievement was followed -by a prolonged lull, and in 1478 Louis XI issued an ordinance limiting -the powers of Inquisitors and clearly establishing the supremacy of the -State. Five years later the king’s death gave the Church another -opportunity, which was quickly utilized. Innocent VIII determined to -suppress the Waldensian heresy once for all. He ordered a crusade -against the heretics, and after stubborn resistance they submitted. In -one valley many of them took refuge in a remote cave, but were -discovered and suffocated by the smoke of fires built at its mouth. -Relief was once more gained when Louis XII came to the throne of France, -and the Waldenses secured a certain liberty of worship until, in the -times of the Reformation, they became absorbed in the Calvinist body. So -hated by the Roman Church was the grim faith of Calvin that in 1538 a -Grand Inquisitor was burnt for embracing it.[27] A few years later Pius -V ordered the Catholics to slay every Huguenot who fell into their -hands. - - -_Aragon and Castile._ - -The Inquisition was established in Aragon in 1238, but a long time -elapsed before it was organized with anything like efficiency. A nest of -Catharans had been rooted out in 1237, but the records are scanty, the -principal incident being the stoning to death of an Inquisitor by the -inhabitants of Urgel, the chief centre of heresy. Greater vigour was -shown at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and Pope Clement VI -urged the kings of Aragon and Navarre to track down the many Waldenses -who had fled from Toulouse. About the middle of the century the -Inquisition was concerned in a heated dispute which arose between the -Dominican and Franciscan Orders regarding one of those fatuously futile -subjects on which men were roused to the extremity of passion in the -Middle Ages. The Franciscans maintained that the blood of Christ after -his death remained on earth--a proposition which filled the Pope and the -Dominicans with horror. After this interesting question had been -wrangled over for 122 years a great debate took place at Rome, when the -warmth of the disputants was not moderated by the bitterly cold weather. -Neither party could prove its case, but neither would give way, and as -the Pope at last forbade further discussion the vital question of what -became of Christ’s blood remains to this day unsolved. In Aragon neither -the Crown nor the bishops supported the Inquisition with any particular -ardour; the burning of heretics was an occasional luxury, confiscations -were few, and the Inquisitors had failed to gain the popular sympathy. -Not until about 1481, when the Spanish Inquisition was established on a -sound commercial basis, did the persecutors show great activity or -inspire profound terror. - -Castile also was little troubled by the Inquisition until the latter -part of the fifteenth century. In 1401 Pope Boniface issued a Bull for -the repression of heresy, but only a slight effect was produced. It is -worth noting that the heresy was not that of daring to think for one’s -self (such boldness was then rare in Spain), but the idolatrous worship -of plants, trees, and stones--the relics of pagan practices which the -Church had incautiously permitted to survive. Aversion to the Papal -Inquisition continued until the energetic measures of Ferdinand and -Isabella rendered its manifestation dangerous, and smoothed the path of -the orthodox. - - -_Italy._ - -During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Italy was in such a state of -anarchy, due to the constant wars between its petty States, that heresy -found a congenial soil, though the work of the Inquisition was not made -easier. Catharism flourished in Lombardy, and propagated itself all over -Europe. Its openly taught doctrines were soon met by violent repression. -The Waldensian refugees from the south of France settled in the Cottian -Alps, where they supported themselves only by the most remarkable -industry. The freethinking emperor, Frederick II, did not respond warmly -to the urgent appeals made by the Popes to suppress the heretics, for he -knew the value of an increasing body of well-conducted and hard-working -citizens. - -In 1224, however, Pope Honorius appointed two Bishops with special -powers, which they at once proceeded to exercise. The first result was -an insurrection at Brescia, in which several churches were burnt. These -disturbances were repressed and the ringleaders lightly punished by -fines, and it was not until Gregory IX placed the matter in the hands of -the Dominicans that satisfactory progress was made. The power of the -episcopate had waned, and the Inquisition was free to use its new -authority almost as it pleased. It was not welcomed by the people, and -its officials were at times roughly handled; but its grip was gradually -tightened, largely owing to the zeal and eloquence of the Dominican -Giovanni da Vicenza, who performed innumerable miracles, including the -raising to life of ten dead persons. This man, whose burning of heretics -did not imperil his great reputation as a peacemaker, was appointed -Perpetual Inquisitor in 1247, and is believed to have perished in 1265 -in a crusade against Manfred, King of Naples. The death in 1250 of -Frederick II deprived the heretics of a certain measure of protection, -and removed a powerful obstacle to the Inquisition’s activity. The power -of bigotry to stifle humane feeling is exhibited by Fra Giovanni Schio, -who, though personally one of the gentlest of men, could, after -preaching a beautiful sermon on love, calmly have sixty people burnt -alive.[28] A still more remarkable figure is that of Peter of Verona, -commonly known as St. Peter Martyr, who was one of the most renowned of -all Inquisitors. His great gifts of preaching and his wonder-working -powers were employed in the suppression of heresy, then rapidly growing -in the northern and central parts of Italy. At Milan, and later at -Florence, he carried on the holy work of burning, headed an army of the -faithful, and in two deadly battles broke the strength of heresy, and -with it that of the Ghibelline party, which was opposed to the Papacy. -It is said that Peter never broke his fast before sunset, and passed -most of the night in prayer--habits which may have had something to do -with his persecuting zeal. The murder of this godly man in 1252 by a -band of heretics whom he had driven to extremities did not, strangely -enough, result in any barbarous vengeance being inflicted on the -assassins, who escaped very lightly. One of the perpetrators, after due -repentance, was allowed to die peacefully as a _beato_ of the Dominican -Order. He even figures among the saints in the church erected to the -memory of the man he helped to murder. None of the guilty men appears to -have been executed; and one of them, though a notorious heretic, was -only imprisoned after a lapse of forty-three years. In this the Church -probably acted shrewdly, for the martyr’s halo and the saint’s wonderful -miracles redounded to its credit in a striking degree, and one of the -first results was the formation of a society, the Crocesegnati, or -Knights of the Cross, by persons of station, who swore on the holy cross -to devote their lives to the extermination of heresy and heretics. This -society, which had branches in most of the Italian cities, greatly aided -the Inquisition, and remained in existence until the nineteenth century. - -Another energetic bigot, Rainerio Saccone, formerly a Catharian, -extended the power of the Holy Office, supported by repeated Papal Bulls -and the appointment of fresh Inquisitors. These efforts were impeded by -Ezzelin da Romano, whose evil reputation has been, perhaps, somewhat -exaggerated, and who, as a ruler, possessed at least one good -quality--that he would permit no religious persecution. In 1241 he was -condemned as a heretic--an operation several times repeated without -result, until at length, in accordance with time-honoured custom, a -crusade was organized against him, one of the Papal Bulls containing a -provision that persons found in possession of stolen property might -receive absolution if they applied it to the purposes of the Crusade. At -the outset victorious, Ezzelin was at last defeated, and received wounds -from which, refusing all aid, he died. The victor, Pallavicino, was, -however, no friend of the Inquisition, and, being irritated by the -Pope’s ungrateful treatment of him, he used every opportunity to prevent -the Inquisitors from carrying on their work. Pallavicino was summoned to -the Papal presence to answer for his heresy, and, disregarding the -summons, became involved in war, and died in 1268, when besieged in one -of his castles. - -In spite of occasional but determined opposition, the Inquisition was by -this time supreme all over the Peninsula; the temporal power of the -Church grew with its triumph, and heretics were burnt in considerable -numbers. It was hardly possible, says an Italian writer, for a man to be -a Christian and die in his bed.[29] At one small town seventy persons, -and at Piacenza, it is said, twenty-eight wagon loads of human beings, -were thus put to death. It is curious that of one man who secretly -propagated heretical opinions, while professing to be a devout Catholic, -many miracles were recorded after his death. When the evidence of his -heterodoxy was found to be conclusive, they ceased, and the quarrel -which arose about his sanctity lasted for thirty-two years, until the -Pope decreed that the charge of heresy was proved, that his bones should -be burnt, all his property confiscated, and all sales or transfers of it -declared void. - -In the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, Charles of Anjou, whose ambition to -dominate Italy had been fostered by the Papacy, established the -Inquisition about 1268 or 1269. It looked sharply after the financial -results, but, although its operations were at first carried on with -vigour, it did not assume the compact and effective form which it -possessed in the South of France. Heretics were occasionally burnt, but -numbers remained unmolested--a fact which implies some inefficiency on -the part of the Inquisitors. At Venice the success of the persecutors -was still more meagre, for the Republic jealously kept them in -subordination. Its lack of persecuting zeal aroused the ire of the Pope, -but his peremptory orders were complied with only in such a way as to -leave the supremacy of the State unimpaired. Reserving the right to -control confiscations, it undertook only to defray the Inquisitors’ -expenses. The Inquisition was becoming no longer a paying concern, and -its decay in Italy, as in France, went on steadily during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries. Catharism had been virtually stamped out, but -the Waldenses remained obstinate, strong in their simple faith and -hopefulness, their incessant industry, and hardy virtues. In spite of -the burning of some of their number in 1312, they flourished in their -remote villages until a pitiless persecution by Gregory XI, in 1375, -thinned their ranks and avenged the murder of two Inquisitors. About the -middle of the fifteenth century a zealous priest in one raid burned -twenty-two relapsed heretics, whose property was confiscated. A respite -then ensued, but persecution was shortly recommenced, in the form of a -crusade. On one occasion five heretics were sentenced to be burnt, but -managed to escape. Determined not to be baulked of his prey, the -Inquisitor burnt in their stead three other persons whose confessions -had secured their pardon. The Waldenses fought bravely, and once nearly -annihilated the crusading army, but in the end they were overpowered. -Many emigrated to more peaceful districts, where they maintained a -precarious existence till 1530, when, like their brethren in France, -they were merged in the Calvinist body. - -In the Sicilies the Jews were the chief objects of the Inquisition’s -activities, but its power, although stimulated in the middle of the -fifteenth century by an impudent forgery of the Inquisitor of Palermo, -was not equal to its ambitions; its judgments continued to be subject to -revision by the State, and were largely nullified by the opposition of -the people until the Reformation gave a fresh impetus to the sacred duty -of persecution. - - -_Bosnia._ - -The strength and persistence of the Catharan heresy determined Innocent -III to convert the nominal allegiance of the Slav race in the south-east -of Europe into a definite submission to the rule of Rome. Driven from -the Adriatic shore, the Cathari of Italy went to Bosnia, where a -considerable number of their faith already flourished. Although the -sword supplemented the love of God, the efforts of the Church resulted -in only a temporary obedience. Under the relentless pressure of Rome, -Dominican Inquisitors arrived in Bosnia by instalments during the -thirteenth century, and the martyrdom of some of them only inflamed the -zeal of the rest. Holy crusaders ravaged the country, repeating the -horrors of the Albigensian wars. Time after time heresy was to all -appearance extirpated, but it raised its head again as soon as the -pressure was removed. More than a century of hopeless confusion and -strife between Dominicans and Franciscans, as well as between them and -heretics, followed, and in 1331 it was found that the worship of trees -and fountains still prevailed among the “Christian” population. The -progress of heresy may be estimated from the fact that early in the -fifteenth century Catharism became the State religion of Bosnia. -Matters were complicated by the invasion of the Turks, to whose Sultan, -Mohammed II, the King rendered allegiance on the fall of Constantinople -in 1453, not because of any admiration for Islam, but because he could -obtain military assistance from Christendom only on terms of complete -submission to Rome, which meant a free hand for the Inquisition. Under -another King, who refused payment of the agreed tribute to the Turkish -Sultan, the country was conquered, almost without a struggle, by the -Ottomans. Most of the Cathari embraced the Moslem faith, and thus a sect -which had existed for more than a thousand years became extinct. The -majority of the orthodox left the country rather than practise their -religion under Moslem tolerance. - - -_Germany._ - -It was discovered in 1209 that the diocese of Strassburg was gravely -infected with heresy, and a large number of unfortunate persons perished -at the stake. On one day in that city the episcopal authorities caused -to be burnt eighty persons who had failed to pass successfully through -the ordeal of the red-hot iron. Catharism was little known in Germany, -and the heretics were mainly Waldenses. A body allied to them, known as -the Ortlibenses, or Brethren of the Free Spirit, founded by one Ortlieb, -of Strassburg, held that God was the essence of all creatures, and -invisible except through them. From this it followed, or was believed to -follow, that man, being an embodiment of the spirit of God, was -incapable of sin. This doctrine swept away, not merely the entire -apparatus of theology, but the whole system of observances which -constituted the religion of the Church and the source of its wealth. And -as it was broad enough to include the Prince of Darkness himself in the -possibility of redemption, its advocates became known as Luciferans, a -designation which gave rise to many scandalous reports. The tenets of -the Ortlibenses were doubtless capable of being abused, though there is -little evidence to show that they were so to any serious extent. Spurred -on by Gregory, the cruel fanatic, Conrad of Marburg--whom he had -appointed first Inquisitor of Germany--carried on the work of -persecution to the utmost of his power, but his success failed to -satisfy the merciless Pontiff. Transparently-invented confessions, -detailing hideous and absurd orgies of devil-worship, which Conrad -extracted from the Luciferans and forwarded to the Pope, drove him -almost insane with wrath, and persecution was carried on with such -frantic intensity that even the Bishops protested against its excesses. -Conrad was greatly mortified by the acquittal of a powerful noble, Count -Sayn, who had been accused of the deadly crime of riding on a crab! -During this reign of terror the Ortlibenses were suppressed, with the -burning of ten of their leaders, who met their fate with calmness; and a -few years afterwards, on July 31, 1233, Conrad was murdered. In this -case, also, a singular leniency on the part of the Church towards -serious crime was observed, the guilty parties being punished merely -with excommunication. Strangely enough, the Church has not manufactured -a saint out of Conrad of Marburg, whether because of his brutal -treatment of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, or because of the unpopularity -caused by his excessive zeal, history does not record. It is to the -credit of the German Bishops that they declined to give any public -approval of his actions. Another persecuting Conrad, who had much to do -with the troubles, was slain, and his assistant hanged. The number of -these men’s victims is not known, but that it must have been large is -shown by the profound impression produced in Germany by the persecution. -It should be mentioned that the secular code and episcopal laws of -Germany made ample provision for the suppression of heresy without -reference to the Inquisition. - -The doctrines of the Ortlibenses embodied a mixture of ascetic and -pantheistic tendencies which, though at first pure, were afterwards so -developed as to be made a cloak for immoral practices. The original -ideal seems to have been fairly well maintained, and it is doubtful -whether there was any foundation for the charges made by some Italian -ecclesiastics, that the ideas of sinlessness and of bodily nakedness as -a state of grace were deliberately employed for the corruption of women. -Another notorious sect, calling themselves the Friends of God, held the -daring conception that it was possible for Jews and Moslems to obtain -salvation, and refused to denounce heretics as long as God tolerated -them. - -The episcopal Inquisition was not organized in Germany until 1317, and -was directed mainly against the Beghards (known also as the Lollards), -who originated in the Netherlands and taught that poverty was the -greatest virtue. Upon these inoffensive people the Archbishop of Cologne -had opened war a few years earlier. The female heretics, known as -Beguines, were severely persecuted, though not to death; and it is said -that on his death-bed Pope Clement V bitterly regretted authorizing the -proceedings against them. Walter the Lollard, the most dangerous heretic -of the Rhine provinces, was terribly tortured in 1322, and, on the -special instructions of the Pope, he and many of his followers perished -in the flames, meeting their fate with undaunted cheerfulness. In 1353 -renewed attempts were made to establish the Inquisition in Germany, but -without success. The well-known mania of the Flagellants was persecuted -as heresy, and many people were burnt, while many others were left to -rot in underground dungeons. Another sect, called the “Friends of God,” -furnished more victims, and during the great plague the murder of Jews -was thought to be pleasing to God. In 1369 the Emperor Charles IV took -the Inquisition under State protection, and it was organized for work, -five Inquisitors being appointed, though it still lacked houses and -prisons. The unfortunate Beghards and Beguines were turned out of their -houses, which were appropriated by the Inquisitors, of course without -paying compensation, and not without opposition from the Bishops, who -saw their own prerogatives threatened. The Beghards had been allowed to -make their opinions public by means of tracts written in the vernacular; -the censorship vested in the Holy Office rectified the oversight. Both -the Bishops and the civil authorities objected to indiscriminate -persecution, and even succeeded in obtaining from Gregory XI authority -to restrict the Inquisitors’ activity in regard to the Beghards and -Beguines. Being almost unmolested for a time, the Waldensian heretics -again came into prominence, and from 1393 to 1397 suffered severely from -persecution. At Steyer, in the latter year, more than a hundred -Waldenses of both sexes were burnt. Of the followers of Conrad Schmidt, -of Thuringia, many were discovered in 1414, and ninety-one were burnt in -one town, forty-four in another, and many more in the villages of that -province. A still more horrible case occurred two years later, when 300 -of the Flagellants, penitent as well as impenitent, suffered at the -stake in one day. - -The superiority of the episcopate over the Inquisition was asserted by a -Bull of Eugenius IV in 1431, which had the novel effect of rendering the -Inquisitors liable to excommunication if they interfered with the -Bishops. Persecution went on, however, until, in the time of the -Reformation, most of the heretical bodies lost their identity in the -spread of Lutheranism. One of the precursors of that great movement was -Gregory of Heimburg, who for twenty-five years boldly wrote and preached -against the Papacy and the abuse by the Church of its power. A similar -campaign was carried on by Hans of Niklaushausen, who proclaimed that -the wickedness of the clergy was bringing about the destruction of the -world. He was seized by the episcopal tribunal of Wurzburg, and silenced -in the customary manner. In spite of intermittent activity and a large -number of burnings in Germany, the Inquisition never obtained a firm -foothold in that country; while in Bavaria it was not formally -established till 1599, and did not retain power for long. Had it been as -strong and efficient as it proved in Spain, the career of Martin Luther -would have been a brief one, and the Reformation would have been -postponed indefinitely. - - -_Bohemia._ - -In 1257, owing to a request by the King of Bohemia for aid in -suppressing heresy, the Inquisition was, under episcopal sanction, -established in his dominions, and two Inquisitors were appointed. The -people evidently thought them more than sufficient, for when, in 1341, -another ecclesiastic was empowered to act he was speedily slain by the -angry populace. Bohemia was in the fourteenth century one of the most -prosperous countries in Europe; but the state of its morals was far from -satisfactory, the clergy in particular being worldly and depraved, and -almost universally practising concubinage. The privileges of the Church -were habitually sold for cash, and the land was full of vagrants, whose -clerical immunities enabled them to gamble, brawl, drink, and rob at -their pleasure. The demand of Innocent VI in 1354 for a tenth of the -ecclesiastical revenues of the Empire to enable him to carry on his -Italian wars threw Germany into an uproar. The scandalous moral laxity -of the clergy passed almost unreproved, but an attack on the Church’s -money bags was a much more serious matter. The clergy sheared their -flocks without mercy, but they had the strongest objection to being -shorn. Eighteen years elapsed before the Papal Inquisition was set up in -Bohemia by Bull of Gregory XI, and it was then confined to five of the -more important provinces, Prague being omitted. Many forerunners of the -reformer John Huss appeared in Bohemia, and the general dissatisfaction -with the Church had given rise to a powerful movement on behalf of -liberty--a movement stimulated by the influence of John Wycliffe, whose -writings were greatly esteemed in Prague. Wycliffe and his followers -boldly taught that the Pope was Antichrist, and that excommunications -might be disregarded. The clergy were vicars of Satan, their churches -dens of thieves and habitations of fiends. It is curious that the -Inquisition, relentless in its persecution of the Waldenses, appears to -have seen nothing specially objectionable in the doctrines of Huss. At -any rate, it took no official part in his trial, which, however, was -modelled on the familiar Inquisitorial procedure. The controversy -between orthodoxy and heresy now centred on points of doctrine rather -than on the purification of the Church. The reformers contended that the -Papal claim to the power of the keys was either essential to salvation -or a cunning lie to gratify power and self-interest. Huss was -excommunicated; and, although victorious in argument, his injudicious -reliance on the Emperor’s honour led to his terrible end in 1415. -Sigismund’s violation of his safe conduct was expressly recommended and -defended by the clergy, on the ground that, under the law, a heretic -could neither expect nor receive protection, and that the word of a -king could not be allowed to prejudice the Catholic faith. Technically -the contention was sound, for the law was largely an ecclesiastical -creation, which reversed the accepted ideas of morality, and a word from -Rome could absolve men from the most sacred obligations. The Council of -Constance, having rid the world of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, began -to apply the methods of the Inquisition to the whole kingdom of Bohemia, -while making no attempt to check the corruption which had been the chief -cause of the growth of heresy. A Bull of Martin V in 1418 urged prelates -and Inquisitors to track out the heretics and deliver them to justice, -and all secular rulers were commanded to aid the work. In the following -year rebellion broke out, and the hardy zealots rivalled the persecutors -in atrocities of cruelty. After ten years of struggle peace was -restored. The more moderate among the reformers accepted the dogmas of -the Church, while the extremists held firmly to their anti-sacerdotal -opinions. They were met by another revival of bigotry. An energetic -Inquisitor appointed by the Pope in 1436 persecuted throughout Hungary -and Austria with extreme severity, but no detailed record of his victims -remains. From the rude and miserably poor Hussites arose the sect of -Moravian Brethren, which has existed for 400 years to the present day, -preserving amid sore trials and persecutions the simplicity and purity -of its faith. - - -_The Netherlands._ - -In the middle of the sixteenth century the most prosperous portion of -Europe was the Netherlands or Low Countries, which comprised the -provinces now forming the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium. Many large -towns adorned these fertile plains, inhabited by an energetic and -hard-working people, whose vast commerce extended to every quarter of -the globe. Antwerp, the banking centre of Europe, contained nearly as -many people as then inhabited London; and splendid public buildings -testified to the taste, wealth, and civic spirit of its citizens. The -municipal institutions of the country were in advance of those of any -other, and even the poorer classes lived in something like comfort, -while education was so diffused that there was scarcely a peasant who -was unable to read and write. As in the south of France 300 years -earlier, a rich and progressive civilization had been developed by a -self-reliant and independent people, and had created a predisposition to -heresy--that is, it stimulated men’s minds in every department of life, -and in none more powerfully than in that of religion. The Church had -succeeded in destroying the civilization of Languedoc. It joined -zealously in a similar attempt in the Netherlands. But it had to do with -a different people. - -In 1520 the Emperor Charles V, of whose dominions the seventeen -Provinces of the Netherlands formed part, issued the first of his nine -Edicts for the purpose of enforcing religious uniformity. These made up -a complete system of persecution, and included the introduction of the -Inquisition, not after the Spanish model with which Charles was -familiar, but in the somewhat less efficient and imposing form -instituted by the Papacy in the thirteenth century, and perfected by -long experience. Certain safeguards were insisted upon by the -Netherlands, such as the vesting of inquisitorial powers in laymen, and -confirmation of sentences by members of provincial councils. The Emperor -appointed a supreme Inquisitor for the whole country, and the Edicts -were so efficiently carried out as to render the Spanish organization -superfluous. These “placards,” as they were termed, were directed -against Protestantism, which had made remarkable progress among a people -to whose temperament it strongly appealed, and had not been repressed by -the local tribunals of the episcopal Inquisition. Under Charles’s Edicts -great numbers of persons were put to death for such enormous offences as -reading the Bible, ridiculing the sacred wafer, or even casting a -disapproving glance on a graven image. Motley states that in 1546 the -number of victims had been estimated by the Venetian Envoy at 30,000, -and it is accepted by most historians as true that during Charles’s -reign from 50,000 to 100,000 persons suffered death for their religious -opinions, and that his son Philip caused at least half as many to be -executed. - -These figures are in all probability exaggerated, but they at least -indicate very severe and prolonged persecution. The mere terms of the -Edict of 1550 compel this conclusion. They provide that the crimes of -printing, copying, possessing, or circulating the works of the -Protestant Reformers, image breaking, unauthorized worship or discussion -whether in public or in private, disputes upon or exposition of the -Scriptures, or preaching openly or secretly, were to be punished by -death; “the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they -do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they -are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being -confiscated to the Crown.”[30] The Edict also forbade any aid or favour -of suspected heretics, and provided that persons who failed to denounce -them became thereby liable to the same punishments as the heretics -themselves. In order to forestall any softening of the hearts of the -judges, they were forbidden, under the threat of severe penalties, to -grant or request pardons, or to relax the severity of their -instructions. - -This barbarous Edict, which merely completed previous enactments of -almost equal ferocity, was renewed and confirmed by Philip II when, in -1555, he assumed the reins of power on the Emperor’s abdication. Though -egregiously in error in yielding to the counsels of his spiritual -advisers, Charles was an able and prudent ruler, who persecuted only for -supposed reasons of State, and did not scruple to employ Protestants in -his service, provided they were fit men. His appointment of an -Inquisitor-General for the Netherlands was confirmed by Pope Adrian VI -in 1522, thus establishing the Papal Inquisition; but, the official -being dismissed for forgery, fresh Inquisitors were nominated to see -that the Edicts were obeyed. “They were empowered,” says Motley, “to -inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons -suspected of heresy--and their protectors. Accompanied by a notary, they -were to collect written information concerning every person in the -provinces ‘infected or vehemently suspected.’ They were authorized to -summon all subjects of his Majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or -station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate -suspicions. They were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such -depositions with death. The Emperor commanded his presidents, judges, -sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all -‘assistance to the Inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and -pious Inquisition, whenever required so to do,’ on pain of being -punished as encouragers of heresy--that is to say, with death. Whenever -the Inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, -they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, -or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them.... In conclusion, the -Emperor ordered the ‘Inquisitors to make it known that they were not -doing their own work, but that of Christ, and to persuade all persons of -this fact.’”[31] - -The strangely perverted vision which could thus see the work of Christ -in the merciless cruelty of the Inquisition need not be analysed. The -mean-souled bigot Philip made the most desperate efforts to break the -will and enforce the submission of a high-spirited and resolute people, -among whom the tenets of Protestantism had made remarkable progress. For -details of the appalling and well-nigh incredible horrors perpetrated by -the Inquisitors, the monster Titelmann in particular, the reader is -referred to Motley’s great work. - -The persecutions produced the effects which might have been foreseen. -They caused the immortal revolt of the Netherlands. “Nothing was talked -of but the Edicts and the Inquisition. Nothing else entered into the -minds of men. In the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the -fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble’s -castle, at the farmer’s fireside, in the mechanic’s garret, upon the -merchants’ exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering -conversation. It was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die -at once than to live in perpetual slavery. It was better to fall with -arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the Inquisition.”[32] - -Eminent men inveighed against the tyranny of the Government, and several -of the nobles refused to obey the Edicts. At first it was debated -whether Philip would be mad enough to enforce them, but all doubt as to -his intentions was removed by the Inquisition being formally proclaimed -in every town and village throughout the country. The Netherlanders -steeled their hearts, and prepared to resist to the death. As Motley -remarks: “They knew that the obligation of a King to his vassals was as -sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign.” Philip was not -unaware of the peril, but, like the wooden-headed bigot that he was, -considered the danger of discrediting the Inquisition greater than any -inconveniences that were likely to result from its rigour. The general -indignation became so pronounced that Philip was urged to modify his -instructions in some important particulars, the chief of which were the -repeal of the Edicts and the abolition of the Inquisition. Very -reluctantly he agreed to make certain concessions, but the sincerity of -his compliance may be estimated from the facts that he withdrew the -Papal but maintained the Episcopal Inquisition, stimulating the latter -to fresh exertions, and that he agreed to relax the penalty of death for -heresy, though, considering the promise extorted from him, he declined -to be bound by it. He wrote to his envoy at Rome that this was, perhaps, -the best arrangement, “since the abolition would have no force unless -the Pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its -suspension. This matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret.... -The Papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to -exist, unless the Pope chose to destroy it; and his Holiness had sent -the Archbishop of Sorrento, a few weeks before, to Brussels, for the -purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the Holy Office -in the Provinces.”[33] The severity of the Edicts Philip declined to -mitigate; his secret resolve was not only to keep them in full force, -but so efficiently to support the Inquisition that all his heretic -subjects could be exterminated, even if it cost him his realm and his -life. - -All this time persecution was going on, and men and women were being -daily tortured, beheaded, strangled, and burnt alive. Did the Church of -Christ utter one word of protest? Let the Archbishop of Cambrai answer. -An intercepted letter written by him to Cardinal Granvelle in 1565 -contained these words: “Since the pot is uncovered and the whole cookery -known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal -heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will -be entirely ruined by such a course. Such an opinion I should declare -openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused -of always crying out for blood.”[34] - -An even more precise indication of the general feeling in the Church is -found in the resolution passed at a great meeting of the rulers and -nobility in the same year. The question debated was whether any change -should be made in the treatment of heretics. The lay doctors present -were all in favour of the death penalty being abolished. All the -ecclesiastics stoutly maintained the opposite opinion, and unanimously -resolved that no attempt should be made to improve a system which had -hitherto worked so well, and that heretics were to be rigorously -chastised, as before. That Philip shared to the full their truculent -zeal is shown by his fury when he learnt that in May, 1567, a decree of -slightly mitigated ferocity had been issued by his representative, the -Duchess of Parma. He ordered its immediate revocation, on the ground -that its excessive clemency was indecent and contrary to the Christian -religion. The clemency consisted in permitting heretics to be hanged -instead of being burnt alive. This royal fanatic personally commended -the outrageous Titelmann for his persecuting energy. - -When the Prince of Orange, who had earnestly defended the cause of -freedom, left the Netherlands for Germany in 1567, the country, says -Motley, “was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with -apprehension. All persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or -suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. Fugitive soldiers were -hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or -drowned, like dogs, without quarter and without remorse. The most -industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. -The tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the Netherlands seemed -fast becoming the desolate waste they had been before the Christian era. -Throughout the country those Reformers who were unable to effect their -escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. The new religion -was banished from the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed -men, the preachers and leading men were hanged, their disciples beaten -with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes -escaped the scaffold. An incredible number, however, were executed for -religious causes. Hardly a village so small, says the Antwerp -chronicler, but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims -to the executioner. The new churches were levelled to the ground, and -out of their timber gallows were constructed. It was thought an -ingenious pleasantry to hang the Reformers upon the beams under which -they had hoped to worship God.”[35] - -The troubles became more and more serious, and at length culminated in -open revolt. In 1567 the Duke of Alva arrived in Brussels with a -well-appointed army of Spanish veterans, and at once began his career of -blood and cruelty. When he left the country, six years later, a baffled -man, he is said to have boasted that he had caused 18,600 persons to be -executed during that period. On the 16th February, 1568, the Inquisition -framed the most comprehensive death-warrant ever issued, and ten days -later Philip confirmed it; the whole of the inhabitants of the -Netherlands were regarded as heretics and condemned to death, a few -persons only being excepted by name. Motley appears to have no doubt as -to the authenticity of this appalling document, but Prescott states that -he can find no Spanish record of it, and that it is related by only two -Dutch historians. In 1568 the rebellion broke out in earnest, and led to -that great and glorious war which lasted, with intervals, for eighty -years, with the result that the Low Countries were delivered from the -oppressor, and one of the noblest of nations secured its independence -and religious freedom. - - -_The Spiritual Franciscans._ - -A section of the Mendicant Order founded by Francis of Assisi became -known as the Spiritual Franciscans, whose adherence to their vows of -poverty and purity was disapproved, as reflecting on the luxury and the -moral apathy which prevailed in the Order generally. The Inquisition -took up the task of showing the folly of being righteous overmuch, and -in the fourteenth century the Spiritual Franciscans were very firmly -handled. Twenty-five of them were severely tortured in 1318, and four -were burnt at Marseilles for the criminal inconsistency of wearing -flowing garments and having granaries and cellars. The lawfulness of -possessing property was then one of the great questions that distracted -the Church, and people ran the risk of being burnt whichever opinion -they held. Encouraged by their success, the Inquisitors proceeded with -increased vigour. At Narbonne the bishops tried to protect some accused -persons, but were cowed by Inquisitorial threats. Three victims went to -the stake in 1319, seventeen during the Lent of 1321, and several in the -following year. At Lunel seventeen were burnt, at Beziers nine, and at -Carcassonne 113 persons were executed between 1318 and 1350. All these -fell victims to the Dominicans, but the orthodox Franciscans rivalled -them in zeal, 114 persons being burnt by them in the year 1323. Having -departed from their original moderation, the Franciscans had become -energetic persecutors, who even went the length of burning a man for -persistently refusing to break his vows of poverty and chastity. - -In the latter part of the thirteenth century great unrest in religious -matters prevailed throughout Europe, and credulity took strange forms. -The expectation that the era of the Holy Ghost was about to begin was a -common and harmless delusion which the orthodox felt in duty bound to -extirpate. With little difficulty and by comparatively lenient methods -and the use of a moderate amount of torture, the Inquisition put an end -to a small sect called the Guillemites, named after a woman who was -worshipped as an incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and whose resurrection -after death was confidently looked for. Other eccentric modes of piety -were suppressed with only a few burnings, but the episode of Dolcino in -1300 was a much more serious matter. - -Apparently a man of commanding personality but holding a curious medley -of religious opinions, Dolcino was soon recognized as the spiritual head -of a community numbering several thousand persons, who called themselves -the Apostles. The success of his mission being dangerous to the Church, -the Pope Clement V proclaimed a crusade against him. He and his -followers camped on a bleak mountain summit in the province of Vercelli, -supporting themselves by raids for food into the neighbouring valleys. -Three crusades failed, but a fourth was successful; and after terrible -sufferings, cannibalism being resorted to by the besieged, the mountain -was captured with merciless slaughter on both sides, the fanatics were -broken up, and their leaders handed over to the secular arm and punished -with the utmost barbarity. The beautiful Margarita, Dolcino’s “sister in -Christ,” refusing pardon and offers of marriage, was slowly roasted -alive before his eyes, and Dolcino himself was taken on a cart through -the district on a hot summer day, and gradually torn to pieces with -red-hot pincers. Such was the man’s resolution that he bore this -frightful treatment without even a change of countenance. Strange as -were some of the tenets of these enthusiasts, they were harmless enough -in a moral sense, their chief crimes being their protests against the -evil lives of the clergy, their success in making converts, and their -contention that Christ had forsaken the Church of Rome because of its -wickedness. Believing purity of life to be the first essential to -salvation, they scorned the formalities of priestly religion, and -dedicated themselves to poverty, chastity, and humility. - -In the fourteenth century the great question which divided the Church -was that of the poverty of its founder, and to this all other questions -had to give way. The Franciscans ventured to say that Jesus was very -poor in worldly goods. The Dominicans, on the other hand, were confident -that he possessed some property, though they could not say exactly how -much. On this momentous question the good old Church was rent almost in -twain. Regardless of Scripture, the Dominicans even hung on the walls of -their monasteries pictures representing Jesus on the Cross, with one -hand nailed and the other putting money in his pouch. The latter Order -was favoured by the Pope, who persecuted the Franciscans with great -persistency, and men were burnt for holding heretical opinions on a -subject of which no one possessed the smallest fragment of knowledge. - -With the death of the chief defenders of comparative sanity in -religion--Marsilio of Padua, William of Ockham, and others--the -Spiritual Franciscans again underwent severe persecution, and -controversy centred round the rights and privileges of the Church and -the moral condition of the clergy. The well-known sect of the -Fratricelli maintained that the real heretic was the Church, which by -its evil conduct had created the heresies that it punished, and by its -doctrines perverted the minds of simple believers. Popular sympathy in -their favour was powerless to prevent punishment. The Popes commanded -the Inquisitors to persecute, and about the middle of the century -several persons were burnt in Italy and France, a number apparently in -the presence of Pope Nicholas V. One of the leaders was burnt by -instalments, and lingered for three days before death freed him from his -torturers. Under this vigorous repression the Fratricelli became extinct -towards the end of the fifteenth century. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES - - -_Political Heresy._ - -The charge of heresy, being easy to make and hard to disprove, furnished -a useful and efficacious means of attacking political enemies, -especially as there was no other offence for which the penalty was so -severe. Crusades against heretics were common. Prior to the great -Albigensian war there were several crusades against the Stedingers of -north-western Germany, a harmless sect of Waldensian tendencies, who -were finally suppressed in the twelfth century. During the three -following centuries the Papacy started or sanctioned crusades against -Viterbo, Aix la Chapelle, Aragon, Ezzelin da Romano, Manfred of Sicily, -Ferrara, Venice, the Visconti of Milan, the Hussites, the Maffredi, and -others. During this period Italy was a scene of almost chronic disorder, -turbulence, and war of the most ruthless character. At the capture at -Cesena in 1376 the Papal Legate ordered that all the inhabitants should -be put to the sword, “without distinction of age or sex, after they had -admitted him and his bandits into the city under his solemn oath that no -injury would be inflicted on them. The number of the slain was estimated -at 5,000.”[36] In the early part of the fourteenth century many noble -Italian families had sentences of heresy pronounced against them by the -Inquisition. - -The earnest efforts of Savonarola to purify the Church and the freedom -of his preaching induced the Papacy to proceed against him, though, as -usual, political considerations also were influential. He was tried -under a Papal commission and in accordance with the formulas of the -Inquisition, though it does not appear that the proceedings were -officially held by that body. At any rate, he was burnt in 1498, and -after his death it was discovered that his writings contained no -definitely heretical opinions. - - -_The Templars._ - -A very important case in the fourteenth century was the trial of the -Templars, which dragged on for over six years. Some of the accusations -were of a trivial and ridiculous character, others implied traces of the -Catharist heresy and dark practices at the initiation of neophytes, none -of which could be proved, and the whole proceedings were a mockery of -justice. The real motive was the desire of the King of France to seize -the immense wealth of the Order, and grossly exaggerated charges were -made with a view of giving a suitable colour to the course of “justice.” -The Inquisition set to work, and secured many confessions, of course by -the liberal use of torture; and that it was of a rigorous kind is shown -by the fact that in Paris alone thirty-six Templars perished under their -torments, at Sens twenty-five, and many more elsewhere. So untrustworthy -and contradictory is the recorded evidence that there is little reason -to doubt the innocence of the accused. Special Inquisitors were -appointed all over Europe; the slow process of ecclesiastical law, which -then sanctioned abuses from which the secular power shrank, was -expedited by the Pope, the bishops were compliant, the State was -greedy. The king and the Pope entered into an agreement defining the -disposition of the victims’ property. In the clutches of the Inquisition -the Order of the Temple was doomed. After a prolonged series of trials -it was condemned, and its property confiscated. On May 12, 1310, -fifty-four Templars were burnt in Paris, four more a few days later, and -about twenty at other places. In Lorraine many of the Order suffered at -the stake, while in Germany the victims were comparatively few, some in -the diocese of Maintz being fortunate enough to secure an acquittal--a -verdict highly displeasing to the Pope. In England the prosecution was -greatly hampered by that peculiarity of English law which made torture -illegal. The difficulty was got over by the express instructions of the -Pope; but, in spite of a certain temporary success in that method of -extracting evidence, no Templars were put to death, and the Inquisition -failed to establish itself in this country. Results hardly more -satisfactory attended its operations in Italy. The Templars were few; -they strenuously avouched their innocence, and produced evidence highly -favourable to their plea. They were, nevertheless, imprisoned, their -property was confiscated, and the Pope in 1311 gave urgent instructions -to have them tortured, but with what result is not known. In Castile and -Aragon the Templars, notwithstanding another Papal command for their -torture and the presence of special Inquisitors sent for the purpose, -were declared innocent of the crimes attributed to them; but their Order -was dissolved, and its property in Aragon handed over to the -Hospitallers, who were burdened with their support. All over Europe -repeated and urgent orders were received from Rome that the Templars -were to be tortured, and the historian justly remarks that these Papal -Bulls were “perhaps the most disgraceful that ever proceeded from a -vicegerent of God.”[37] - -The magnitude of the proceedings against the Templars may be estimated -from the fact that when the Papal archives were by order of Napoleon -transferred to Paris in 1810 the boxes of documents relating to the -trial numbered 3,239; and many further records were, it is said, sold by -Papal agents to grocers as waste paper. At the Council of Vienne -convened in 1312, mainly to consider the case of the Templars, the Pope -did his utmost to get them condemned without a hearing; and, though -unsuccessful in this, the Order was formally abolished at his -instigation, and the bulk of its property, as in Aragon, transferred to -the Hospitallers, who did not relish the duty of supporting their -unfortunate rivals. The rest of the booty was divided among the royal -and other thieves who had long lusted for it. Many of the principal -Templars were sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, in the course of -which they rotted to death. The two chiefs, De Molay and De Charny, were -slowly burned to death in Paris in March, 1314, as relapsed heretics, on -the day after their declaration that they had confessed merely to save -their lives. It would have been impossible thus to destroy the -wealthiest and most powerful Order in Europe without the agency of the -Holy Office. - - -_Joan of Arc._ - -When Joan of Arc was captured by John of Luxemburg in May, 1430, she was -sold by him for 10,000 livres to the English, who desired to have her -tried before the Inquisition. She was bitterly hated by them, and the -University of Paris heartily joined in their ferocious pursuit of the -heroic maid. Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop of Beauvais, another of her -opponents, presided at the trial, which opened in February, 1431; and, -as it was assumed that the proceedings would be invalid without the -presence of an Inquisitor, though Cauchon himself was nominally one, -Jean le Maitre, Vicar for Rouen, acted (reluctantly, be it said to his -credit) as representative of the Inquisitor for France. The trial was a -monstrously unjust one; evidence in Joan’s favour was suppressed, and a -number of skilled lawyers and theologians worked hard to entrap her into -confession. It is one of the marvels of history that this untaught -peasant girl time after time baffled her persecutors by her simple and -truthful answers to their cunningly framed questions. Worn out at last -by their tireless persistence, she abjured, and received the customary -sentence of perpetual imprisonment. The English were furious, and made -desperate efforts to secure her death. It was not easy to find a -pretext, but one was discovered in her change of clothing. Joan was -tempted by having her usual man’s dress placed within her reach. She -donned it; advantage was taken of her imprudence to treat it as a formal -relapse into heresy, and two days later the noble and innocent deliverer -of her country was burnt alive in the market place of Rouen, to the -everlasting shame of France and England. - - -_Sorcery and Magic._ - -It is impossible to understand the life of the Middle Ages unless it is -borne in mind that men and women everywhere held an implicit belief in -the reality of the supernatural and of evil spirits, who were for ever -tempting them to wrong. The idea of natural law being unknown, it was -not perceived that this belief conflicted with the notion of an -intelligible cosmos, or that it violated the idea of human -responsibility by assuming that man’s actions are attributable, not to -himself, but to either good spirits or demons. It was man, however, who -received the punishment. The air was believed to be thick with spirits; -they might be seen as dust, as motes in the sunbeam, or in the falling -rain. The sounds of the wind, of any clashing objects, of running -streams and roaring cataracts, were the voices of spirits. From -Scriptural texts, such as Genesis vi, 5, Luke iv, 7, and others, the -logical deduction was drawn that intercourse between angelic and human -beings was not merely possible, but continually took place. - -At first the Inquisition neither had nor claimed jurisdiction over -dealings with evil spirits. The Church, indeed, was sometimes more -rational than the people, for in 1279 an Alsatian nun would have been -burnt by the peasantry for sorcery had she not been rescued by some -friars. The question of repressing this crime had been raised in 1257, -and before many years elapsed it was generally recognized that the -Inquisition had some sort of jurisdiction over it. Astrology soon -attracted its attention, and was ranked as heresy. Peter of Abano seems -to have been the first to be prosecuted, and he would have been burnt as -a relapsed heretic had he not taken the precaution to die in the -ordinary way first. In 1324 the astrologer, Cecco d’Ascoli, was forced -to abjure, but, being imprudent enough to relapse, was burnt three years -later. Several people were excommunicated for sorcery early in the -fourteenth century, and the growing belief in the reality and gravity of -the offence was greatly stimulated by Pope John XXII. - -In Ireland a zealous Franciscan worked up a case against Lady Alice -Kyteler, alleged to be one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world; -and, though the lady escaped to England, her maid was mercilessly -scourged until she confessed a tissue of absurdities, after which she -was burnt. Persecution diminished when, in 1330, the Pope withdrew -sorcery from the jurisdiction of the Holy Office, but the popular belief -continued and extended, and the secular courts were sufficiently -rigorous in their treatment of offenders. In 1390 two women, after being -severely tortured two or three times without result, finally confessed -to a charge of making a love-philtre, and were burnt. The early trials -for sorcery in England were held in the civil courts, the leniency of -which was disapproved by the Church; in 1407, therefore, Henry IV placed -the offence under ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which naturally made the -most of it, and prepared a congenial soil for the witchcraft delusion. - -One of the most extraordinary cases in history is that of Gilles de Retz -(or Rais), who in 1440 was accused of sacrilege, child murder, -intercourse with demons, and other offences savouring of heresy. Gilles -de Rais, Marshal of France, was a rich and powerful baron of Brittany, -whose extravagance involved him in many difficulties. He was pious, as -far as the observances of religion went, a man of unusual culture, with -a passion for expensive books, paintings, music, the drama, and other -forms of art. A dabbler in the occult, he sought perseveringly for the -Philosopher’s Stone, by which he believed unlimited wealth would be -gained, enabling him to keep up his lavish display and prodigality. But -there was a very much darker side to his character. He was accustomed to -employ agents, women as well as men, to entice children from their -parents, by whom they were never seen again. These disappearances became -so numerous that suspicion was aroused, and de Rais was at last arrested -and tried before the Bishop of Nantes and the Vice-Inquisitor of the -diocese. He was found guilty, but no sentence was pronounced. -Immediately afterwards he was tried in a secular court, and sentenced to -be hanged and burnt, with two servants who had been accomplices in his -ghastly crimes. Making allowance for popular exaggeration, which -attributed countless victims to him, there is reason to believe that 140 -children were outraged and murdered, their bodies being thrown into -pits. It is said that “so depraved became his appetite that he found his -chief enjoyment in the death agonies of his victims, over whose -sufferings he gloated as he skilfully mangled them and protracted their -torture. When dead he would criticize their beauties with his -confidential servitors, would compare one with another, and would kiss -with rapture the heads which pleased him most.”[38] Yet this monster -died with words of godly exhortation on his lips and confident of -salvation. Under the threat of torture he freely confessed to crimes -enough to put 10,000 men to death. He was taken into church and granted -absolution, and the execution was carried out on the following day. The -extraordinary wickedness of this man made a deep impression on the -superstitious people of Brittany, where he became, in later ages, -identified with the Bluebeard of Perrault’s nursery story, of which some -writers maintain that he furnished the original, possibly because he is -said to have had seven wives, though he possessed only one. It is -something to the credit of the Holy Office that it had a share in -bringing this fiend to justice. - -The growing belief in witchcraft and demonology in the fifteenth century -gave additional strength to the long arm of the Inquisition, for witches -were of necessity heretics. They were at first treated with comparative -mildness, the secular courts being apparently the first to inflict the -penalty of burning in such cases. But the Inquisition soon equalled this -severity, and gave the accused fewer chances of escape. Venice, -however, was less energetic in this matter than most States, for in 1486 -and 1521 it incurred the wrath of the Papacy by refusing to burn some -witches condemned by the Inquisition. In 1474 several women were burnt -in Piedmont for witchcraft, but two others, who were able to employ -counsel of their own, had their case transferred to Turin, and -presumably secured acquittals--a fact which seems to show the prudence -of the Inquisitors in choosing the advocate for the defence, and -excommunicating him if he was successful. - -Of the Vaudois, or witches of Arras, several persons after being cruelly -tortured, were burnt in 1460, a hermit being the first to suffer at -Langres; and seven persons were put to death in one _auto de fé_ in July -of that year. Many of the leading and wealthiest men of Arras were -arrested; confessions, some of them afterwards withdrawn, were wrung -from them by torture, and twelve persons in all were burnt out of the -thirty-four apprehended. The epidemic of credulity died away after a -time, and the Inquisition stopped further prosecutions; but the -prosperous city of Arras suffered enormous loss by the confiscations -imposed and the panic which dislocated its trade. The return to sanity -was chiefly due to the son of one of the victims succeeding in an appeal -to the Parliament of Paris (previous appeals had been suppressed), -which, after a brief inquiry lasting thirty years, issued a decree -rehabilitating some of the accused, and caused the promoters of the -prosecutions to be heavily fined. It was decreed that torture should be -for the future prohibited. This is “probably the only case on record in -which an Inquisitor was brought before a law court to answer for his -official actions.”[39] Thus a healthy scepticism was beginning to enter -the public mind. Several persons were charged before the Bishop of -Amiens, who acquitted them; another was acquitted by the Archbishop of -Besançon; while a third was tried by a tribunal consisting of the -Archbishop of Rheims, the Bishop of Paris, the Inquisitor of France, and -some theological experts. He was not only acquitted, but authorized to -prosecute his accusers for reparation and damages. A poor man who went -mad on the subject of witchcraft was burnt in August, 1460. - -In its early stages the belief in witchcraft was artificially stimulated -by the Church, and flourished in an atmosphere of ignorance and dread of -the unseen. “Had the Church resolutely repressed the growing -superstition in place of stimulating it with all the authority of the -Holy See, infinite bloodshed and misery might have been spared to -Christendom.”[40] Every Inquisitor was an agent for the spread of the -belief, and the Church industriously taught it. An Italian Inquisitor in -1485 burnt forty-one people for witchcraft in one district in the -Grisons--an exploit which gratified the historian Sprenger; and -Innocent’s Bull of 1484 gave a perceptible impulse to the superstition, -forty-eight persons being burnt in one small German town in five years -by order of Sprenger and a fellow Inquisitor. To doubt the reality of -the crime was to dispute the authority of the Church; to aid an accused -person was to impede the Inquisition. A woman charged with witchcraft -had little chance of escape, for if her defence made a favourable -impression on the judges they also were considered to have been -bewitched, and few of them cared to run that risk. Confessions made -under severe torture were, of course, numerous, and were afterwards used -as proving the reality of the crime. The small amount of incredulity -which existed vanished before Sprenger’s _Malleus Malficarum_, which Lea -terms “the most portentous monument of superstition which the world has -produced.” With perfect good faith and absolute belief in the truth of -demoniacal possession, Sprenger brought forward an overwhelming mass of -evidence, which no one in those times was able to rebut or dared to -dispute. This terrible book, which remained the recognized authority on -the subject for more than a century, immensely stimulated a belief -which, as Lea remarks, is “ a process of purely natural evolution from -the principles which the Church had succeeded in establishing.”[41] For -200 years the Church had done all it could to promote this belief. Pope -Calixtus, in 1457, ordered the repression of witchcraft, and towards the -end of the century Alexander VI urged the Inquisitor of Lombardy to show -greater zeal in his work. Early in the sixteenth century Julius II -defined the powers of the Inquisitors, and issued to their helpers -indulgences similar to those given to Crusaders. Thus persecution -produced its natural effect in a great revival of superstition in -Northern Italy. The Inquisitors burnt 140 persons at Brescia in 1510, -and 300 at Como four years later. - -The Witch Sabbaths were a well-known institution in the Middle Ages, and -it is reported that more than 25,000 persons were sometimes present at -these weird gatherings. In view of the danger incurred, such popularity -seems unaccountable enough to suggest that the narratives spring from -sheer delusion. In the district of Valcamonica an Inquisitor burnt -seventy witches and sent as many more to prison, while those suspected -or accused numbered 5,000, about one-fourth of the population of the -valleys. The Venetian Senate thought this was going too far, but its -protest only brought strong remonstrances from the Pope, Leo X, and -fresh orders for persecution. The Senate replied by a dignified and -rational document, laying it down that the accused were to have a fair -trial with legal safeguards, that torture must be discontinued, that the -Inquisition’s expenses were to be kept within moderate bounds, that -greed for money was not to be the reason for prosecution, and that the -excesses alleged against Inquisitors would have to be investigated. This -document, “a monument of considerate wisdom and common-sense,” was -ignored, and Christendom abandoned itself to a senseless, delirious orgy -of superstition and cruelty. Between the madness of the Catholic and the -madness of the Protestant there was little to choose. On one point at -least they were in accord, and it is significant that Calvin used the -arguments of the Inquisitors to justify persecution. In Geneva 500 -persons are said to have been burnt within three months, at Toulouse 400 -on a single occasion (some say 1,500), at Bamberg 600, at Wurzburg 900 -in one year--all in the sixteenth century. The Senate of Savoy condemned -800 at one time. That a cold spring in 1586 was caused by witchcraft was -proved by the confessions of the guilty parties, and for this crime 118 -women and two men were burnt by the Archbishop of Treves. This city -seems to have exceeded all others in its atrocities. According to Lecky, -7,000 persons were burnt there for sorcery, but he does not state over -what period these figures extend. The Inquisitor Paramo, who wrote in -the sixteenth century, boasts that since 1404 the Holy Office burnt as -many as 30,000 persons, who, if let alone, would have “brought the whole -world to destruction.”[42] This Paramo defended the secrecy of the -Inquisition on the ground that God was the first Inquisitor, and that in -secret Adam and Eve had been tried. - - -_Intellect and Faith._ - -A religion which imagined that it was the repository of a full and final -revelation, that it possessed the keys of the invisible world, and which -regarded every doubt as a heresy born of the devil, naturally became in -practice a vast machine for persecution. When mental activity was thus a -crime, and any attempt to increase knowledge an act of rebellion against -God, it was clear that human progress was brought to a standstill. No -one can tell what progress would have been made had the Inquisition not -existed; that it kept Europe for hundreds of years in mental torpor, and -did what it could to make the reign of stupidity eternal, does not admit -of question. What the magnificent brain of Roger Bacon could have -achieved is matter for speculation. It has been disputed, but seems to -be true, that he was imprisoned for his advanced opinions, and died a -captive; but, however that may be, it is certain that the Church -succeeded in preventing mankind from benefiting by his researches. -Anything like modern Freethought was out of the question, but distinct -approaches to it were made in the twelfth century by Averrhoes, whose -particular tenets were that matter is uncreated and eternal, that the -soul dies with the body, only collective humanity being immortal, and -that all religions are of human origin and, though useful incentives to -virtue, contain only relative truth. These doctrines, which were looked -upon as deadly heresies, surprisingly anticipate some of the -speculations of our own times. It is remarkable that under the rigorous -conditions which prevailed Averrhoism should have spread so rapidly as -it did, but it could have been only among the scholarly few; and in the -thirteenth century, which was in certain respects more advanced than the -fifteenth, these opinions made some slight impression on the popular -mind. Had the impression been deeper, the results might have been in -some respects more disastrous. The general ignorance was so great that a -premature abandonment of the orthodox faith might have been made the -occasion of even more flagrant moral licence than actually existed, and -so have strengthened the hands of the persecutors. A system which held -all religions to be untrue, especially the religion of the Christians, -who daily ate their God, would naturally enough be thought to emanate -from the bottomless pit, and it is an astonishing circumstance that for -a long time the Inquisition left Averrhoism alone. Herman of Ryswick, -the most famous successor of Peter of Abano, after being sentenced to -perpetual imprisonment, continued to propagate his errors, and in 1512 -was burnt at the Hague by order of the Inquisition. It is evident that -at times considerable freedom of speech existed, or Laurentius Valla -would scarcely have been able, in the middle of the fifteenth century, -to assail the “Donation of Constantine,” or to declare that the Papacy -should be deprived of its temporal power. Valla got off cheaply by a -simple declaration that he believed as Mother Church believed, though -Mother Church, he added, knew nothing about it. Ultimately this restless -disputant obtained a clerical sinecure in Rome, and died in peace. -Several other unbelievers escaped the customary doom of mental -independence. It is one of the anomalies of ecclesiastical history prior -to the Reformation that, while the most trifling variations from -orthodoxy were relentlessly crushed, a philosophical humanism hardly -distinguishable from downright Atheism was fashionable among the -intellectual classes, even those in clerical orders, and frequently -went unpunished. The writings of the famous Raymond Lully--perhaps the -most voluminous author on record, for he is credited with 321 -volumes--brought him into conflict with the Inquisition; and long after -his death in 1315 Eymeric, the Inquisitor of Aragon, sought to have his -memory condemned. This was partially done in 1620, though the main -object of Lully had been to suppress the heresy of Averrhoism, and many -miracles wrought by his remains had evidenced his saintliness. Not many -figures of the Middle Ages have had the doubtful honour of being both -heretic and saint. - -In 1331 Pope John XXII had imprisoned an English priest who maintained -that the saints after death are at once admitted to the presence of God. -This doctrine, known as the “Beatific Vision,” had aroused the Pope’s -anger, but he was subsequently compelled by the strength of the general -opinion in its favour to accept it, after a controversy which nearly -cost him his tiara. Years of bitter dispute ensued on a subject about -which no human being knew anything whatever, and it even became a -question of grave political consequence, for the monarchs of the time -ventured to differ from the Papal opinion. The Inquisition espoused the -popular view, and made questions on the subject an important part of the -interrogatories addressed to the unlucky persons brought before its -tribunals. - -About the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, a purely dogmatic -development, a further mass of superstition spread, and gave rise to -bitter controversies, the Franciscans and Dominicans quarrelling so -fiercely that in 1482 popular tumults broke out in Italy on this -mysterious topic, of which everybody was supposed to know something. The -theory that the Virgin Mary never from the moment of her conception -shared the sinful tendencies of ordinary mortals was something of a -novelty, and the Dominicans who rejected it had tradition in their -favour, but they were overborne by the increasing power of the new -superstition. An Italian priest who in 1504 maintained that Christ was -conceived in the Virgin’s heart was seized by the Inquisition, and had a -narrow escape from death by fire. A special appearance of the Virgin -herself, who expressed her annoyance at the doctrine, caused an immense -sensation until it was discovered that the manifestation was a trick got -up by the Dominicans, and four of the culprits were burnt. Not until -1854, after five centuries of struggle, was the doctrine officially -proclaimed as a formal act of faith, when the Dominicans obediently -began to find reasons in its favour. It would seem to be a logical -sequence that the reputed father of the Virgin was no more concerned in -her birth than Joseph was supposed to be in that of Jesus, but for -maintaining this thesis a man was condemned so recently as 1876. - - -_Censorship of Books._ - -Notwithstanding the extent to which heresy was propagated by printed -books, it was a long time before the Inquisition was recognized as the -most convenient instrument for their supervision and suppression. The -first Papal deliverance on the subject was a Bull by Gregory XI in 1376, -instructing the Inquisition to examine and condemn suspected writings, -but what were the results is not known. An Archbishop who burnt some -writings of John Wycliffe at Prague was found to have exceeded his -powers, and it was not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that -a regular censorship was organized, and then in Germany only. However, -the Inquisition was willing to undertake additional responsibilities, -and at length made a rule that any one possessing books of doubtful -orthodoxy must within eight days deliver them to the Bishop or -Inquisitor of his district, on pain of being under vehement suspicion of -heresy. That the Church was more anxious to preserve its privileges than -to promote religion may be inferred from the fact that translations into -the vernacular of any parts of the Bible were prohibited. As it was -found before long that books containing heretical doctrines were being -circulated, it was deemed expedient to forbid anything being printed -without previous examination by the Holy Office and the Papal and -episcopal authorities. The religious world, however, became so -disorganized by the Reformation that these precautions were of little -avail, and it was not until the Church had regained much of its power in -the counter Reformation that a really strict censorship could be -established. - - -_The Greek Church._ - -Although one Pope, Boniface VIII, issued a Bull decreeing that every -human being, including the members of the Greek Church, was bound to -obey the Roman Pontiff, a prudent and tolerant attitude was usually -maintained towards that unsound but powerful rival. Stray members of the -Greek communion who happened to be found in Western Europe were at times -persecuted as heretics, and in 1351 all Greeks were ordered once a year -to confess and take the sacrament according to the Latin usage. Any -person who after this decree violated it was a relapsed heretic, and -entitled to no mercy. But to coerce effectively a great religious -organization, every member of which was in the eyes of Rome a heretic, -proved too arduous a task for orthodoxy, and the Inquisition failed to -utilize the glorious opportunities for persecution afforded by Eastern -Europe, with its variety of races and religious ideas. The Church was -therefore prudent enough to follow a line of policy as mild and tolerant -as it was novel. - - -_Indulgences and Simony._ - -The scandal to the cause of true religion which accompanied the sale of -Indulgences was so notorious all over Europe that it is surprising to -find that this abuse--deeply prejudicial to the Church and to public -morals--was not considered to deserve vigorous repression. It is true -that the practice was sometimes officially denounced, as when Pope -Alexander IV gave the Inquisitors power to deal with the evil. But Lea -asserts that, so far as he can discover, only one man was tried by the -Inquisition for this prevalent offence. He admitted that he had been in -the habit of telling monstrous falsehoods and filling the superstitious -people with absurdities, but it is doubtful whether he was punished--if -at all, it was by nothing more than a light penance. The remarkable -lenity of the Church towards this traffic was, of course, due to the -fact that it furnished a very substantial source of profit; but if the -Popes had expended on the internal reform of the Church a hundredth part -of the energy which they devoted to the suppression of minor differences -of opinion the Reformation might conceivably have been averted. It was -the Reformation that made imperative that moral renewal which prolonged -the influence of the Church and still constitutes one of the chief -elements of its strength. - -It is a striking proof of human selfishness and of the extent to which -it blinds mankind to its own failings that the Inquisition was never -instructed to put down simony (which, as heresy, came within its -jurisdiction), and that it never volunteered to do so--a fact which -shows very clearly that, in the view of the Christian Church, morals -were of trifling importance compared with belief. One or two of the -Popes worked with genuine zeal and immense energy to extirpate the -evil, but without avail. The practice being highly profitable -financially to the Church, its disastrous moral effects were ignored, -the laudable desires of some Pontiffs being thwarted by others less -scrupulous. Every clerical office, from the highest to the lowest, was -virtually sold by auction. Pope John XXII even drew up a scale on which -absolutions for simony could be granted at the lowest market rates. The -prevalence of this offence was perhaps the chief of all the causes which -contributed to the degradation of the Christian Church. In this -connection it may be interesting to reproduce here a clever and daring -satire which was popular in the thirteenth century:-- - - 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 odour 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 - naught 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.[43] - -Avaricious men were enabled by an incredibly bad system to make religion -a public danger. Priests who led women astray on the plea that -intercourse with holy men was not sinful, a depraved laity, religion -severed from morals--these made up a state of society in which -apprehensions existed that the wickedness of the clergy would provoke -the people to rise against them, or perhaps even bring on the world the -final visitation of Divine wrath. Good men asked why God did not -intervene to save his Church from ruin. No intervention came. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE GENTLE ART OF WHITEWASHING - - -If the Inquisition really was the beneficent institution which some of -its apologists represent, it is singular that their defences should be -so weak and their admissions so damaging. The line taken is, in the -main, that heresy is a crime against social order, that the Holy Office -embodied the tendencies of the age, that its methods were no worse than -those of the secular powers--were, indeed, an improvement upon them, and -that no special reproach can be directed against the Church on the score -of inhumanity. It is claimed that the practice of the Inquisition, -though rigorous at the outset from the necessities of the case, was -modified by experience in the direction of mildness and mercy, and that -the frequent appeals to Rome implied the certainty of an indulgent -hearing. - -Thus the Rev. J. Balmez, a Spanish writer who, in his _European -Civilization_, defends the Inquisition--on the whole in a fairly -judicious and tolerant spirit--alleges that the Inquisitorial “rigour -was the result of extraordinary circumstances--the effect of the spirit -of the nations and the severity of customs in Europe at that time.”[44] -No student of history will deny that there is some truth in this -contention, though he would naturally expect the Christian Church to -have made far greater efforts than it did to mitigate the “severity of -customs.” Its conceptions of social order were incompatible with -personal liberty. And it is curious that when in Southern France the -majority of the people were heretics they showed no tendency to -persecute, though they had the power. All the events, the movements, and -the personages of human history are necessarily the consequences of -their antecedents; but, unless we are to relieve all human beings from -responsibility for their actions, we cannot exonerate the Inquisition -from crimes of the greatest magnitude. It may have been established from -the best and purest motives; yet, though experience made it fully aware -of the terrible evils which resulted from its procedure, it deliberately -increased them. All the actions of virtuous men are not good actions, -and if, in putting into practice particular theories, they are found to -produce mischievous effects, a sacred obligation rests upon the holders -to revise their views in the light of the experience gained. Buckle, -with justice, maintains that moral feelings alone are not equal to the -task of preventing persecution. If the moral feelings are enlisted on -the side of what is erroneously believed to be the truth, the sincerity -of the persecutor only makes him the more dangerous to society. “That -the Inquisitors were remarkable for an undeviating and incorruptible -integrity may be proved in a variety of ways and from different and -independent sources of evidence.”[45] In admitting the general truth of -this remark, it must be borne in mind that the Inquisitorial system -facilitated grave abuses by officials whose integrity was far from -“undeviating.” Buckle adds: “The evidence decisively proves the utter -inability of the moral feelings to diminish religious persecution.... -The great antagonist of intolerance is not humanity, but knowledge. It -is to the diffusion of knowledge, and to that alone, that we owe the -comparative cessation of what is unquestionably the greatest evil men -have ever inflicted on their own species. For that religious persecution -is a greater evil than any other is apparent, not so much from the -enormous and almost incredible number of its known victims as from the -fact that the unknown must be far more numerous, and that history gives -no account of those who have been spared in the body in order that they -might suffer in the mind. We hear much of martyrs and confessors--of -those who were slain by the sword or consumed in the fire; but we know -little of that still larger number who, by the mere threat of -persecution, have been driven into an outward abandonment of their real -opinions, and who, thus forced into an apostasy the heart abhors, have -passed the remainder of their lives in the practice of a constant and -humiliating hypocrisy. It is this which is the real curse of religious -persecution. For in this way, men being constrained to mask their -thoughts, there arises a habit of securing safety by falsehood and of -purchasing impunity with deceit. In this way fraud becomes a necessary -of life; insincerity is made a daily custom; the whole tone of public -feeling is vitiated, and the gross amount of vice and of error fearfully -increased. Surely, then, we have reason to say that, compared to this, -all other crimes are of small account; and we may well be thankful for -that increase of intellectual pursuits which has destroyed an evil that -some among us would even now restore.”[46] Notwithstanding the great -improvement in knowledge, however, the main body of the Christian Church -still holds that persecution of erroneous doctrines is not an evil, and -still officially teaches that their propagation should be punished with -death. A Dominican priest in 1782 ferociously argued that “the command -in Deuteronomy xiii, 6-10, to slay without mercy all who entice the -faithful from the true religion, is almost literally the law of the Holy -Inquisition; and proceeded to prove from Scripture that fire is the -peculiar delight of God, and the proper means of purifying the wheat -from the tares.”[47] - -It is perhaps going too far to affirm that all the Inquisitors were men -of incorruptible integrity. From the first the motive of religious zeal -was alloyed with the desire of personal or corporate profit, and an -elaborate system of persecution and extortion was invented which -permitted the exercise of both passions, whereby the many suffered to -gratify the few. - -Balmez remarks that “the Roman Inquisition has never been known to -pronounce the execution of capital punishment ... the facts show the -difference between the Popes and the Protestants. The Popes, armed with -the tribunal of intolerance, have not spilt a drop of blood; Protestants -and philosophers have shed torrents.”[48] The object of this impudent -lie is simply to score a point against Protestantism. That Protestants -persecuted vigorously when they had the power no one disputes; for a -long time they failed to understand their own principles. But they had -less power and fewer opportunities than the Church of Rome. The precise -degrees of culpability in the two bodies cannot be determined here. No -other Church but that of Rome has ever set up an Inquisition. The -preceding pages will have shown that the Popes many times officially -instituted crusades against Christians who rejected parts of their -teaching; that they expressly commanded human beings to be tortured and -put to death; that all through the Middle Ages the Church exerted a -dominant influence over the State, and, while affecting scruples as to -the actual shedding of blood, insisted on the secular power inflicting -death in a form infinitely more painful than that of the sword. Thus an -educated writer can actually maintain that, because a man does not -murder with his own hand, but induces another to murder for him, he has -no moral responsibility for the crime. What civil code would recognize -such a doctrine? The subterfuge merely adds hypocrisy to cruelty. The -admission will be noticed that the Popes were “armed with the tribunal -of intolerance.” The “facts” show unmistakably who created that -tribunal. They show with equal clearness how it was employed. It will -also be observed that in this passage Balmez suppresses the fact that -the Inquisition had been actively at work for 300 years before -Protestantism was heard of, and that its most frightful excesses were -committed against those whose moral sense was outraged by the conduct of -the clergy. - -It is true that the practice of the Inquisition became milder in the -course of time. But to claim this as a merit is to falsify the plain -historical record. There were two principal reasons for the diminished -severity, neither of them reflecting special credit on the persecutors. -In Languedoc and Spain the Inquisition succeeded in exterminating -practically every heretic in the kingdom, so that the field of its -operations became gradually narrowed. The Inquisition ceased to burn -heretics only when there were no more heretics to burn. And a certain -inclination to milder penalties was made inevitable by an improvement in -secular morals which can hardly have been the work of the Church which -had seriously retarded it. In other countries the diffusion of knowledge -led even some ecclesiastics to perceive the futility of persecution, and -when that point was reached they became convinced of its inhumanity. -Balmez might as well have argued that the dying-out of the witchcraft -mania was due to the benevolent spirit of the witch-hunters. - -A significant admission made by Balmez may be noticed. “I see,” he -remarks, “that from the earliest times, when the Church began to exert -political influence, heresy began to figure in the codes as a crime; and -I have never been able to discover a period of complete tolerance.”[49] -This means that the spirit of intolerance, so rapidly developed in the -Church, infected the State also. The fact is beyond dispute, but it -simply furnishes an additional testimony to the evils of -ecclesiasticism. Nor will any one deny that the Christian Church has -never yet shown to the world “a period of complete tolerance.” - -The further argument of Balmez, that the Inquisition preserved Spain -from the “dangers” of Judaism and Protestantism, may also be admitted as -representing facts, though it is necessary to draw from them conclusions -other than his own. The material prosperity of Spain would have been -incalculably greater if the Jews had been allowed the free exercise of -their business abilities and the practice of their non-aggressive faith; -while, if Protestantism had been permitted the freedom which it secured -elsewhere, the cause of spiritual religion must have been promoted. As -to the Inquisition having averted civil war, if the Church had grasped -the idea of tolerance civil war over religious differences would have -been impossible. But even that serious peril would have been a less evil -than the extinction of liberty, the slow suffocation of the intellectual -life, the neglect of science, and the decay of commerce, which actually -resulted from the Inquisition’s policy. Civil war would have been at -least an indication of life. The Inquisition meant death. - -Perhaps the best-known and most thorough-going apologist for the -Inquisition, so far as Spain is concerned, is Count Joseph De Maistre -(1754-1821), a Romanist layman who adopted a strongly ecclesiastical -point of view, and whose great ability was marred by a tendency to -paradox and dogmatism. His _Letters to a Russian Gentleman on the -Spanish Inquisition_ are full of a vivacious special pleading, which -perplexes without enlightening the reader. His main arguments group -themselves round three points: (1) That the Spanish Inquisition was a -purely secular institution; (2) that it did not condemn to death; (3) -that it did not punish the expression of opinion on questions of -religion. - -With regard to the first point De Maistre says: “The Inquisition, by -virtue of the Bulls of the Sovereign Pontiff, and the King, by virtue of -his royal prerogative, constitute the authority which regulates, and has -always regulated, the tribunals of the Inquisition--tribunals which are, -at the same time, both royal and ecclesiastical; so that, if either of -the two powers happened to withdraw, the action of the tribunal would -necessarily be suspended” (p. 8). How this explicit admission that the -Spanish Inquisition was both a State and a religious organization is -reconcilable with the assertion that it was “entirely a royal -institution” must be left to the reader’s ingenuity to discover. De -Maistre effectively demolishes his own contention. It is still more -effectively confuted by a later and better authority. Dr. Pastor admits -that the Spanish Inquisition was “a mixed, but primarily ecclesiastical, -institution. The fact that the condemned were handed over to the secular -arm testifies to the correctness of this view. Had the Spanish -Inquisition been a State Inquisition, a royal court of justice, there -would have been no necessity for this. A court which invariably hands -over those whom it finds guilty to the secular arm for punishment -cannot itself be a secular tribunal. It was precisely the ecclesiastical -character of the new Inquisition which made its judges decline to -execute capital sentences and follow the custom always observed by the -ecclesiastical Inquisition, of requesting that the prisoner ‘might be -leniently dealt with’--a formality prescribed by the canon law.”[50] The -formula of mercy, of course, deceived no one. In another place Dr. -Pastor says: “It is important to note, as a significant fact bearing on -the character of this institution, that ‘not only the ecclesiastical -authorization of the first Inquisitors, but also the first regulations -as to the mode of procedure, emanated directly from the Pope.’”[51] Lea -states that the Inquisition even claimed that all civil statutes of -which it disapproved should be abrogated.[52] But if the responsibility -for the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition rests only partially -upon the Popes, there is no question of divided responsibility in the -case of the institution with which the present essay is concerned. That -was established, renewed, and supervised at every turn by the Papacy. - -De Maistre’s second contention is that the Inquisition did not pass -sentences of death, but that if it virtually did so it merely followed -the practice of all other tribunals, which necessarily have the power to -inflict death for serious crime. “All tribunals condemn to death,” he -says, adding: “The Church so abhors blood that a priest cannot be a -surgeon, lest his consecrated hand should shed the blood of the patient” -(p. 11). It is sheer superstition to argue that a tribunal notoriously -prone to inflict excessive punishment is relieved of moral -responsibility by omitting a particular form of words, while taking -every possible precaution to ensure the punishment being mercilessly -inflicted. The argument is a dishonest shift, which “strains at a gnat -and swallows a camel.” The “consecrated hand” was too holy to practise -the art of saving life, but not too holy to employ an unconsecrated hand -to destroy it. In this connection De Maistre enlarges on the lenity of -Rome, which frequently protested against the severity of the laws -against heresy. That mildness was occasionally shown is true, but it is -forgotten that Rome itself--as the Papal Bulls ordering torture -prove--was very largely responsible for the severity. That the -tenderness was not due to an excess of humane feeling we may infer from -the savage rigour which in the thirteenth century became a feature of -the canon law. Had that law been a model of gentleness and love, -ecclesiastics would have found no difficulty in making it an engine of -cruelty and persecution, on the plea that concern for the heretic’s soul -made it necessary and wholesome to punish his body. As it was, -injunctions to deal mercifully with him were so systematically set at -naught that very little importance can be attached to their face value. -Inquisitors were seldom reproved for being zealous persecutors. De -Maistre’s verdict that the Inquisition was “mild, tolerant, charitable, -the bearer of consolation in every country of the world,” sounds like -irony, but was probably his sincere conviction. Polemical writers -sometimes empty words of all intelligible meaning. - -In his third main argument De Maistre shows the cloven hoof. He -maintains that people are rightly punished if they “strike deadly blows -at the religion of their nation,” that “the propagator of heresy ought -to be classed among the greatest criminals,” and that it is positively -wicked to protest against the punishments of the Inquisition (p. 44). If -these contentions are sound, it is a waste of time to argue that the -Inquisition did not punish the expression of heretical opinions in -religion. It was established for that very purpose. - -The following specimen of De Maistre’s reasoning will probably be -sufficient: “God has spoken; it is for us to believe. The religion which -he established is one, even as He is Himself. Truth being essentially -intolerant, to profess religious toleration is to profess scepticism; in -other words, to exclude faith. Woe, a thousand times woe, to the stupid -imprudence which accuses us of damning men. It is only God who damns; He -alone has said to His messengers: _Go, teach all nations! He that -believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned_” -(p. 72). This passage is reproduced merely as a curious example of the -religious reasoning of a century ago. Fortunately for human happiness, -the world has condemned this point of view by abandoning it. The day has -gone by for arguments which seek to justify religious persecution, and -for appeals to supernatural authority in support of irrational dogmas. - -In our own time the Inquisition has found a far more reasonable and -fair-minded apologist in the person of Monseigneur Celestin Douais, -Bishop of Beauvais, who published in 1906 a scholarly examination of the -Holy Office. The first sentence of this work is that “The Inquisition -was established by the Papacy, which alone was qualified to do so,” and -that “this fact is universally known and recognized.” The Bishop adds -that the Inquisitor Eymerich expressly lays it down that an Inquisitor -is not a secular judge, but a delegate appointed by the Pope. If, in his -calm and restrained historical exposition, he nowhere condemns the -organized barbarity of the system, he freely exposes its defects, and -only incidentally defends its proceedings. He is a historian rather than -an apologist. The few considerations he urges are of quite minor -importance; if they extenuate the guilt of the Inquisitorial practice, -they by no means disprove the enormous mischief it produced. Thus he -asserts, on the authority of Eymerich, that the names of witnesses were -suppressed because, if mortal enmity to the accused could be proved -against them, they were required to withdraw from the case. In practice -the accused gained no advantage from this provision, for he could only -guess at his possible enemy, and the Inquisitors were ingenious enough, -if they so desired, to prove his guesses wrong. The handicap to the -prisoner remained, and it is possible to assume that one reason for the -extreme secrecy was the determination to render the concession useless. - -Monseigneur Douais states that ecclesiastical law was in general milder -than secular law, and that torture was interdicted by the canons until -1252. This may be so, but it was a Pope who in that year insisted on the -employment of torture, and it was again expressly authorized by Innocent -IV, Urban IV, and other Popes. In this, as in other matters, it is -useless to rely on provisions which were habitually set at naught. The -contention that torture was seldom used is perhaps the result of too -implicit a trust in formulas. According to M. Langlois, torture became -so much a part of the ordinary process that it was purposely left -unrecorded.[53] The great thing was to extract confession; it was easy -to preserve a discreet silence as to the means. In the civil records the -same peculiarity is observable.[54] No institution has ever exhibited -greater discrepancies between theory and practice than has the -Inquisition. - -That provision was made for the mitigation and even remission of -penalties need not be doubted. But this was done in few and exceptional -cases only; the decision being customarily left to the Inquisitors’ -discretion, it became the practice to ignore everything that tended in -favour of the persons accused. - -That the co-operation of the Bishop of the diocese was necessary to give -validity to the Inquisitorial sentence is assumed by Monseigneur Douais -to have relieved the Inquisitors of some portion of their -responsibility. Probably it did sometimes make the trial a little less -serious for the accused, for the Bishops did not always share the -inflexibility of the Holy Office. But the argument merely lifts a part -of the responsibility from one department of the Church and places it on -another. Undeniably the Inquisition was set up by the Church of Rome. -The arrangement was, of course, no guarantee that justice would be done, -nor does it disprove the charge that the Inquisition was a serious -menace to civilization. - -The point on which Bishop Douais lays most stress is that the delivery -of the heretic to the secular arm was a matter quite distinct from his -subsequent fate, with which neither Inquisition nor Church had any -concern. It was regrettable that people should be burnt alive, but that -was entirely the affair of the civil power. The Church could not carry -out a sentence which it had not delivered; its own sentence was merely a -harmless pronouncement that the heretic was cut off from the Church. And -the Church always took particular care to plead for his gentle and -merciful treatment. Now the formula, “Without shedding of blood,” was -known to be a callous and cruel pretence. The Inquisition was perfectly -aware of the result of its relinquishing the heretic to the secular arm. -If it objected to men being burnt alive, if the civil power exceeded the -intentions and wishes of the Church, why did the Church never raise a -word of protest? What it did was usually to send a secretary to see that -the burning was properly carried out, and if it was not the magistrate -himself was liable to the penalties for heresy.[55] - -Finally, Monseigneur Douais claims that the Inquisition, by its wise -conformity with the social justice of the period, succeeded in reducing -heresy, and “separated the secular power from the spiritual domain of -the Church.”[56] Thus an arrangement by which the Church compelled the -State to do its dirty work is termed a “separation.” An ecclesiastic -sees separation where other people would see alliance. This is called -“reconciling the interests of God and Cæsar.” The blasphemy appears to -be quite unconscious. - -An article on the Inquisition by a Jesuit priest, Joseph Blötzer, of -Munich, which appears in the _Catholic Encyclopædia_, contains one or -two statements which may be very briefly noticed. The assertion that the -Church was more merciful than the State is true only in comparatively -rare instances; but, considering the claims of the Church to a Divine -origin and also the general spirit of its founder’s teachings, one would -expect the difference to be very much more perceptible. - -Heresy is said to have been primarily a political offence. On the -contrary, it was primarily a religious offence, as would naturally be -inferred from the flourishing condition of the Netherlands, the -Albigensian and other heretical communities, the remarkable industry of -whose members made them most valuable citizens. Throughout the shameful -story of religious persecution it was usually the Church which goaded -the sometimes reluctant State to suppress heresy; it was the Church that -nagged and bullied rulers into compliance with its will. They were -fools to comply, but comply they did, frequently under threat of -excommunication. Occasionally the Church and its favourite department, -the Holy Office, did have a fit of compassion, but it was the exception -that proved the rule. And the fit usually came on when there was money -to be made by clemency. - -The Church, it is claimed, enjoined excommunication, but not death, as -the punishment of heresy. This is true of particular periods only; as -applied to the whole career of the Inquisition it is part of the -conventional hypocrisy. The Church disliked the term “blood,” but caused -it to be shed freely enough; it seldom used the word “death,” but it -handed over the heretic to the secular power with a perfectly clear -understanding that death was to be the penalty. - -According to Father Blötzer, the general lay opinion was that heretics -should be severely punished, and the Church endeavoured to soften this -feeling. If the Church is entitled to the credit of its rare attacks of -tenderness, it must also take the discredit of its general barbarity. It -cannot be allowed to “have it both ways.” And in the Middle Ages it was, -of course, the clerical body that was the fount of lay opinion regarding -heresy. Some doubt as to the softening process is natural enough in view -of the Papal decree of 1184 previously referred to. Peter Cantor was -ordered not to put the Cathari to death immediately after the -ecclesiastical judgment had been delivered, for the significant reason -that the Church might not be compromised. This shows that the Church was -aware of its complicity in the proceedings and in the fate of its -victims. In their language dealing with these matters the apologists of -the Inquisition display no small skill in casuistry. The _Catholic -Encyclopædia_ palliates torture by saying that it was not intended as a -punishment, but as a method of eliciting truth. The person on the rack -failed to appreciate the distinction. As torture usually elicited error, -the Inquisitors cannot be complimented on the rationality of their -methods. Other Inquisitorial terms are juggled with in the same way by -the apologists. Confiscation of a heretic’s goods was simply a mode of -defraying the costs and expenses of his trial. Imprisonment, again, was -not punishment; it was nothing more than a useful discipline which -afforded an opportunity of repentance. - -The Jesuit writer concludes that “the Inquisition marks a substantial -advance in the contemporary administration of justice, and therefore in -the general civilization of mankind.” If to prevent the honest -expression of thought is to advance civilization, the claim is just. If -the administration of justice is promoted by torture, when in the -extremity of pain people will confess anything, the correctness of the -assertion must be admitted. If to burn men and women alive is the way to -increase human happiness, the apologist is not audacious. Evidently the -Church has not yet repented of or profited by its own lurid past. It -would not be ashamed to persecute in the twentieth century if it had the -power. That power it still claims, and the right to exercise it even to -death is still maintained by its defenders.[57] In the middle of the -nineteenth century Rome was still able to imprison a vicar of the -Apostolic College who had embraced Protestant opinions.[58] The -Inquisitor-General of Ancona issued in 1843 a severe decree against -Jews, not as relapsed Christians, but simply as Jews.[59] - -According to this authoritative _Encyclopædia_, the Inquisition still -preserves its official existence, and ranks as the “first among the -Roman Congregations.” “When momentous decisions are to be announced” the -Pope “always presides in person” over its deliberations; but in these -days the necessity for his attendance cannot frequently arise. The -Inquisition claims jurisdiction over all Christians, and even (as a -matter of theory) over the Cardinals of the Church, though in practice -the Cardinals are, as might be anticipated, exempt from any unwelcome -surveillance. - - * * * * * - -Readers who have thus far followed this brief account of the Inquisition -will have little difficulty in forming an opinion about it. Is it the -kind of institution they would like to see restored? Grant the -extravagant supposition that all the Inquisitors were men of probity, -kind, well-meaning, and conscientious--what we are chiefly concerned -with are the effects produced by the system of repression which they so -rigidly enforced. We have to judge whether it did or did not make for -human happiness and the advance of civilization. Intellectual freedom is -no less essential to progress than purity of morals. The Inquisition at -least temporarily destroyed the one, and certainly did not promote the -other. Knowledge grows by being shared; one idea leads, by association, -to others; one gleam of truth broadens into clearer light as the dawn -ushers in the day; one discovery affords a clue to another. For ever to -suppress truth is beyond the wit of man, but attempts to suppress it -have cumulative effects in prolonging the reign of ignorance. It is not -from the ignorant that intellectual greatness may be expected, and in -its effect upon public morals sheer ignorance is the mother of more -crime than some persons are willing to admit. Perhaps the Inquisitors -did not realize the evil of stifling thought for centuries; perhaps -they did not know that the assassination of ideas is a crime. But their -twentieth-century apologists cannot plead this ignorance. They enjoy the -blessings of liberty, and defend the persecutor! They profit by the -heroism of those thousands of unknown faithful men and women who died -for religious freedom, and they would hand the world back to -intellectual slavery! - -No more summary verdict on the Inquisition can be given than the -concluding words of its chief historian: “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 -grim 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 reparation were doubt as to the -accuracy of the Church’s knowledge and attendance on the Sabbath. 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.”[60] - -This is a severe, but perhaps not unjust, verdict. Some allowance, -however, must be made for the customs of an intolerant and -semi-barbarous epoch. Catholic apologists are justified in claiming that -the Inquisition should be judged in relation to the times in which it -flourished. But this does not explain how it was that many men, both in -the Church and out of it, were so much in advance of the Inquisition as -to disapprove of people being put to death for their religious opinions. -If Thomas Aquinas advocated the death penalty for heresy, several -eminent Fathers of the Church deprecated it, holding persuasion to be -the better method. Why was not the milder and more ancient view adopted? -It is suicidal to admit that the Church held back from torture and death -for centuries on the ground that they were inconsistent with the spirit -of Christianity. The assertion clearly implies a recognition of the -incompatibility of the spirit of Christianity with calculated cruelty, -and if this recognition was confined to a few superior minds so much the -worse for the Church which paid no heed to them. There is obvious -insincerity in the plea that the Church adopted only with reluctance the -fatal policy of persecution. It insisted on that policy, often against -the remonstrances of the State. It claimed to be superior to the spirit -of the age, yet, on its own admission, yielded to the inferior -influence. In reality it did more; it actively and spontaneously made -persecution a fine art, and coerced the State to carry out its behests. -When the Church excuses its cruelty by pointing to the equal cruelty of -the medieval State it omits to mention that the State did not persecute -opinion as such. The Christian Church did. - -Let it be admitted that the Inquisitors--at least originally--were -well-intentioned men, who sought to promote religion as they understood -it. The question arises, Did they understand religion rightly? To them -religion was a complete and final revelation of a Divine will; the true -faith could be one only as God was one; all who sought to disturb that -faith, however good their intentions might be, were guilty of a sin -worse than temporal rebellion. Have we nothing to learn from their awful -error? If we may judge from the _Catholic Encyclopædia_, the Church of -Rome has not learned much. The attitude of the Inquisitors is not in the -least surprising when in the twentieth century we find persecution -defended as a religious duty. Another of its writers, Father Guiraud, -echoes De Maistre’s contention that the Church of Rome alone possesses -the truth, and therefore has a right to be intolerant.[61] The spirit of -orthodox clericalism unmistakably appears in the tendency common to all -these Romanist apologists to gloss over with a few smooth and -casuistical phrases the most appalling deeds of cold-blooded cruelty -which the world has ever seen. The commonwealth, says Father Guiraud, -“can no more recognize the maxim of unlimited and unbridled religious -freedom than it can adopt the suicidal principle of irreligion.”[62] -This implies that there is no _via media_ between the rejection of all -religion and a blind acceptance of dogmatic authority, and involves a -claim practically identical with that of the Inquisition. If religious -persecution is excusable when the spirit of the age permits it, what are -we to think of those who justify persecution in an age which deems it a -blunder and a crime? - - - - -BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - _Achilli, Dr. G. G._ Dealings with the Inquisition. 1851. - _Addis and Arnold._ A Catholic Dictionary. - _Balmez, Rev. J._ European Civilization. 1868. - _Buckle, H. T._ History of Civilization in England. 3 vols. - _De Maistre, J. M._ Letters to a Russian Gentleman on the - Spanish Inquisition. 1851. - _Douais, C., Bishop of Beauvais._ L’Inquisition. Paris, 1906. - _Draper, J. W._ History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. - _Langlois, C. V._ Histoire de l’Inquisition d’aprés des travaux - récents. Paris, 1902. - _Lea, H. C._ History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. 3 vols. 1906. - ---- History of Sacerdotal Celibacy. 2 vols. 1907. - _Lecky, W. E. H._ History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of - Rationalism in Europe. - _Limborch, P. van._ History of the Inquisition. 1816. - _Milman, Rev. H. H._ History of Latin Christianity. 9 vols. - _Motley, J. L._ The Rise of the Dutch Republic. - _Pastor, L._ Lives of the Popes. 12 vols. 1891-1912. - _Prescott, W. H._ History of the Reign of Philip II. - _Puigblanch, A._ The Inquisition Unmasked. 1816. - _Ranke, L. von._ History of the Popes. 3 vols. 1908. - _Rule, W. H._ History of the Inquisition. 2 vols. 1874. - _Tanon, L._ Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en - France. Paris, 1893. - _Vacandard, E._ The Inquisition. 1908. - _The Catholic Encyclopædia._ - _Encyclopædia Britannica._ - _Jewish Encyclopædia._ - - - WATTS AND CO., PRINTERS, - JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, - LONDON, E. C. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] Addis and Arnold, _Catholic Dictionary_, p. 776. - -[2] H. C. Lea, _History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages_, vol. -iii, p. 630. - -[3] Lea, p. 639. - -[4] _Ibid_, p. 642. - -[5] _Ibid_, p. 644. - -[6] _Ibid_, p. 648. - -[7] Lea, p. 643. - -[8] Lea, p. 645. - -[9] H. C. Lea, _History of Sacerdotal Celibacy_, vol. ii, p. 347. - -[10] _Ibid._, p. 319. - -[11] L. Tanon, _Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en France_ -(1893), pp. 290, 306. - -[12] Lea, _Inquisition of Middle Ages_, vol. ii, p. 344. - -[13] _Ibid._, p. 330. - -[14] Milman, _History of Latin Christianity_, vol. ix, p. 36. - -[15] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 644. - -[16] _Ibid._, vol. ii, p. 346. - -[17] Lea, _Inquisition in Middle Ages_, vol. i, p. 70. - -[18] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. i, p. 85. - -[19] Lea, _Inquisition of Middle Ages_, vol. i, p. 225. - -[20] The organization of the Medieval Inquisition was practically the -same as, though less efficient than, that of the Spanish institution, -which is explained in the author’s _Spanish Inquisition_. - -[21] Lea, _op. cit.,_ vol. i, p. 228. - -[22] At a later date the Dominicans became known as _Domini canes_, or -“dogs of the Lord.” - -[23] Hastings, _Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics_; art. -“Inquisition.” - -[24] Addis and Arnold, _A Catholic Dictionary_; art. “Inquisition.” - -[25] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. i, p. 430. - -[26] _History of Latin Christianity_, vol. v, p. 316. - -[27] Addis and Arnold, _Catholic Dictionary_, p. 459. - -[28] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. i, p. 240. - -[29] Ranke, _Lives of the Popes_, vol. i, p. 144. - -[30] Motley, _Rise of the Dutch Republic_, part ii, ch. i. - -[31] Motley, part ii, ch. iii. - -[32] _Ibid_, part ii, ch. v. - -[33] Motley, part ii, ch. viii. - -[34] Motley, part ii, ch. v. - -[35] Motley, part ii, ch. x. - -[36] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 204. - -[37] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 318. - -[38] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 472. - -[39] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 530. - -[40] Lea, p. 534. - -[41] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 544. - -[42] _Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism_, vol. i, p. 3. - -[43] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 625. - -[44] Balmez, _European Civilisation_ (London, 1855), p. 186. - -[45] Buckle, _History of Civilisation_, vol. i, p. 187. - -[46] Buckle, p. 189. - -[47] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. i, p. 228. - -[48] Balmez, _European Civilisation_, p. 185. - -[49] Balmez, p. 181. - -[50] Pastor, _Lives of the Popes_, vol. iv, pp. 403-405. - -[51] _Ibid_, p. 402. - -[52] _Inquisition_, vol. i, p. 385. - -[53] C. Langlois, _L’Inquisition_, p. 65. - -[54] L. Tanon, _Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en France_, p. -377. - -[55] Douais, _L’Inquisition_, p. 265 et seq. - -[56] _Ibid_, p. 273. - -[57] See _The Popes and their Church_, by J. McCabe, page 211. - -[58] See _Dealings with the Inquisition_, by Dr. G. G. Achilli (London, -1851). - -[59] _Ibid_, p. 392. - -[60] Lea, _Inquisition_, vol. iii, p. 650. - -[61] _Catholic Encyclopædia_; art. “Toleration.” - -[62] _Ibid._ - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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Gorham. -</title> -<style> - -a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - - link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} - -a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} - -a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} - -body{margin-left:4%;margin-right:6%;background:#ffffff;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} - -.blockquot {margin:1em 4em;} - -.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} - -.adtts{text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -letter-spacing:2em;font-weight:bold;} - -.cb {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-weight:bold;} - -.fint {text-align:center;text-indent:0%; -margin-top:2em;} - -.footnotes {border:dotted 3px gray;margin-top:5%;clear:both;} - -.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} - -.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} - -.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} - -.hang {text-indent:-2%;margin-left:5%;} - - h1 {margin-top:5%;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-weight:normal;} - - h2 {margin-top:4%;margin-bottom:2%;text-align:center;clear:both; - font-size:100%;font-weight:normal;} - - h3 {margin:2% auto 2% auto;text-align:center;clear:both; -font-style:italic;} - - hr {width:90%;margin:2em auto 2em auto;clear:both;color:black;} - - hr.full {width: 60%;margin:2% auto 2% auto;border-top:1px solid black; -padding:.1em;border-bottom:1px solid black;border-left:none;border-right:none;} - - img {border:none;} - -.lftspc {margin-left:.25em;} - -.nind {text-indent:0%;} - -p {margin-top:.2em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.2em;text-indent:4%;} - -.pagenum {font-style:normal;position:absolute; -left:95%;font-size:55%;text-align:right;color:gray; -background-color:#ffffff;font-variant:normal;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;text-indent:0em;} - -.rt {text-align:right;} - -.rtb {text-align:right;vertical-align:bottom;} - -small {font-size: 70%;} - -.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-size:100%;} - -table {margin:2% auto;border:none;} - -td {padding-top:.15em;} - -th {padding-top:.5em;padding-bottom:.25em;} - -tr {vertical-align:top;} - -div.poetry {text-align:center;} -div.poem {font-size:90%;margin:auto auto;text-indent:0%; -display: inline-block; text-align: left;} -.poem .stanza {margin-top: 1em;margin-bottom:1em;} -.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -</style> - </head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The medieval Inquisition, by Charles Gorman</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The medieval Inquisition</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>A study in religious persecution</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Charles Gorman</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 21, 2023 [eBook #69851]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Brian Coe, The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION ***</div> -<hr class="full"> - -<div class="c"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="550" alt=""> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_i">{i}</a></span>  </p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span>  </p> - -<p class="c">THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION</p> - - - - -<h1> -THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION</h1> -<p class="cb">A STUDY IN RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION<br> -<br> -<br> -BY<br> -CHARLES T. GORHAM,<br> -<i>Author of “The Spanish Inquisition,” etc.</i><br> -<br> -<br><small> -ISSUED FOR THE NATIONALIST ASSOCIATION, LIMITED</small><br> -<br> -<br> -<span class="smcap">London</span>:<br> -WATTS & CO.,<br> -17 JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4<br> -1918<br> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span>  </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_v">{v}</a></span>  </p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> - - - -<table> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Chapter I</span> -<br><br> -THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td class="rt"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - - -<tr><td>Simony</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_7">7</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Clerical Celibacy</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_12">12</a></td></tr> - - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><span class="smcap">Chapter II</span> -<br><br> -A CRUSADE AGAINST CHRISTIANS</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td>Religious Persecution</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_27">27</a></td></tr> - - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Chapter III</span> -<br><br> -THE FOUNDING, CONSTITUTION, AND PRACTICE OF THE INQUISITION</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td>The Inquisitorial Method</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_37">37</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Evidence</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_39">39</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The Defence</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_41">41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Sentence</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_42">42</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Confiscation</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_45">45</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Relaxation and the Stake</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_47">47</a></td></tr> - - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">Chapter IV</span> -<br><br> -HOW THE INQUISITION OVERRAN EUROPE</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td>The South of France</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_49">49</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Northern France</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_54">54</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Aragon and Castile</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_57">57</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Italy</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_58">58</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Bosnia</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_63">63</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Germany</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_64">64</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Bohemia</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_68">68</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The Netherlands</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_70">70</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The Spiritual Franciscans</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_78">78</a></td></tr> - - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Chapter V</span> -<br><br> -MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td>Political Heresy</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_82">82</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The Templars</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_83">83</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Joan of Arc</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_85">85</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Sorcery and Magic</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_86">86</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Intellect and Faith</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_94">94</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Censorship of Books</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_97">97</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>The Greek Church</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_98">98</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td>Indulgences and Simony</td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_99">99</a></td></tr> - - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Chapter VI</span> -<br><br> -THE GENTLE ART OF WHITEWASHING</a></th></tr> - - -<tr><td><a href="#BIBLIOGRAPHY">Bibliography</a></td><td class="rtb"><a href="#page_121">121</a></td></tr> -</table> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_1">{1}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="THE_MEDIEVAL_INQUISITION"></a>THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION</h2> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br><br> -THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH</h2> - - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">Although</span> it has been said of human nature that the more it changes the -more it is the same thing, it is yet true that at different epochs it is -actuated by widely different ideas. The underlying passions are the -same, but the forces evoking them vary so greatly that sometimes, as in -considering the history of the Middle Ages, we seem to be concerned with -beings from another planet. One of the most powerful of these forces is -religion; and, though religion in the abstract is assumed to bring out -all that is best in human nature, it has in the past only too frequently -appealed to and stimulated its baser elements. The evil is due partly to -erroneous religious teaching, but probably still more to the obstinate -imperfection of the material on which religion has to work. The vast -majority of human beings are even now incapable of appreciating and -practising an absolutely pure religion, and probably no such religion -has ever yet had a fair trial. Dogmatic systems there have been in -abundance, but these are not to be identified with religion. It has been -one of the most serious drawbacks to the claims of historic Christianity -that, disregarding the spirit of its<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_2">{2}</a></span> own moral precepts, it has treated -religion as a mere system of belief and ceremonial observance, which has -defeated the object it was intended to promote.</p> - -<p>In two respects organized Christianity has been a huge mistake. It has -misunderstood the nature of the salvation it proffered, representing it -as rescue from endless physical torment in another state of existence -instead of moral victory in this. It has made an assumed correctness of -intellectual belief instead of right conduct the condition of this -salvation, with the inevitable consequence that ceremony has usurped the -place of virtue, and religion has become a matter of externals. And its -claim to Divine inspiration and support led naturally to a demand for -obedience so complete that no room was left for liberty of opinion and -mental expansion. The claim to Divine inspiration involved the existence -of a spiritual hierarchy with ever-growing demands and ever-increasing -power. Refusal to obey these demands necessarily implied disbelief in -the doctrines underlying them, of which doctrines the hierarchy was the -sole expositor. Thus every opinion which deviated from the authorized -view became heretical, and, heresy being an impious opposition to the -Divine will and to all that was good and true, deserved the severest -repression. From this dogmatic standard, which the ignorant were unable -to question, arose that terrible system of religious persecution which -has covered organized Christianity with indelible shame. The present -inquiry is not concerned with the truth or falsehood of the Church’s -theological basis, but only with its effects. The general conditions of -the Middle Ages being what they were, those effects were in a sense -inevitable, and the moral condemnation which must be visited upon the -medieval Church applies less to individuals than to the system which -produced them—a system which was incompatible not only with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_3">{3}</a></span> the rights -of individuals, but with the progress of humanity in civilization and -happiness.</p> - -<p>What, then, was the moral condition during the Middle Ages of the -organization which made these extravagant claims to supremacy? To us who -live in the twentieth century it may appear very plain that priestly -domination could not be favourable to improvement in morals or in -knowledge. Prevent people from thinking, and you prevent them from -improving. They lose the desire to improve; they become incapable of -improvement; they neither know nor care for the pleasures of knowledge; -they relapse into a state resembling that of animals. Can it be supposed -that this has no effect upon their morals? And the class which puts -forward the claims in question becomes equally debased. Selfishness, -ignorance, and cruelty become as marked in the shepherds as in the -flocks they are supposed to lead, with the additional vice of a -tyrannical arrogance born of class privilege and the claim to superhuman -authority.</p> - -<p>The religious extortion that went on impoverished the people and -demoralized the clergy. After King John’s surrender to the Pope, England -was bled for the benefit of foreign ecclesiastics to the extent of -thrice the income of the Crown. Throughout Europe the administration of -justice was shockingly corrupt, and was not improved by the Papal -practice of granting letters authorizing the exercise of judicial -functions by any one who could pay the fees. Not only were these letters -frequently forged, but it was easy for unprincipled persons to pretend -that they possessed them, and such was the danger of raising objections -that few of the victims dared to dispute their validity. In Rome itself -there was a factory for the production of these interesting forgeries; -but, though it was suppressed by Innocent III, the practice continued, -and to the people the consequences were the same<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_4">{4}</a></span> whether the letters -were genuine or false. With such a system it is not surprising that the -Bishops fleeced their own flocks with little scruple.</p> - -<p>Excommunication was imposed for trifling offences; but, however -unjustly, the victim had to pay for being reconciled to holy Church. The -magnificent abbeys and cathedrals which are the glories of architecture -were to some extent an expression of religious faith, but even more of -the clerical pride which reared them with money exacted from the poor. -Preaching was almost wholly neglected, and this was one of the reasons -why heresy became formidable. Parish priests could not preach without -special licence from the Bishops whose prerogative preaching was, and by -whom it was neglected because they were engrossed with worldly cares and -pleasures and warlike duties. The Lord Bishop was first and foremost a -man of war, especially in the thirteenth century. A story is told about -the Bishop of Beauvais, one of the most ruthless of these warriors for -Christ, who, when captured by the English, complained to the Pope that -his privileges as a Churchman had been violated. In reply to the -remonstrance of His Holiness, Richard I sent him the coat of mail in -which the Bishop had been captured, with the Scriptural inquiry: “Know -whether it be thy son’s coat or no.” Benefices were openly sold, or -bestowed upon children, seven years being the minimum age fixed by some -Popes for the clerical function. The abuses that grew out of the system -of pluralities, the exactions connected with tithes, confessions, -absolutions, marriages, funerals, were endless, a large part of the -Church’s wealth being derived from legacies which the fear of hell -prompted the dying to leave at death or frequently to hand over during -life.</p> - -<p>In 1170 a Papal decree was issued that wills were invalid unless made in -the presence of a parish priest,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_5">{5}</a></span> and notaries were sometimes -excommunicated for failure to comply with this condition. Nor did the -dead escape the clerical maw. It was customary to leave money to the -Church for masses for the repose of the soul, and to present oblations -at the funeral. The corpse was the property of the parish, but the -priest was often deprived of his privileges by a neighbouring monastery -having induced the dying man to bequeath to it his remains. Hence arose -the most unseemly squabbles for possession of the body—a rivalry -further complicated by the rise of the Mendicant Orders and their bitter -struggles for fees.</p> - -<p>Even greater social evils resulted from the immunities from secular law -which the clergy succeeded in gaining. The first of these was that -worthless men were attracted to the Church, and did as they pleased -under the shelter of its privileges. Malefactors habitually pleaded -clerical rights; the Church, in a spirit of comradeship worthy of a -better cause, as regularly took up their defence. Crime flourished, and -the community suffered. Innocent III reinstated a Bishop of -exceptionally bad character who had been imprisoned for rebellion -against the King of Denmark, and decided that priests could not be -arrested by laymen and brought before the episcopal court even when -detected in gross crime. Under these conditions it was almost impossible -for laymen to obtain justice, whether in regard to offences against -person or offences against property. And, the clergy being the only -educated class, their opportunities for exploiting the popular ignorance -were abundant and fully utilized.</p> - -<p>Monasteries were the fruit of good intentions, but, in spite of -occasional examples to the contrary, soon became degraded to an -extraordinary degree. Rome could easily be bribed to grant exemption -from the jurisdiction of the Bishops, and the liberty of monks and nuns -degene<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_6">{6}</a></span>rated into the foulest licence. The abodes of religion were -feudal castles, in which the monks lived as riotously as the barons, and -waged private war with equal ferocity. As for the nunneries, many of -them were notoriously no better than brothels. With these varied -attractions, it is not surprising that the lawless found in the monastic -life a congenial refuge; and many a robber baron and many a criminal -temporarily weary of crime discovered a safe and easy way of gratifying -his untamed passions. So little were the obligations of honesty observed -that within the monasteries themselves the inmates had to take special -precautions against theft by their fellows, each monk having to keep a -wary eye on his own spoons, dishes, and bedclothes. The holy tramps who -wandered about selling false relics and working false miracles became so -great a nuisance that they were sometimes killed without mercy when -detected in their frequent crimes.</p> - -<p>The system of indulgences so carefully worked out by the Church produced -the most various results throughout Europe. A death-bed gift to the -Church atoned for an evil life; trifling religious observances were -thought to secure not only remission of the pangs of Purgatory, but -forgiveness of all sins committed after baptism. In short, all sin was -condoned on the most favourable terms, and eternal salvation purchased -for the price of a pair of boots. The bones or the dead bodies of saints -were held to protect believers from all ills, and to ensure prosperity; -even a single glance at the image of St. Christopher preserving one from -disease or sudden death for the rest of the day. Some of the beliefs -connected with the worship of the sacred wafer reveal a credulity which -only carefully-fostered ignorance could render possible. A specimen -wafer placed in a beehive to check disease among the bees was so highly -appreciated by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_7">{7}</a></span> those intelligent insects that they built a little -chapel around it, with windows, roof, and bell-tower all complete, and -an altar inside, on which they reverently placed the wafer. A woman who -crumbled a wafer over her cabbages to protect them from caterpillars was -at once punished by incurable paralysis.</p> - - -<h3>Simony.</h3> - -<p>The scandals connected with the sale of indulgences are too well known -to need description, but the universal prevalence of simony is less -generally realized. Simony is defined as “giving or receiving, or -intending to give or receive, anything temporal for anything -spiritual.”<a id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The term is derived from Simon Magus, who is stated in -<i>Acts</i> viii, 18, 19, to have offered St. Peter money for the privilege -of communicating the Holy Ghost. This abuse formed one of the great -scandals in the Church, especially in the thirteenth century, and was so -deeply rooted that the efforts of reforming Pontiffs like Gregory VII -produced little result. Less conscientious Popes were such notorious -offenders that the venality of the Papal court became a byword, and some -vicars of Christ amassed enormous private fortunes by this dubious -means.</p> - -<p>Simony was a heresy which came under the jurisdiction of the -Inquisition, and could not long have flourished had that efficient body -determined to stamp it out. There is no record that the Inquisition ever -even undertook a prosecution for simony; it was too profitable to the -Roman Curia. From the highest to the lowest the Church was infected with -this vice: there was scarcely a church in Christendom free from it, and -Pope John XXII drew up a regular scale of absolutions for the most<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_8">{8}</a></span> -moderate fees. In order to pay the expenses of his soldiers and of his -building operations, Boniface XI once dismissed suddenly all the -prelates at his Court and many others, and then sold their places to the -highest bidders, with the result that some of the ejected Bishops -wandered about in a state of starvation. Newly appointed prelates were -bled freely, and if the demands were not met they became simple priests -once more. Boniface appointed as Bishops the men who were willing to pay -the most liberally, archbishoprics commanding the high figure of 60,000 -to 80,000 florins. Yet one of the great questions debated in the -thirteenth century was the question whether it was possible for the Pope -to commit simony! Every one knew that many Popes actually did commit an -offence of which the evil effects were far reaching. If the love of -money is not the root of all evil, it is the root of much, and its -effects in the sphere of religion are peculiarly deplorable. The Papal -Court was filled with a swarm of ecclesiastics greedy for preferment by -any means whatever. When they obtained it they at once set to work to -recoup themselves for the time spent and the bribes they had to give, by -extorting money from their flocks, to the complete neglect of their -spiritual duties. In the administration of justice ecclesiastics -acquitted the guilty for bribes, and trumped up charges against the -innocent, which had to be compounded for cash. A bishop who resided in -his diocese was the exception that proved the rule. Men preferred to -live under the tyranny of the baron rather than under the dangerous -protection of the Church.</p> - -<p>Money being the real qualification for the ministry of the Gospel, the -priests were generally as illiterate as they were immoral. “They haunt -the taverns and brothels, consuming time and substance in eating, -drinking, and gambling; they quarrel, fight, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_9">{9}</a></span> blaspheme, and hasten -to the altar from the embraces of their concubines.”<a id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> The higher -clergy, who could readily purchase exemptions, considered themselves -free to indulge in every kind of excess; the monks were licentious and -unruly vagabonds, who carefully avoided keeping their vows; the -mendicants, who pretended to greater strictness, gave themselves up to -every kind of fleshly indulgence; the morals of nunneries were such that -to join one was the same thing as becoming a public prostitute. A Jew is -said to have become convinced that Christianity must be of God, since it -continued to exist in spite of the wickedness of the clergy. The visions -of St. Birgitta and the vehement warnings of St. Catherine of Siena were -fruitless to stem the torrent of iniquity. Nearly the whole Church being -in this condition, reform from within was hopeless, as indeed was stated -in 1437 by a Dominican bishop. Exaggeration may be suspected, but that -it was not easy to exaggerate the following incident will show. “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 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 <i>très honorablement</i> 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 news of 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 for extorting money as upon the manner in which he -rewarded the boys who served his unnatural lusts by granting to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_10">{10}</a></span> them -rich bishoprics and archbishoprics.”<a id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> When Pope Alexander VI was -reproached with Papal connivance with crime, he is said to have made the -cynical reply: “God does not desire the death of a sinner, but that he -should pay, and live.”<a id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> - -<p>That the Church should have made its principal aim correctness of belief -(or rather obedience to its authority), and purity of life a secondary -consideration, involved the policy of religious persecution -systematically followed by the Inquisition. Except as a source of -revenue, crime was of little consequence. Virtuous heretics were -exterminated, and the guilty orthodox absolved from the worst crimes, in -the name of Christ. A Flemish chronicler relates in 1379 “that it would -be impossible to describe the prevalence everywhere of perjuries, -blasphemies, adulteries, quarrels, brawls, murder, rapine, thieving, -robbery, whoredom, debauchery, avarice, oppression of the poor, -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 1,400 murders committed in bagnios, -brothels, gambling houses, taverns, and other similar places.”<a id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> In the -Italian Church there was no devotion, in the laity neither faith nor -morals. Factions filled the streets with blood, the roads were closed by -robbers, the seas swarmed with pirates. “Parents slew with rejoicing -their children who chanced to be of the opposite faction.”<a id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> Æneas -Sylvius wrote in 1453: “Whether I look upon the deeds of princes or of -prelates I find that all have sunk, all are worthless.... Execration and -falsehood and slaughter and theft and adultery are spread among you, and -you add blood to blood..... There is no shame in crime, for you<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_11">{11}</a></span> sin so -openly and shamelessly that you seem to take delight in it.”<a id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p> - -<p>The flagrant immorality of many of the Bishops, and the frequency with -which they took part in war, were even in rude times deemed unbecoming -to their profession; but the difficulty of getting them punished by any -ecclesiastical court was so great that in most cases the offenders could -continue to tread the primrose path of dalliance without fear of -retribution. About the worst of these clerical rakes was the Archbishop -of Besançon, who in 1198 was accused of perjury, simony, and incest. He -was formally indicted by his Chapter, but the Pope, on the authority of -the Gospel story of the woman taken in adultery, charitably dismissed -the charge with a caution. The hardened old sinner continued his gay -career for sixteen years, but was at length driven from his see by the -townspeople. It took ten years to get rid of another prelate, a Bishop -of Toul, and a few years later he was killed by his uncle in revenge for -a murder. This gentleman’s favourite mistress was a daughter of his own, -the mother being a nun.</p> - -<p>Whatever were the causes of this appalling state of things, it is -difficult to reconcile it with the claim that the Christian Church is a -Divine institution. Yet it would not be true to say that no virtue -existed. Even in the Church there were good and sincere men who strove -earnestly to check the tide of iniquity. And those whom the Church -hounded to death far surpassed it in purity of life. The poor persecuted -heretics were noted for their blameless conduct, their singular -industry, their self-sacrifice and endurance, which formed a lesson to -the orthodox. “Ignorant and toiling men and women—peasants, mechanics, -and the like—dimly conscious that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_12">{12}</a></span> 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.”<a id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> The earnest and devoted ministers of -the Church, the virtuous and humble believers among the laity, were as -drops in the ocean of evil; and it was popularly believed that -Antichrist was ruling in the world, and that the awful Day of Judgment -was at hand.</p> - - -<h3>Clerical Celibacy.</h3> - -<p>The great question whether priests should or should not be permitted to -marry caused the deepest agitation in the Church for many hundreds of -years. As early as the fourth and fifth centuries the Church decided it -in the negative, but this and many later prohibitions were nullified by -the liberty which it allowed in practice. The early Church had so great -a horror of the matrimonial state that some theologians seriously -doubted whether the salvation of married persons came within the -possibilities of the Divine scheme.</p> - -<p>During the eleventh century the Church succeeded, after long and violent -struggles, in enforcing upon its priesthood at least a nominal celibacy, -but it did not succeed in improving the ecclesiastical morals. As the -celibate party were the more fanatical, and usually applied to priests’ -wives the term “concubines,” it was not easy to distinguish lawful or -<i>quasi</i>-lawful unions<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_13">{13}</a></span> from illicit connections. Anyhow, when priests -found they could not marry, they generally had no hesitation in taking -to themselves concubines, or sometimes a succession of paramours—a -custom so commonly recognized that a layman confessing an illicit amour -was forbidden to name his erring partner because it would give the -priest an opportunity to exploit her frailty. Thus illicit connections -on the part of priests were winked at, while marriage was forbidden—an -excellent example of straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel. This -eccentric notion of morality led to horrible abuses. Pope Alexander II -declined, in 1064, to deprive of communion a priest who had committed -adultery with the wife of his father, and a little later reduced the -penance imposed on another priest found guilty of incestuous relations -with his own mother. The institution of matrimony afforded to the -priesthood perpetual opportunities for exacting money. The remotest -degree of blood relationship was found to be perilous, but ingenuity and -cash overcame the difficulty. Bishops did not scruple to receive a -tribute known as the “cullagium,” which enabled a “celibate” priest to -solace his holy duties with wife or concubine. The difficulty remained -acute until the fifteenth century, human nature having proved as -rebellious as ever. It was only in 1414 that it was finally settled by -the Council of Constance, the rigid moralists who formed that conclave -being accompanied by an army of prostitutes. The attempt to enforce -clerical celibacy, or, rather, the rule which required its observance, -was a chief contributing cause of the scandalous state of ecclesiastical -morals in the Middle Ages, as, indeed, is expressly stated by Alain -Chartier, a French chronicler of the early fifteenth century.</p> - -<p>In those Anglo-Saxon times, in which romancers have discovered a wealth -of simple virtue, clerical chastity<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_14">{14}</a></span> had many chinks in its armour. A -Saxon chronicler of the eleventh century attributes the ruin of the -kingdom to the vices of the clergy having drawn upon it the wrath of -God. It was a common practice for priests to put away their wives, and -live in open adultery with other women. A century later no improvement -was perceptible, many of the clergy having two wives, and changing them -at pleasure. An instance is recorded of the Abbess of Avesbury, whose -recklessness in having three children procured her a life-pension, but -was surpassed by the laxity of her nuns, who were dismissed from their -“abode of love.” Giraldus Cambrensis relates that nearly all parish -priests in England and Wales had companions who were indifferently -regarded as wives or concubines. In Ireland matters were equally bad, -the chief blame being naturally visited on the less guilty women. The -condition of Scotland may be imagined from a single instance in the -sixteenth century. A certain Prior—afterwards Bishop of Moray—once had -a pleasant conversation with his gentlemen regarding the number of their -mistresses, and chuckled in glee over the fact that, though the youngest -man present, he had outdone them all. He rejoiced in twelve mistresses, -of whom seven were the wives of other men. His achievement paled before -that of Cardinal Pier-Leone, who used to make his visitations as Papal -Legate accompanied by a concubine and by his children—who were also his -sister’s.</p> - -<p>Horrors like these were, it may be hoped, exceptional, but there is a -vast mass of evidence proving that society as a whole, and the clerical -element in particular, was morally in a condition that can scarcely be -matched in history. A French writer of the nineteenth century, Abbé -Helsen, alludes to the “ordinary custom” that when a priest’s servant -“becomes pregnant and cannot be saved by a prudent absence he dismisses -her, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_15">{15}</a></span> takes another, perhaps younger and more attractive.”<a id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> In -many convents the nuns abandoned themselves “to the most hideous -licentiousness—those who were good-looking prostituting themselves for -hire; those who were not so fortunate hiring men to gratify their -passions, while the older ones acted as procuresses.”<a id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> In Spain, -according to Pelayo, a fourteenth-century writer, the illegitimate -children of priests were almost as numerous as those of the laity. Of -Avignon, Petrarch says that “chastity was a reproach and licentiousness -a virtue.” The aged priests were fouler in their wickedness than the -younger, while with the Pontiff the vilest crimes were pastimes. And -Petrarch claims to tell only part of the truth. Of all European -countries the same story is told. Details concerning the French clergy -of the eighth century are “unfit for publication” in the twentieth. In -nunneries infanticide was common, and priests had to be forbidden to -have mothers, aunts, or sisters living in their houses. The Archdeacon -of Salzburg in 1175 lamented bitterly his complete failure to reform the -clergy or prevent the ordination of priests who continued to live in -adultery with the wives of other men; while four centuries later the -German prelates were vigorously assailed for allowing such foulness as -still existed in the Church. They excused themselves by pointing to the -example set by the Pope. A specially culpable Spanish priest was charged -in 1535 with blasphemy, theft, cheating, seduction, brothel-haunting, -and other offences. He did not go unpunished. He was fined two ducats, -the costs of his trial, and thirty days’ seclusion! A protest was made -by the Senate of Rome in 1538 against the reforming efforts of Pius V on -the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_16">{16}</a></span> ground that the compulsory celibacy of priests would make it -impossible for the citizens to preserve the virtue of their wives and -daughters. Peter Cantor and others in the twelfth century deplored the -moral superiority of the laity; the same thing had been said in England -as far back as the times of St. Dunstan; and the Beggars’ Petition of -1535 showed that the anomaly still existed more than four hundred years -later.</p> - -<p>It has been hinted that the Church made earnest efforts to reform its -own members. But this is true only so far as its reputable heads were -concerned. Marriage at its best had a taint of sin; its violation was a -trifle; but the fulfilment of religious vows and observances was an -obligation to which everything else must yield. To St. Peter Damiani -marriage was a “frivolous and unmeaning ceremony”; an irregular -celebration of Mass was a “horrible crime.” Sexual licence was a -necessary evil, of much less importance than an infraction of -ecclesiastical laws. Virtue indeed was dangerous when women were -occasionally burnt because they refused to become the victims of -priestly lust.<a id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> So late as 1801 it was argued in a tract published at -Warsaw that marriage is incestuous and schismatic, and therefore worse -than simple licentiousness.<a id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> Six centuries earlier the German Church -had been described by Pope Gregory as “abandoned to lasciviousness, -gluttony, and all manner of filthy living,” the clergy “committing -habitually wickedness which laymen would abhor.”<a id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>But the Church did its utmost to stamp out the evil! It did nothing of -the kind. Its attempts to reform its servants were occasional, -mischievously lenient, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_17">{17}</a></span> sometimes insincere. Priests, being human -beings, were not naturally worse than other human beings. But they -formed part of a system which heaped upon them every kind of privilege -and exposed them to every variety of temptation. A Bishop of Lausanne -who in the thirteenth century tried his hand at reform had to flee for -his life; another Bishop in Rome was murdered. In fifteenth-century -Germany the Bishop of Paderborn strove desperately for seven years to -purify the monasteries. After various attempts had been made to poison -him, he was compelled to give up a task which the example of the Vicar -of Christ made hopeless. Similar efforts made by St. Charles Borromeo in -Milan ended in his failure and narrow escape from martyrdom. In England -Cardinal Wolsey’s attempt to enforce a reforming Bull from Rome was -frustrated by the notoriety of his own vices. The clergy in the public -estimation were given over to a reprobate mind; not only were they -immoral, but they squeezed from the people the money which the Pope -exacted from them. In 1529 a bill was passed in the House of Lords for -the reformation of the clergy, who showed their appreciation of it by a -determined opposition.</p> - -<p>According to Dean Milman, clerical depravity was general in the -thirteenth century throughout all the principal European countries. A -remarkable number of ecclesiastics were accused at the visitation of the -Archbishop of Rouen in 1248 and 1249, but the tenderness of the Church -was satisfied with light punishments, or no punishment at all, for -serious crimes, while the imaginary sins of the heretic were visited -with the most painful of all forms of death. Nor did the Archbishop’s -rigour extend to the worst offences of the lower clergy. Milman refers -to the case of the Bishop of Liège, who at a public banquet boasted that -in less than two years<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_18">{18}</a></span> he had had fourteen children.<a id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> It is related -that when it was decreed that priests should dismiss their concubines -Pope Innocent ordered the command to be withdrawn, as there was no sin -in doing what was done by all priests.<a id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> In the thirteenth century the -Council of Ratisbon lamented the scarcity of priests who led good lives, -and so late as 1832 the Archbishop of Malines found it necessary to make -a similar complaint.<a id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> - -<p>Not only were the Church’s thunders ineffective because the higher -clergy could escape them, but the reasons for them failed, even in the -Middle Ages, to command universal assent. Sin was condemned rather -because it violated an ordinance than because it broke a Divine law, or -because it injured society. Some canons of 1476 protested against -crimes, not because of their wickedness, but because they might deprive -the clergy of the privilege of exemption from the Bishops’ jurisdiction. -A scuffle between three priests over a harlot that took place in a house -of ill-fame was reprehended, not because of its disgraceful nature, but -because it occurred on Ash Wednesday. The solicitation by priests of -female penitents was a serious matter for the holy men if committed -during the actual confession, otherwise it was a trifle. It was more -convenient to punish the women. As late as 1707 the Sorbonne decided -that if a woman insisted on denouncing a guilty priest she committed a -mortal sin. Usually the Church contended that the personal character of -the priest had nothing to do with the sanctity of his office—a doctrine -of which unscrupulous men took full advantage. Thus was evolved a -standard of morality which bore no relation to moral truth, and readily -lent itself to perversion.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_19">{19}</a></span></p> - -<p>For many hundreds of years the Church was an open sore, which made -thought a crime, purity an eccentricity, and progress a dream. From this -festering mass heresy was born, crucified, and rose again.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_20">{20}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br><br> -A CRUSADE AGAINST CHRISTIANS</h2> - - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">Heresy</span> in the Middle Ages differed in some respects from the heresy of -the earlier years of Christianity. It was less confined to scholars and -theologians; it originated among the people, who—poor, oppressed, and -helpless—turned in vain to the Church for assistance. And, instead of -being concerned with subtle points of theology, it was inspired mainly -by the iniquities of the ecclesiastical order. Simple men felt, by a -wholesome instinct, that an immoral life was inconsistent with the -function of leading them in the way of righteousness, and some of these -simple men began to inquire whether everything taught by the priesthood -was really true. This was one of the reasons why the lives of heretics -were generally purer than the lives of their oppressors. The mighty of -this world persecuted the heretic; the secular courts were severe, the -ecclesiastical tribunals were severer still; the main stream of public -opinion ran strongly against all innovation in religion. It is not, -therefore, to be supposed that the heretic became a voluntary outcast -from a love of danger, or for the sake of enjoying the pleasures of sin -for a season. The highest authorities in the Church admitted that heresy -was caused, though not justified, by the scandalous lives of her -ministers. When slaying heretics the Church should have remembered that -the chief culprit was herself.</p> - -<p>Sharp controversies as to the efficacy of the Mass arose about the -middle of the eleventh century, and on<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_21">{21}</a></span> this subject the Church showed -some vacillation. Its official doctrine was that the virtue of the -sacrament did not depend upon that of the ministrant. The contrary was, -however, asserted by Pope Nicholas II, and the Synod of Rome adopted a -canon forbidding any one to be present at a mass celebrated by a priest -known to be of loose morals. Gregory VII’s revival of this canon -produced great confusion, for virtuous priests were rare exceptions. -Against the official views the heretics consistently protested, but -hundreds of years elapsed before the professions and the conduct of the -clergy were brought into something like agreement.</p> - -<p>In the South of France heresy, mainly of a Manichean or dualistic type, -took firm hold, probably because the great progress which had there been -made in civilization favoured independence of thought and a certain -indifference to the claims of sacerdotalism. St. Bernard (1060-1153) -may, like some other writers, have exaggerated the evil condition of the -Church, but it must have been under a cloud when he could write thus of -the Toulouse district: “The churches are without people, the people -without priests, the priests without the reverence due to them, and -Christians without Christ.... Men die in their sins, and their souls are -hurried to the dread tribunal neither reconciled by penance nor -fortified by the Holy Communion. The little ones of Christ are debarred -from life, since baptism is denied them. The voice of a single heretic -silences all those Apostolic and prophetic voices which have united in -calling all the nations into the Church of Christ.”<a id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Heretics -appeared, founded sects, flourished for a time, and were ultimately -silenced. Henry of Lausanne, Arnold of Brescia, and the far more -influential Peter Waldo of Lyons, from whom the famous<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_22">{22}</a></span> sect of -Waldenses took its rise, asserted that the power of absolution belonged -alone to good men, that the ministrations of sinful priests were -invalid, that the sacrament of penance was not the prerogative of the -clergy. They rejected indulgences and transubstantiation, forbade all -oaths and all means of self-defence, and held that every lie was a -mortal sin. These principles would have reduced the Church to poverty -and purity, both equally unwelcome. Most of the heretical sects held -such strict views of sexual relationships that there is probably very -little foundation for the charges of immorality which were freely -brought against them. In an extremely loose age they doubtless fell -something short of the moral ideal, but they were at least considerably -nearer to it than their persecutors. In the following terms an -Inquisitor testifies to their good conduct: “Heretics are recognizable -by their customs and speech, for they are modest and well-regulated. -They take no pride in their garments, which are neither costly nor vile. -They do not engage in trade, so as to avoid lies and oaths and frauds, -but live by their labour as mechanics—their teachers are cobblers. They -do not accumulate wealth, but are content with necessaries. They are -just, and temperate in meat and drink. They do not frequent taverns, or -dances, or other vanities. They restrain themselves from anger. They are -always at work; they teach and learn, and consequently pray but -little.”<a id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> This remarkable purity of life brought upon these poor -people the full fury of persecution. Virtue was an indication of heresy, -and one priest whose exhortations had weaned women from vain adornments -ran a serious risk of being burnt as a heretic.</p> - -<p>The system of dualism known as Manichæism, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_23">{23}</a></span> peculiar mixture of -Oriental and Christian elements, became popular through the influence of -the Cathari (“the pure”), who, even according to the testimony of their -enemy St. Bernard, lived a good and harmless life. The Church, however, -recognized no religion as true but its own, and the rapid growth of -Catharism stirred it to action of the most rigorous kind. All over -Europe the heretics were becoming numerous and influential, but it was -in the South of France, especially in the territories of the Counts of -Toulouse, that the smouldering embers burst into flame.</p> - -<p>In 1178 Pope Alexander III proclaimed the first crusade against -Christians, which resulted in failure. Early in the thirteenth century -matters came to a climax. In an address to the Lateran Council Innocent -III had plainly asserted that “the corruption of the people has its -chief source in the clergy”; but, fearless as he was, he hesitated to -attempt the cleansing of the Augean stable, and adopted the simpler -method of trying to rid Christendom of the heretics who troubled its -serenity. Despite their active missionary labours, they lived with their -orthodox neighbours in a tolerant and friendly spirit, of which the -Church bitterly disapproved as being fatal to its exclusive claims. -Papal emissaries succeeded in getting the civil authorities, and -afterwards the Count of Toulouse, to promise the expulsion of heretics; -but the promises remained usually a dead letter, and the strength of the -heretics was shown by the fact that the tables were turned on the Bishop -of Carcassonne, who was expelled from the city for reprimanding his -heretical flock. A threatened crusade and vigorous mission work having -also failed, Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, one of the most powerful -princes in Europe, was excommunicated. He made peace, and the curse was -lifted; but he failed to see the importance of the Papal point of view, -and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_24">{24}</a></span> obeyed it as little as possible. Unfortunately, the murder, in -January, 1208, of the Papal Legate, Peter of Castlenau, by a gentleman -of Raymond’s court, gave the Pope a pretext for sterner action. Raymond -was accused of being party to the crime (he was probably innocent), and -was excommunicated with greater solemnity than before. He submitted, -and, after being soundly flogged, was absolved.</p> - -<p>This murder formed one of the principal reasons for the great crusade -which the Church was determined to go on with, though the Count’s -submission had deprived it of the official excuse. The passions of the -bigoted and the mercenary were successfully appealed to, and the most -appalling campaign in history was begun under the furious stimulation of -the Papal Legates. It was proposed to the inhabitants of Bezier that if -the chief heretics were expelled or given up the town would be spared. -To the special honour of the Catholic inhabitants, who lived in entire -peace with their heretical fellow townsmen, the two parties made common -cause and refused the terms, whereupon the town was stormed in July, -1209, and about 20,000 of the people massacred. In August Carcassonne, a -fortress of immense strength, was surrendered to the crusading army -commanded by the elder Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. By the end -of the autumn 500 towns and castles had been wrested from the grasp of -the heretics; and, considering their task almost completed, several of -the leaders withdrew, and the army was reduced to a small force obliged -to maintain itself by partizan fighting.</p> - -<p>In the spring de Montfort was reinforced and captured many more towns, -the inhabitants being offered the choice of submission to Rome or the -stake. Hundreds of obscure enthusiasts embraced the heroic alternative, -often cheerfully leaping into the flames of their own<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_25">{25}</a></span> accord. At Lavaur -in May, 1211, as many as 400 heretics are said to have been burnt in one -vast pyre, and the moral sensibilities of the age may be estimated from -the statement that this dreadful spectacle caused great rejoicing among -the Crusaders. The slackness of Count Raymond in persecuting his -subjects was not pleasing to the Church, and he was summoned to purge -himself from the suspicion of favouring heresy, and to submit -unreservedly to the Pope’s demands. He presented himself in the Church -of St. Gilles, Toulouse, with his guarantees in the confident hope of -full reconciliation, and was then told that, having neglected to fulfil -his promises to extirpate heresy, his submission could not be received. -The facts that the promises had been forced from him, and that it was -beyond his power to give them full effect, were not taken into account. -Raymond’s bitter tears, instead of arousing pity, were regarded as -further proof of his depravity, and renewed abasement led only to the -infliction of harsher terms. His capital city, Toulouse, was besieged in -1211, but offered so vigorous a resistance that the Crusaders received a -serious check, and a fresh excommunication was hurled at the unfortunate -Raymond for “persecuting” the soldiers of the Cross. The military -abilities of de Montfort, however, won so many successes as to arouse -the alarm of Pedro, King of Aragon; and the Pope, remembering that -Raymond had never been tried and condemned, began to suspect that there -might, after all, be some injustice in depriving him of nearly the whole -of his territory. His promise that the Count (who was an independent -Prince) should receive a fair trial was broken, in consequence of -innumerable letters written by Bishops enlarging on the benefits which -had already resulted from the Crusade, and urging its vigorous -prosecution. Pedro at length declared war against de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_26">{26}</a></span> Montfort, advanced -to the support of Raymond and his friends, and laid siege to Muret, ten -miles from Toulouse. Here a battle took place, with disastrous results -to the better cause. Pedro’s army was utterly routed, with a loss of -from 15,000 to 20,000 men, that of de Montfort’s forces being only -twenty. If these figures are correct, this must have been one of the -most remarkable victories on record. The Crusaders saw in their triumph -a visible mark of God’s approval of their cause, the prosperity of which -increased daily. Fresh hordes of Crusaders, greedy for plunder, swarmed -into the fair provinces of the south; their conquest was completed in -1213; Raymond was deposed, and de Montfort made lord of the land, the -territories in the Rhône district of South Eastern France being held by -the Church for the benefit of the younger Raymond. The youth, then only -eighteen years of age, went thither in 1216, and was received with -acclamations. All the south of France rose in revolt, and while de -Montfort was engaged in successfully subduing it he was suddenly -recalled West by tidings that Toulouse was again in rebellion. He began -the second siege with his usual vigour, but one summer day in 1218 was -killed by a stone hurled from a mangonel worked, it is said, by women. -His conquests went to pieces in the hands of his incapable son Amauri, -who, six years after his father’s death, assigned all his rights to the -King of France, and Raymond was confronted with another powerful enemy. -With the Pope he made terms that amounted to complete submission. Even -this did not seem to the Church sufficient compensation for his lack of -zeal in the prosecution of heresy, and in 1226 another crusade on a -great scale was organized, ostensibly for religious, but still more for -political, reasons. King Louis VIII marched to the south with a large -and splendid army, and laid siege to Avignon. Surprised by the strength -of its resistance and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_27">{27}</a></span> ill provided with food, he was about to abandon -the siege when the city surrendered. Louis’s march on Toulouse was -broken off for reasons not fully known, and he retired from the -campaign, dying of sickness in November, 1226, when on his way home.</p> - -<p>In the following year the war went on with varying fortunes, and towards -its close both sides were anxious to terminate a conflict which had -lasted for nearly twenty years. Two years later Raymond agreed to hard -and humiliating terms, which involved the loss of two-thirds of his -great dominions, their reversion to the King of France, and an oath to -persecute heresy to the utmost of his power—concessions wrung from him -by the distracted condition of his realm and of his unfortunate people. -The way was left open to the Church to reap the fruits of victory, and -the Inquisition was set to work among the people who for so long had -bidden it defiance.</p> - - -<h3>Religious Persecution.</h3> - -<p>To what extent the spirit of persecution is sanctioned by the New -Testament is not very easy to determine. Giving all due weight to its -gentler precepts, it is unhappily true that passages which reflect more -than a tinge of the temper of intolerance are to be found with some -frequency in the New Testament, and very many injunctions to extreme -severity in the Old. It was inevitable that in rude ages the latter -should exert a more potent influence on human conduct than the former, -because they harmonized more completely with the existing tendencies of -human nature.</p> - -<p>Until Christianity became the State religion of the Roman Empire the -persecuting spirit wrought comparatively little harm. When the Church -was weak it perceived the blessings of toleration; when the Church<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_28">{28}</a></span> grew -powerful it held toleration to be sinful. Even Constantine’s severe -edicts do not appear to have resulted in much actual persecution, the -few cases which occurred in the fourth century being looked upon as -horrifying novelties. After that, however, the systematic repression of -heretical opinions became general, and was warmly advocated by even the -holiest doctors of the Church. Chrysostom and Augustine taught that -heresy must be suppressed, but did not recommend the infliction of -death. Jerome heartily approved the heretic being made to suffer -corporal death in order to secure the eternal welfare of his soul, and -the harsh laws of Theodosius doubtless represented a public opinion -which was ever becoming more rigid and dangerous. It is somewhat curious -that outrages upon the heterodox were, until the twelfth century, -committed more frequently by “orthodox” mobs than by the ecclesiastical -authorities—a fact which does not indicate a very effective teaching -influence on the part of the Church. When, at Cologne in 1145, some -Cathari were burnt despite the opposition of the clergy, St. Bernard, -though arguing that they should have been won over by reason, quoted, -with some inconsistency, St. Paul’s dictum that the monarch was the -instrument of God’s wrath upon him that doeth evil.</p> - -<p>The duty of the Church remained uncertain till about the close of the -twelfth century. The incalculable mischief caused by certain passages in -a book believed to be Divine is exemplified by the decree of Lucius III -in 1184, which ordered heretics to be delivered to the secular arm for -punishment, and expressly quoted John xv, 6, as authority for the -infliction of death by fire. It “commanded that all potentates should -take an oath before their bishops to enforce the ecclesiastical laws -against heresy fully and efficaciously. Any refusal or neglect was to be -punished by excommunication, deprivation of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_29">{29}</a></span> rank, and incapacity to -hold other station, while in the case of cities they were to be -segregated and debarred from all commerce with other places. The Church -thus undertook to coerce the sovereign to persecution. It would not -listen to mercy, it would not hear of expediency. The monarch held his -crown by the tenure of extirpating heresy, of seeing that the laws were -sharp and were pitilessly enforced. Any hesitation was visited with -excommunication, and if this proved inefficacious his dominions were -thrown open to the first hardy adventurer, whom the Church would supply -with an army for his overthrow.”<a id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> - -<p>Burning alive was first legalized in 1197, but it was the Albigensian -Crusade which afforded the earliest opportunity on a great scale for the -working out of the principle of religious persecution. This principle -was gradually embodied first in the canon law and then in the secular -law of Europe. The Inquisition codified and collated the various -enactments into a logical system, which, having behind it the united -authority of Church and State, became an irresistible engine of -terrorism and tyranny.<a id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> The suppression of heresy was, indeed, the -paramount duty of every Christian to the full extent of his power. No -matter who was the guilty party—father, son, husband, wife, or -sister—each must be denounced for concealing heresy; there could be no -excuse. “It was an absolute rule that faith was not to be kept with -heretics. As Innocent III emphatically phrased it, ‘According to the -canons, faith is not to be kept with him who keeps not faith with God.’ -No oath of secrecy,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_30">{30}</a></span> therefore, was binding in the matter of heresy, for -if one is faithful to a heretic he is unfaithful to God.”<a id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> - -<p>With teaching of this sort drilled into an ignorant and obedient people, -it is not surprising that the popular prejudice against religious -innovations was strong enough to make life in general very unpleasant -for any one who had a taste for independent thought. In our own day all -Reformed Churches unite in disclaiming the idea of persecution, but the -Church of Rome still accepts as its greatest authority St. Thomas -Aquinas, whose language on the subject is clear. To him heresy was the -greatest of all sins, and its repression was more than defensible—it -was a duty. To corrupt the faith is a greater wickedness than to debase -the coinage, and if coiners are executed much more should heretics be. -In its great charity the Church pardons the repentant heretic once, or -perhaps twice; but if he sins again he is not to be released from the -penalty of death. This became the settled policy and the unalterable -practice of the Church. Even the dead heretic was not allowed Christian -burial, and, if he had been favoured with it by mistake, the body was -dug up and burned, and the grave remained for ever an accursed spot. In -times of ignorance this sort of thing paralyses people with terror, and -renders them an easy prey to the most absurd and debasing superstitions. -This universal dread of the unseen was ably and thoroughly exploited by -the Church of Christ.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_31">{31}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br><br> -THE FOUNDING, CONSTITUTION, AND PRACTICE OF THE INQUISITION</h2> - - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">It</span> is extremely doubtful whether Dominic actually founded the -Inquisition, for as an organization it did not exist till ten years -after his death. He was, however, an Inquisitor in all but the -possession of full judicial powers. There was, in fact, no formal -founding of the Holy Office; it simply grew by degrees out of the social -and religious conditions of the early thirteenth century. Nor was it -exclusively confided to the Dominican Order, but, as that was the most -intolerant and the most zealous in heresy-hunting, its members were, -from the outset, more closely associated with that occupation.<a id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> -Commissions were frequently entrusted to the Franciscans also, but most -of the early Inquisitors were Dominican monks. The jealousies and -quarrels between the two Orders which their holy labours occasioned were -so frequent as to be a source of scandals in the Church, which -threatened to last for ever.</p> - -<p>Under ecclesiastical tuition the people of Europe had, during the -twelfth century, developed, in what passed for religion, a spirit of -rancour that went beyond even the cruel legislation of the time. Heresy -had previously been detected mainly by means of ordeals, but these were -found to be somewhat unreliable in the matter of results. The Bishops, -under the authority of the State,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_32">{32}</a></span> had usually controlled the -proceedings, but they had now grown sluggish and lax, and their -machinery had become rusty. Pope Alexander III, in 1179, “invited -sovereigns to employ force of arms and protect Christian people from the -violence [!] of the Cathari,” and “offered indulgences to those who -should accomplish this work of piety.”<a id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> The decrees of Lucius III in -1184 might, had they been put into effective operation, have resulted in -an episcopal instead of a Papal Inquisition. Not only were rulers bound -by oath to assist the Church in rooting out heresy, but all prelates -were compelled to visit towns and villages, to call the people together, -and take evidence as to the existence of suspected heretics. The Bishops -were, indeed, by virtue of their office, Inquisitors also,<a id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> but of so -lukewarm a description that a sterner organization was deemed necessary.</p> - -<p>Thus the ancient civil and canon law furnished the basis of the -Inquisitorial procedure, and the first detectors of heresy were the -laymen of each locality, with whom priests were afterwards associated. -For various reasons the Bishops, as a body, proved unequal to their -task; trained experts were needed, and the Church was impelled to action -both by the force of public opinion and by the logic of its dogmas. The -hands of the Church were strengthened by a secular legislation which -recognized a gigantic evil, but failed to combat it with vigour and -uniformity. Under the presidency of Pope Innocent III, the Lateran -Council of 1215 framed a number of severe regulations, but did not -succeed in getting them consistently enforced. From 1220 to 1239, -therefore, Rome elaborated a series of enactments, based on the Lateran<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_33">{33}</a></span> -regulations, which amounted to a complete system of persecution. The -chief of these enactments was Gregory IX’s Bull of 1231, under which -suspected persons were required to prove their innocence or lose their -civil rights. Very trivial circumstances, even such as a pale face, were -enough to arouse suspicion. Heretics were to be outlawed, and, when -condemned, to be burnt, all their property being in that case -confiscated and their heirs disinherited. Their houses were to be -destroyed, and never rebuilt. The evidence of a heretic was not to be -received in a court of justice <i>except against another heretic</i>. All -rulers and magistrates had to swear, not that they would do justice, but -that they would exterminate all heretics. The lands of nobles who -favoured the unorthodox were to be forfeited. Every thinker was in a -permanently tight corner. Refusal to submit to ecclesiastical authority -was the greatest of sins. The Papal zeal for reform took a peculiar -shape when it established the Inquisition.</p> - -<p>The whole Church hailed these savage laws with joy, and they soon became -a terrible reality. The fact that secular Inquisitions were established -in Sicily during the same year shows that public opinion was too strong -for even a royal Freethinker like Frederick II to resist, though he was -reproached with occasionally burning Catholics instead of heretics—not -a very common miscarriage of justice. A commission issued in 1227 may be -taken as giving the Inquisition a start. Its tone and its provisions are -somewhat indefinite, but it led in a short time to the selection of -suitable priests to undertake the duty of detecting and examining -heretics, and this remained a permanent feature of the Inquisitorial -system. The round holes were provided with round pegs.</p> - -<p>At the time, however, there seems to have been little thought of a -permanent system which should take the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_34">{34}</a></span> place of the Bishops’ -jurisdiction. The basis of the persecuting body was more thoroughly -settled at the Council of Narbonne in 1244, when the control of heresy -was surrendered by the Bishops to the Inquisition, with the prudent -proviso that the prelates reserved to themselves the pecuniary results. -This transfer was not everywhere made complete, for even after that date -many Inquisitors recognized the authority of episcopal tribunals, and in -1273 Gregory X also admitted their supremacy. Evidently the Holy Office -was long regarded as a temporary expedient, and every Pope had renewed -its charter.</p> - -<p>In May, 1252, Innocent IV issued his famous Bull <i>Ad Extirpanda</i>, which -was a complete exposition of the laws against heresy, and set up the -machinery for its detection. In addition to all the known regulations, -it laid down further provisions binding all rulers to outlaw heretics -and empowering any one to seize suspected persons and take possession of -their goods (being thereby entitled to a share of the proceeds). This -vigilance was rewarded by exemption from public services and by freedom -of personal action. Every one, including all State officials, was bound -to give assistance; men of good repute had to be sworn to reveal -anything they knew, or suspected, of any person in their district. The -State was responsible for the seizure of heretics; it was commanded to -execute judgment against them and to torture those who would not confess -and betray their accomplices. Lists of suspected persons were to be made -out and read in public three times a year, and copies given to the -Bishops, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans.</p> - -<p>The provisions of this Bull were strictly enforced, and it is -significant of the state of public opinion that it aroused no effective -resistance. By a later Bull of 1265, Pope Urban IV confirmed its -instructions, and made the Inquisition supreme in all countries. It -became a maxim of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_35">{35}</a></span> law that all statutes which interfered with the -Inquisition were void and their authors punishable. The Holy Office had -a free hand, and was not liable to excommunication in the discharge of -its sacred duties, or to suspicion by even a Papal Legate. Nicholas IV -gave a finishing touch by making the Inquisitors’ commissions perpetual. -Bishops were not liable to be judged by Inquisitors, but nevertheless -had to obey them, and, though at times they tried cases of heresy in -their own courts, they were compelled to allow an Inquisitor to take -part in the sentence.</p> - -<p>Popular feeling, it is true, occasionally revolted against this tyranny; -but, as any one who in any way opposed the Inquisition was thereby -excommunicated, the resistance was easily and remorselessly crushed. The -tenacious memory and sleepless vigilance of the Inquisition hunted out -persons who years before had said a kind word to a heretic, or sent a -copper to a sick person under suspicion. Public confidence was destroyed -by the general dread that a careless word might ruin a man; that stories -might, unknown to him, be circulated about him and come to the -Inquisitors’ ears; that an enemy might secretly and safely gratify an -old grudge, until at last poor wretches would inform against others -rather than be themselves betrayed.</p> - -<p>It was a rule of the Inquisition that all testimony should be taken down -in the presence of two impartial persons unconnected with the -institution, but sworn to absolute secrecy. This precautionary act of -justice was soon disregarded, and the bulky documents of the Inquisition -were generally held to be unworthy of trust. In some of the revolts -against its tyranny the populace were careful to destroy the records, -for it was well known that the Inquisitors had an unpleasant habit of -discovering among them facts damaging to those whom they desired to -injure.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_36">{36}</a></span></p> - -<p>As if the Inquisitors themselves were not dangerous enough, they were -allowed to employ a swarm of hangers-on known as Familiars (by a -pleasing fiction they became part of the family), who were permitted to -carry the arms denied to ordinary civilians, and who enjoyed immunities -and powers which they abused with the utmost freedom. For the most part -they were a rabble of unruly ruffians, who squeezed money out of people -under the threat of accusing them of heresy or of impeding the -Inquisition in its beneficent duties. Any restriction in the number of -these rascals was resented as unlawful; but the State did sometimes, as -at Venice in 1450, succeed in reducing their numbers. They were wholly -unnecessary, as the Holy Office could command the services of the State, -as well as the assistance of the clergy and of the civil population.</p> - -<p>As a precaution against miscarriages of justice, there was held at -irregular intervals an assembly which finally determined the fate of -accused persons. At these gatherings learned Bishops were supposed to be -present in order to give the Inquisitors the benefit of their advice, -but they were so little zealous for popular rights that it became a -practice for an Inquisitor to represent one or more Bishops. It was -doubtful whether the Inquisition ought to obey the finding of the court, -and the occasion became a mere form, from which the episcopal -co-operation was frequently absent. Sometimes a number of sentenced -persons remained in gaol, and were added to from time to time, so that -the <i>auto de fe</i> could be made more impressive. At one of these -ceremonies held in Toulouse in 1310, out of 108 persons sentenced 18 -were burnt alive. In the previous year one unfortunate had hit upon the -expedient of voluntary starvation. The Inquisition had a more effective -retort than forcible feeding; its preparations were hurried on,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_37">{37}</a></span> and the -solitary victim was burnt, a similar case occurring four years later. -Very seldom did any one escape by flight from the clutches of the Holy -Office. Its agents were everywhere, its jurisdiction had no limits, a -complete network of private information existed, and flight was a sure -presumption of guilt. A boy of fifteen, sentenced after two years’ -imprisonment to wear the crosses which indicated his punishment, at -length threw them off, and worked as a boatman on the Garonne. He was -discovered, cited to appear, and in default was excommunicated and -condemned as a heretic in an <i>auto</i> of 1319. Two years later he was -arrested, escaped, was recaptured, and finally sentenced to imprisonment -on a diet of bread and water. His original crime was that he, a mere -boy, had “adored” a heretic at the command of his father.</p> - - -<h3>The Inquisitorial Method.</h3> - -<p>The duty of the Inquisitor was the detection of heresy—that is, to -ascertain the secret thoughts of the accused. External acts were of -consequence only as they indicated a particular frame of mind. This was -a task possible to omniscience only, but the Inquisitor willingly -undertook it, preferring to sacrifice a hundred innocent persons rather -than let one guilty person escape. The safeguards of justice were -nominal; it was found convenient to assume guilt from the outset. In the -secular courts there were a few provisions which gave an accused some -faint chance of obtaining justice; but these, under the pressure of the -Inquisition, gradually fell into abeyance. Even death was no escape so -far as the culprit’s property was concerned. At Ferrara the Bishop and -the Inquisitor squabbled for thirty-two years over the remains of a -heretic, and in 1313 a Florentine family found them<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_38">{38}</a></span>selves the victims -of a prosecution brought against an ancestor who had died sixty-three -years before.</p> - -<p>Delation was an indispensable and certainly very useful feature of the -Inquisition’s procedure. A woman of Toulouse in 1254 furnished a list of -169 persons incriminated by her, and all the names, with addresses, were -carefully noted for later use. Each of these persons would be persuaded -to supply further names, and so the Inquisition’s net was constantly -growing larger. To give information against others was the truest sign -of repentance, and the Inquisitors were untiring in their efforts to -secure it. In order to elicit confession every conceivable means were -employed: if kindness seemed to promise the best results, kindness would -be shown; an emissary would visit the prisoner’s cell urging confession -and promising mercy—with the mental reservation that severity was the -truest mercy to a heretic. Sometimes a man’s wife and children were -permitted in his dungeon that they might work upon his feelings. On -occasion protracted delay was used to break the prisoner’s spirit; he -would be tried, receive no definite sentence, and be left in gaol -perhaps for many years. Thus a woman who was imprisoned and confessed in -1297 was not formally sentenced for thirteen years, while at Carcassonne -a man made his confession in 1321 after an imprisonment of thirty years.</p> - -<p>If, on the other hand, it was thought desirable to hasten the sinner’s -repentance, the confinement was made so terribly harsh that it -frequently brought about the result desired. Torture had not been -greatly employed in the earlier half of the thirteenth century, but Pope -Innocent’s Bull of 1252 expressly authorized its use by the secular -authorities to discover heresy. The secular courts were slow to adopt -it, but its rapid extension by the Holy Office showed how useful it was. -Although<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_39">{39}</a></span> not frequently mentioned in the records, various indications -prove that it was freely employed. Not only accused persons, but -witnesses whose statements appeared doubtful or unsatisfactory, were put -to the torture; and the Inquisition had an ingenious way of -manufacturing witnesses, for a person who had confessed his own offence -would be treated as a witness to the guilt of others, and was tortured -to betray them. Confessions made under torture were subject to -confirmation; if they were not confirmed, but denied, the accused was -treated as an obstinate impenitent and perjurer, and handed over to the -secular arm.</p> - - -<h3>Evidence.</h3> - -<p>Lea remarks that “the matter-of-course way in which rules destructive of -every principle of justice are laid down by men presumably correct in -the ordinary affairs of life affords a wholesome lesson as to the power -of fanaticism to warp the intellect of the most acute.”<a id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> Such rules -as there were for the protection of accused persons were systematically -set aside, and the lives of even devout Catholics hung on the merest -trifles and technicalities. A new crime termed “suspicion of heresy” was -invented, and of this three degrees were formulated—light suspicion, -vehement suspicion, and violent suspicion, all of which offered ample -scope to inquisitorial ingenuity. A merchant found it a dangerous -civility to bow to acquaintances who, unknown to him, were heretics. Two -witnesses were required to prove heresy, but at a pinch one was made to -suffice, and if the one witness revoked testimony in favour of the -accused his revocation annulled the evidence, while if the original -testimony was adverse to the defence it was the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_40">{40}</a></span> revocation that became -void! The minimum age of witnesses was also liable to fluctuation. By -the Italian civil law it was twenty years, but the Holy Office was not -particular to a year or two, and a case is recorded in which the -evidence of a boy of ten was accepted against his own family and -sixty-six other people who had listened to a heretical sermon a year -before. Wives, children, and servants could not testify in favour of an -accused; against him their evidence was readily accepted. The only thing -that disabled a witness was proof that he was actuated by mortal enmity -against the accused; but, as the accused was kept in ignorance of the -witness’s identity, proof of this sort was made practically impossible.</p> - -<p>Witnesses seldom refused to testify. If they did, the torture chamber -generally induced them to reconsider the matter; in fact, an unlucky -witness ran as great a risk as the defendant of an acquaintance with the -rack or the pulleys. Nor was the secrecy of the confessional of much -avail, for all priests were instructed to use every means in their power -to induce confessions of heresy, and the results were conveyed to the -tribunals in a judiciously indirect manner.</p> - -<p>All these precautions, thorough and effective as they were, were not -thought sufficient, and were supplemented by instructions to the -Inquisitors that less evidence was needed to prove heresy than to prove -any other crime. The crowning infamy of keeping secret the names of -witnesses was a peculiarity of the ecclesiastical procedure, of which -its administrators were a little ashamed; but the feeble protests of one -or two councils were ignored. As a slight concession to justice the -accused was, though rarely, shown a list of names, but without being -told which of them applied to his own case; and also a witness would -sometimes be sworn in the presence of the accused, but <i>examined apart</i>. -On occasion the whole<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_41">{41}</a></span> of the evidence was withheld from the knowledge -of the accused, and if a witness retracted his testimony the fact was -not revealed to the interested party. In practice it was found best to -leave all these details to the Inquisitors’ discretion.</p> - -<p>The field which all this secrecy opened to malice, slander, and perjury -may be faintly imagined. Serious abuses in connection with the handling -of evidence were exposed in the fourteenth century by conscientious -Inquisitors themselves, and the fact suggests that an appalling amount -of injustice remained undiscovered. The extraordinary rule by which a -perjured witness was to be punished, but his testimony was to hold good, -was a development that might have been expected from an organization -bent on the manufacture of criminals. And, because it was fairly safe, -perjury by witnesses for the prosecution was by no means uncommon.</p> - - -<h3>The Defence.</h3> - -<p>The whole tendency of the Inquisitorial procedure was to afford as few -opportunities as possible for an effective answer to a charge of heresy. -Inquisitors were expressly ordered not to worry about legal forms, but -to extract confessions. In the early part of the thirteenth century the -accused was gratuitously allowed an advocate, but, as the lawyer -entrusted with this delicate duty rendered himself liable to a charge of -heresy if he showed zeal on behalf of his client, the office became -little sought after, and the benefit inappreciable. In time the practice -was more honoured in the breach than in the observance; and, as the -Inquisition could deprive an advocate of his papers and put him in the -dangerous position of a witness, it is doubtful whether his services -were of much value, or, indeed, whether, in many cases, they were -rendered at all. It was sometimes impossible to secure advocates,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_42">{42}</a></span> and -instances are known in which prisoners, in despair, declined to exercise -their right to call for copies of the evidence against them. The -Inquisitors then placed on record that the privilege had been offered -and refused, without superfluous detail as to reasons. Denial of the -accusation of heresy, or refusal to plead, rendered the person charged -liable to torture or the stake. If the Inquisitors did happen to break -the rules and expose themselves to appeal against their judgments, there -were manuals available in which they were instructed in the numerous -devices and deceptions by which they could escape responsibility. An -acquittal never took place; the Inquisitors were expressly authorized to -pronounce no one innocent, as it was always desirable to leave a -loophole for future proceedings. The rare verdict, “Not proven,” was the -utmost length to which the mercy of the Holy Office would extend.</p> - - -<h3>Sentence.</h3> - -<p>Strange though it may appear, what the Inquisition really wanted was the -salvation of the sinner’s soul, the appropriation of his goods being -quite a secondary consideration. Its penalties were benevolently -designed to wash away the stain of mortal guilt, and thus prepare him -for a future state of bliss. Assuming the reality of this state, its -enjoyments would certainly be enhanced by contrast with the heretic’s -earthly experiences. The exact condition of the soul, however, being -difficult to ascertain, the chastisement of the body was believed to -afford the most efficacious means of purification. Accordingly the -Church, in its tenderness, did not condemn to death; it merely withdrew -its protection from the unrepentant. It did not confiscate his property; -all it did was to declare him guilty of a crime which rendered him -incapable of holding property. If it imposed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_43">{43}</a></span> a fine, it was because the -proceeds were to be employed in works of charity, which, of course, -included the upkeep of its own organization. The ultimate disposal of -the condemned heretic could safely be left in the hands of the obedient -civil power.</p> - -<p>The Church must receive whatever credit may be due for its kindly -intentions, though they sometimes worked out strangely. Almost always -the heretic came off disastrously, but there were episodes of mildness -for which it is not easy to account. When, at the end of the thirteenth -century, an Inquisitor was murdered, the man who hired the assassins was -merely ordered to present himself to the Pope and receive penance. Even -his neglect to do this was visited by nothing worse than a mild order to -arrest him if he could be found. We shall meet with more of this -unaccountable clemency.</p> - -<p>The light penances imposed by the Inquisition were Prayers, Churchgoing, -Discipline, Fasting, Pilgrimages, and Fines. As punishments these -penances do not sound excessive, but, as interpreted by the elastic -discretion of the Holy Office, they could make a penitent extremely ill -at ease, and when several were combined in one sentence life became a -heavy burden. During a long pilgrimage a man’s family might starve. In -1322 pilgrimages were imposed on three men who nearly twenty years -before had seen some Waldenses in their father’s house without knowing -that they were heretics. Fines naturally gave opportunities for -extortion which only exceptional men were able to refrain from using. As -already mentioned, the Inquisition appropriated the property of all -persons sentenced for heresy. A man who died in 1252, before completing -a five years’ pilgrimage, left an estate of twenty livres, and the -Inquisitors promptly claimed the whole of this immense sum. Bail was -simply another word for bribery, and extortion<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_44">{44}</a></span> became a system -exploited to the utmost by men who were sleeplessly on the look-out for -plunder.</p> - -<p>The second grade of penance was the compulsory wearing of yellow -crosses, sewn on to the clothing as an indication that the wearer had -been condemned for heresy. This badge, which corresponded to the <i>san -benito</i> commonly used in Spain, was so great a disgrace that efforts -were constantly made to avoid it; but though, for special reasons, -permission was sometimes given to dispense with it, usually it was -insisted upon, and escape from the vigilant eye of the Inquisition was -impossible.</p> - -<p>Penance became far more severe in the third grade, which was -imprisonment for life. A comprehensive penalty of this character was -incurred by every one who did not come forward within the time specified -by the Edict of Grace, confess his own sins, and denounce those of -others. The Inquisition of Toulouse, between 1246 and 1248, records 192 -cases, of which 127 were of perpetual imprisonment, 6 for ten years, 16 -for an indefinite term in the discretion of the Church, and the -remaining 43 were of absentees. The Council of Narbonne, in 1244, made -the sentence invariably for life. The confinement was solitary; the diet -consisted of bread and water, and in the harsher sentence the penitent -was chained by the feet, sometimes by the hands as well, and, in extreme -cases, to the wall of a dark, noisome dungeon. It is not surprising that -prisoners did not attain a green old age.</p> - -<p>The Inquisition reserved the right, in the exercise of its discretion, -to mitigate or re-impose its penalties. This right was frequently used, -especially in regard to the wearing of crosses; but seldom did the -prisoner find his punishment any the lighter. If he had the unusual good -fortune to be released, he might, for the slightest lapse, be punished -again, and this time without mercy and without<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_45">{45}</a></span> the formality of a fresh -trial. Every victim relinquished by the Holy Office was a -ticket-of-leave man, liable at any moment to utter ruin. He could never -feel sure that something might not be discovered, perhaps a youthful -indiscretion of his grandfather’s, which would require his appearance -before the dread Tribunal, or that for some unguarded act or expression -he might not bring himself under the most effective of all -excommunications—that of the Holy Inquisition.</p> - - -<h3>Confiscation.</h3> - -<p>By decree of Innocent III in 1215 and the Bull of Innocent IV in 1252, -confiscation of the property of heretics and their children was made a -necessary penalty, and all temporal rulers were required to enforce it. -Of the proceeds one-third was to go to the State, one-third to the -Papacy, and one-third to the Inquisition. Each party, as a matter of -course, tried to cheat the others; but the wily Inquisitors almost -invariably obtained the lion’s share of the spoil, which was, nominally -at any rate, devoted to the furtherance of their own method of -propagating the Gospel. Between them the victim had as much chance of -escape as a mouse in a trap. The Church had some difficulty in getting -confiscation sanctioned by the State, but it succeeded.</p> - -<p>The heretic was not permitted to dispose of his property, but if he did -succeed in doing so the transaction was void; and, even though the -property had passed through several hands, the last possessor was -cheerfully deprived of it. As debts due to heretics and securities for -loans by them were also void, business became almost impossible. -Numerous complaints of the Inquisition’s rapacity show that no possessor -of property felt safe. It is not easy to understand how society could -continue to hold together when a stimulus was thus<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_46">{46}</a></span> deliberately given -to fraud, jealousy, quarrelling, litigation, commercial anarchy, and -domestic misery. Possibly religious zeal was the original motive of the -folly, but when persecution is made a paying concern the reins are given -to greed and injustice of every conceivable kind.</p> - -<p>Venice made a stand against ecclesiastical corruption, and in 1289 -enacted that the whole proceeds of confiscation should go to the State; -and in the latter part of the fifteenth century Piedmont adopted a -similar course, allowing the Inquisition only its expenses.</p> - -<p>A further abuse was that, from the beginning of its career, the -Inquisition frequently made confiscations before the accused had been -convicted, sometimes before he confessed. In 1319 sentence was passed in -southern France on a man who had been charged in 1284, yet in 1301 the -officials were quarrelling over his estate. These legal robberies were -carried out with relentless severity, everything being seized to the -last penny. On arrest for suspicion of heresy, the Holy Office took -possession of a person’s property, promising that if the charge was not -proven (a rare event) some of it would be returned for the support of -his family. In the meantime the family were turned into the streets to -starve, or to live on such charity as they could get. The case of one -secret heretic, Gherardo, a rich noble of Florence and consul of the -city, was a bad one. Between sixty and seventy years after his death the -Inquisitor of the city started a successful persecution against his -memory, and eleven of his descendants, who were not heretics, were -included in the condemnation, and presumably reduced to penury.</p> - -<p>It was confiscation that kept alive religious persecution, because the -heretics were ingeniously made to furnish the means for their own -destruction, and when<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_47">{47}</a></span> all the heretics had been disposed of the -languishing state of the Holy Office began to arouse real concern on the -part of those who made good livings out of it. Confiscation of property -for an assumed crime was one of the most effectual agencies for the -destruction of civilization, and it is strange that Rome did not see the -error of its ways when countries that had no Inquisition were increasing -in prosperity and happiness.</p> - - -<h3>Relaxation and the Stake.</h3> - -<p>It might be supposed that relaxation meant either release from custody -or mitigation of punishment. The Holy Office, however, rose superior to -verbal conventionalities, and defined the term to mean that the accused -person should, after condemnation, be handed over to the civil power. It -was equally well understood that the duty of the civil power was to burn -him alive. The condemned was delivered to the magistrates with an appeal -for mercy, which every one knew to be a transparent piece of hypocrisy. -The Church was mainly responsible for these ferocious laws, and insisted -on their being carried out, salving its conscience by giving out -publicly that it had nothing more to do with the matter. Pope Boniface -VIII embodied in the Canon Law rigid instructions for the punishment of -those condemned by the Inquisition, and all magistrates who failed to -carry out those instructions were cautioned to speak only in a general -way of punishment, though the only penalty for obstinate heresy -recognized by the Church was death by fire. Usually the civil -authorities carried out willingly enough the behests of the Church, but -they made occasional protests, and relaxation was not always treated as -equivalent to death. Several of these protests are on record, but they -were overruled, and the magistrates did their duty. Under the teaching -of the Church the best<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_48">{48}</a></span> men of the time regarded heresy as a manifest -crime and the burning of heretics as an act of righteousness.</p> - -<p>Sham and enforced conversions were numerous, and resulted in a large -number of relapses, which were punished mercilessly, though not always -by burning. The definition of relapse became more and more difficult, -and some Inquisitors were not disposed to bring every trifle under that -category. Bernard de Caux and his successor, Jean de St. Pierre, usually -condemned to imprisonment, and the latter frequently protested against -the indiscriminate burnings inflicted by the civil authorities of -Toulouse. It is indeed remarkable that burnings were not more numerous. -Thus Bernard Gui, the celebrated Inquisitor of Toulouse, is said to have -declared that between 1308 and 1328 he had put to death 637 heretics. It -appears, however, from the records that this figure represents the total -number of sentences passed by him; of these only 40 were of -condemnations to the stake of living persons, and 67 more were of -persons already dead and therefore not personally interested in the -proceedings. Evidently the chief efforts of the Inquisitors were -directed to the exaction of confessions, with, of course, confiscation -of goods, rather than to create a host of martyrs, an occasional -cremation being merely a salutary example. The Church was not slow to -profit by the experience of the Inquisition, and its spiritual courts -rapidly extended the use of torture and other methods of persuasion. -Probably an even more disastrous effect was produced upon the civil law -of Europe, the increased severity and flagrant injustice of which are -largely traceable to the influence of the Holy Office.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_49">{49}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br><br> -HOW THE INQUISITION OVERRAN EUROPE</h2> - - -<h3>The South of France.</h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">The</span> Inquisition had uphill work before it in the South of France. There -was plenty of heresy, but also plenty of popular sympathy with it. The -Church’s repressive powers were not fully organized, the clergy were -unpopular, the Bishops looked with a jealous eye on the Inquisition, and -the Papal commands to assist the Inquisitors were frequently disobeyed. -The Dominican priesthood, however, was burning with zeal, and succeeded -in so far inflaming the popular feeling as to be able to commit serious -acts of persecution without episcopal protest. The notorious Inquisition -of Toulouse was set up in 1233, and, although for some years the Bishops -maintained their superior jurisdiction, the Inquisitors seized every -opportunity to disregard it and act independently. A revolting case -occurred in 1234, when a dying woman confessed her heresy to the Bishop -of Toulouse under the impression that he was a heretic Bishop. She was -carried off on her bed and burnt, and the Bishop was able to go back to -an interrupted dinner and return thanks to God for his achievement.</p> - -<p>The popular sentiment vented itself many times in risings and tumults, -especially at Albi and Toulouse, but with only temporary effect, though -in 1234 a civil war broke out in Narbonne which lasted for three years. -Count Raymond of Toulouse (the seventh of his name)<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_50">{50}</a></span> was, like his -predecessor, placed in a very difficult position between a persecuting -Church and an angry people. His indifference to religion exposed him to -the accusation of heresy, and, life being unbearable with the Church at -constant enmity, he was compelled to persecute his own people, and his -natural slackness in that unpleasant task kept him plentifully supplied -with trouble. Bigotry was at that time less tinctured with financial -greed than it afterwards became; the persecutors were mostly good men, -whose sincerity brings into stronger relief the appalling results of -their actions.</p> - -<p>By about 1237 the Inquisition had established a definite supremacy over -the Bishops, and reduced the terror-stricken people to obedience—a -result to which the conversion of Raymond Gros, one of the heretical -leaders, strikingly contributed. By the execution, two years later, of -180 Cathari at Montwimer, the heretical sect received a blow from which -it never recovered. Count Raymond, however, actually succeeded in -getting the Inquisition suspended in his dominions for three years, -during which time his people were at least able to breathe; but by 1241 -the Inquisitors, knowing the negligence of the Bishops and emphasizing -to Rome the growing power of heresy, were able to resume active -persecution. In that year occurred the death of Pope Gregory IX, one of -the principal founders of the Inquisition, and for two years the Papal -throne was virtually vacant. But the Inquisition had sufficient -authority to proceed with vigour, and that it did so is shown by the -large number of sentences and the speed with which the criminal list was -got through. At the small town of Montauban, in one week of May, 1242, -no fewer than 252 persons were sentenced for heresy—a plain indication -that the infection was general. The punishments were mostly penances, -but some of them involved real hard<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_51">{51}</a></span>ship. Three pilgrimages—one of 500 -miles—for eating at the same table with heretics was a severe return -for a friendly action, and showed the need of carefully choosing one’s -company. These harsh penalties became so frequent that some localities -were almost depopulated.</p> - -<p>The massacre of a whole tribunal of Inquisitors and their Familiars in -1242, at a castle in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, was followed by war, -in which Count Raymond was defeated; and his reconciliation with the -Church marked the triumph of the Inquisition. A determined band of -heretics threw themselves into the strong castle of Mont Ségur, and held -out till 1244, when the place was captured by treachery and 205 men and -women were cast into the flames. The energetic labours of the -Inquisitors extended over half Languedoc, and some thousands of heresy -cases were dealt with in the space of two years. Count Raymond, who had, -in the latter part of his life, become a vigorous persecutor, died in -1249, and the Inquisition, relieved of its doubtful ally, had a halcyon -time for the next twenty years. A more troublous period followed, for -with the diminution of the power of great nobles, such as the Counts of -Toulouse and Foix, that of the Crown became consolidated, and men began -to turn to it for relief from the insufferable tyranny of the -Inquisition. Opposition to its secret and arbitrary influence arose, not -from heretics only, but also from good Catholics, who perceived that the -land was being ruined, and whose humanity was outraged by the constant -use of torture. With its superior concentration of purpose, the -Inquisition fully held its own until, in 1291, Philippe le Bel, the King -of France, ordered his officials to disobey the commands of the -Inquisitors, except in the case of confessed heresy. Under threat of -excommunication Philippe came to an understanding with the Pope which -lasted for two years,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_52">{52}</a></span> when the quarrel broke out afresh, and the -Carcassonne Inquisition had to suspend operations for three months.</p> - -<p>A case occurred in 1300 which illustrates the power of the Inquisition. -The Pope, Boniface VIII, had sworn to burn all the inhabitants of -Carcassonne, because one of its citizens had declined to bribe a Papal -Cardinal when proffering complaints. Gastel Fabre, the man’s father, who -had died in 1278, was declared a heretic (the documents are believed to -be forgeries); an ineffectual appeal was made, but the man’s estates -were confiscated, and so long after as 1329 the bones of his wife were -exhumed by the vengeful Inquisition. The sharp quarrels which arose -early in the century between the Franciscans and the Dominicans led to -the powers of the Inquisition being in some respects curtailed, and thus -brought about a slackening of persecution, which proved to be only -temporary. A more decided check was experienced in 1308, when Pope -Clement V and his Cardinals gave a judgment against the Holy Office, -which was considered responsible for the evil condition of the South of -France.</p> - -<p>Certain reforms were outlined by the Council of Vienne in 1312, -particularly in regard to the use of torture, the improvement of the -loathsome dungeons of the Inquisition, and the conduct of its officials; -but the restrictions imposed were evaded with the customary ingenuity, -and soon became a dead letter. With the accession of John XXII to the -Papal chair matters became easier for the Inquisition. In 1319 the -esteemed Franciscan, Bernard Delicieux, the only man who had dared to -offer consistent opposition to the Holy Office, was tried on numerous -charges, tortured in spite of his advanced age, and condemned to -degradation from Holy orders and life-long imprisonment in chains, with -a diet of bread and water, in the prison at Carcassonne.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_53">{53}</a></span> Under these -severities his death in a few months relieved the Inquisition of a -formidable enemy.</p> - -<p>The reaction went on rapidly. The cities which had struggled against the -Inquisition were reduced to subjection and public repentance in 1319, -and the persecutors were at length free to reap the fruits of their -victory. The Catharist leaders were sent to the stake, and the heresy -became practically extinct. Its fate was not entirely unmerited, but the -agency that brought it about must be wholly condemned. It had propagated -a queer medley of doctrines, the anti-social effect of which was not -fully perceived by their advocates, though the Church understood from -the first how its privileges would fare if liberty of thought were -allowed to the people.</p> - -<p>In that beautiful, sunny land of Languedoc a civilization of splendid -promise, reaching out far in advance of the age into civic activities, -industry, art, and science, had been developed by an energetic and -patriotic people. Unfortunately for them, their civilization was not of -the ecclesiastical type, and the Church felt that it had a legitimate -grievance. The Inquisition left Languedoc in ruins; it found a garden, -and made it a wilderness. It descended upon happy homes, and left them -in desolation and mourning. External unity of faith was achieved, but -with it the moral debasement of the Church. By the unscrupulous, -systematic, and long-continued abuse of power it gained a triumph for -the evil effects of which no repentance can atone.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The moving finger writes; and, having writ,<br></span> -<span class="i0">Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit<br></span> -<span class="i0">Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,<br></span> -<span class="i0">Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.<br></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The only good result of the Inquisition’s activities was one which it -never intended. In its greed for money it forgot an equally greedy and -much more deserving rival.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_54">{54}</a></span> The Crown, seeing how profitable persecution -had become, at length exercised the right, when it possessed the power, -to take the proceeds, and seized for more useful purposes the -confiscations of heretic property. The estates of a ruined nobility were -taken over by the king’s officers, and the Holy Office unwittingly aided -the consolidation of a secular power which in the end reduced it to a -nullity.</p> - - -<h3>Northern France.</h3> - -<p>In the year 1233 a relentless Dominican bigot named Friar Robert was -appointed Inquisitor for Western Burgundy. This crazy fanatic raged -through the north of France, burning large numbers of people. So -notorious became his excesses that after some years his commission was -withdrawn, and he spent the rest of his days in prison. Persecution was -not greatly checked, for the intensity of the general feeling against -heresy was such that even the saintly Louis IX declared that the only -argument to use with a heretic was to thrust him through with a sword up -to the hilt. In the hands of the Dominicans persecution went on -vigorously all over France, then a much smaller country than now, and -the zeal of the orthodox was frequently stimulated by Papal Bulls urging -greater vigour. Milman relates a terrible occurrence in 1239, but does -not state that it took place by order of the Inquisition. In the -presence of the Archbishop of Rheims, seventeen bishops, and 100,000 -persons, no fewer than 183 Manichæans were burnt outside the city of -Rheims, and all of them perished without fear.<a id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> The right of asylum -in churches was withdrawn from heretics in 1281 by Pope Martin IV.</p> - -<p>Not until 1310, however, did the first formal burning alive by the -Inquisition take place in France. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_55">{55}</a></span> Manichean holocaust, formal -enough in a practical sense, appears to have been an irregularity. On -May 30 of that year a woman who had advocated free love and other -heresies died at the stake with such devotion that the spectators were -moved to tears. The sect to which she belonged, the Brethren of the Free -Spirit, furnished a good many victims in the course of the next few -years, when the Inquisition reached the height of its power. But with -the growth and consolidation of the authority of the Crown the -Inquisition was absorbed by the secular courts till it became little -more than a department of the State. Its comparative impotence was made -more perceptible by the removal of the Holy See from Rome to Avignon, -and by the Great Schism (1378-1447) which shook the Papacy to its -foundations. The wars with the English, which were then so frequent and -prolonged, also made conditions unfavourable to the Inquisition by -causing the withdrawal of the royal stipend; and the University of Paris -to a large extent took its place as an investigator of heresy cases. -When the wars were over an attempt was made by Pope Nicholas V in 1451 -to revive and increase the activity of persecution, but with no -permanent success. So far had the Holy Office become out of touch with -the spirit of the times that the roving commissions which were -frequently granted to special Inquisitors also failed to re-establish -the authority of the institution. The people of Lyons in 1458 were even -bold enough to throw their Inquisitor into prison, and it was only with -difficulty that he was released. A few years later Jean Laillier, a -priest in Paris, spoke his mind freely about the clergy, and the -Inquisition did not feel strong enough to burn him. Two other priests, -who at mass threw the Host on the floor and trampled on it, committed an -unpardonable crime, and duly suffered at the stake.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_56">{56}</a></span></p> - -<p>In the south of France the Waldensians remained powerful in the -fourteenth century, even after the terrible persecutions through which -they had gone. The most obnoxious of their tenets appears to have been -the not unreasonable proposition that the sacraments were valueless when -administered by sinful priests. To stamp out this peculiar heresy -vigorous efforts were made by Pope Gregory XI in 1375, and a little -later great hauls of heretics were made, and many burnings resulted. Men -and women were torn from their homes to rot in the overcrowded prisons, -yet still the remorseless pontiff reproached the Inquisitors with their -slackness, and spurred them to greater energy. One ecclesiastic, St. -Vincent Ferrer, hit upon a daring novelty, and tried the effect of -kindness; but, although he made many converts, who were content to lose -some of their property to save the rest, the Church was dubious about -such experiments, and went on methodically with its burnings. In 1393 -Inquisitor Borel of Grenoble is credited with having brought to the -stake 150 persons in one day. This exceptional achievement was followed -by a prolonged lull, and in 1478 Louis XI issued an ordinance limiting -the powers of Inquisitors and clearly establishing the supremacy of the -State. Five years later the king’s death gave the Church another -opportunity, which was quickly utilized. Innocent VIII determined to -suppress the Waldensian heresy once for all. He ordered a crusade -against the heretics, and after stubborn resistance they submitted. In -one valley many of them took refuge in a remote cave, but were -discovered and suffocated by the smoke of fires built at its mouth. -Relief was once more gained when Louis XII came to the throne of France, -and the Waldenses secured a certain liberty of worship until, in the -times of the Reformation, they became absorbed in the Calvinist body. So -hated<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_57">{57}</a></span> by the Roman Church was the grim faith of Calvin that in 1538 a -Grand Inquisitor was burnt for embracing it.<a id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> A few years later Pius -V ordered the Catholics to slay every Huguenot who fell into their -hands.</p> - - -<h3>Aragon and Castile.</h3> - -<p>The Inquisition was established in Aragon in 1238, but a long time -elapsed before it was organized with anything like efficiency. A nest of -Catharans had been rooted out in 1237, but the records are scanty, the -principal incident being the stoning to death of an Inquisitor by the -inhabitants of Urgel, the chief centre of heresy. Greater vigour was -shown at the beginning of the fourteenth century, and Pope Clement VI -urged the kings of Aragon and Navarre to track down the many Waldenses -who had fled from Toulouse. About the middle of the century the -Inquisition was concerned in a heated dispute which arose between the -Dominican and Franciscan Orders regarding one of those fatuously futile -subjects on which men were roused to the extremity of passion in the -Middle Ages. The Franciscans maintained that the blood of Christ after -his death remained on earth—a proposition which filled the Pope and the -Dominicans with horror. After this interesting question had been -wrangled over for 122 years a great debate took place at Rome, when the -warmth of the disputants was not moderated by the bitterly cold weather. -Neither party could prove its case, but neither would give way, and as -the Pope at last forbade further discussion the vital question of what -became of Christ’s blood remains to this day unsolved. In Aragon neither -the Crown nor the bishops supported the Inquisition with any particular -ardour; the burning of heretics was an occasional luxury, confiscations -were few, and the Inquisitors had failed to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_58">{58}</a></span> gain the popular sympathy. -Not until about 1481, when the Spanish Inquisition was established on a -sound commercial basis, did the persecutors show great activity or -inspire profound terror.</p> - -<p>Castile also was little troubled by the Inquisition until the latter -part of the fifteenth century. In 1401 Pope Boniface issued a Bull for -the repression of heresy, but only a slight effect was produced. It is -worth noting that the heresy was not that of daring to think for one’s -self (such boldness was then rare in Spain), but the idolatrous worship -of plants, trees, and stones—the relics of pagan practices which the -Church had incautiously permitted to survive. Aversion to the Papal -Inquisition continued until the energetic measures of Ferdinand and -Isabella rendered its manifestation dangerous, and smoothed the path of -the orthodox.</p> - - -<h3>Italy.</h3> - -<p>During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries Italy was in such a state of -anarchy, due to the constant wars between its petty States, that heresy -found a congenial soil, though the work of the Inquisition was not made -easier. Catharism flourished in Lombardy, and propagated itself all over -Europe. Its openly taught doctrines were soon met by violent repression. -The Waldensian refugees from the south of France settled in the Cottian -Alps, where they supported themselves only by the most remarkable -industry. The freethinking emperor, Frederick II, did not respond warmly -to the urgent appeals made by the Popes to suppress the heretics, for he -knew the value of an increasing body of well-conducted and hard-working -citizens.</p> - -<p>In 1224, however, Pope Honorius appointed two Bishops with special -powers, which they at once proceeded to exercise. The first result was -an insurrection<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_59">{59}</a></span> at Brescia, in which several churches were burnt. These -disturbances were repressed and the ringleaders lightly punished by -fines, and it was not until Gregory IX placed the matter in the hands of -the Dominicans that satisfactory progress was made. The power of the -episcopate had waned, and the Inquisition was free to use its new -authority almost as it pleased. It was not welcomed by the people, and -its officials were at times roughly handled; but its grip was gradually -tightened, largely owing to the zeal and eloquence of the Dominican -Giovanni da Vicenza, who performed innumerable miracles, including the -raising to life of ten dead persons. This man, whose burning of heretics -did not imperil his great reputation as a peacemaker, was appointed -Perpetual Inquisitor in 1247, and is believed to have perished in 1265 -in a crusade against Manfred, King of Naples. The death in 1250 of -Frederick II deprived the heretics of a certain measure of protection, -and removed a powerful obstacle to the Inquisition’s activity. The power -of bigotry to stifle humane feeling is exhibited by Fra Giovanni Schio, -who, though personally one of the gentlest of men, could, after -preaching a beautiful sermon on love, calmly have sixty people burnt -alive.<a id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> A still more remarkable figure is that of Peter of Verona, -commonly known as St. Peter Martyr, who was one of the most renowned of -all Inquisitors. His great gifts of preaching and his wonder-working -powers were employed in the suppression of heresy, then rapidly growing -in the northern and central parts of Italy. At Milan, and later at -Florence, he carried on the holy work of burning, headed an army of the -faithful, and in two deadly battles broke the strength of heresy, and -with it that of the Ghibelline party, which was opposed to the Papacy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_60">{60}</a></span> -It is said that Peter never broke his fast before sunset, and passed -most of the night in prayer—habits which may have had something to do -with his persecuting zeal. The murder of this godly man in 1252 by a -band of heretics whom he had driven to extremities did not, strangely -enough, result in any barbarous vengeance being inflicted on the -assassins, who escaped very lightly. One of the perpetrators, after due -repentance, was allowed to die peacefully as a <i>beato</i> of the Dominican -Order. He even figures among the saints in the church erected to the -memory of the man he helped to murder. None of the guilty men appears to -have been executed; and one of them, though a notorious heretic, was -only imprisoned after a lapse of forty-three years. In this the Church -probably acted shrewdly, for the martyr’s halo and the saint’s wonderful -miracles redounded to its credit in a striking degree, and one of the -first results was the formation of a society, the Crocesegnati, or -Knights of the Cross, by persons of station, who swore on the holy cross -to devote their lives to the extermination of heresy and heretics. This -society, which had branches in most of the Italian cities, greatly aided -the Inquisition, and remained in existence until the nineteenth century.</p> - -<p>Another energetic bigot, Rainerio Saccone, formerly a Catharian, -extended the power of the Holy Office, supported by repeated Papal Bulls -and the appointment of fresh Inquisitors. These efforts were impeded by -Ezzelin da Romano, whose evil reputation has been, perhaps, somewhat -exaggerated, and who, as a ruler, possessed at least one good -quality—that he would permit no religious persecution. In 1241 he was -condemned as a heretic—an operation several times repeated without -result, until at length, in accordance with time-honoured custom, a -crusade was organized against him, one of the Papal Bulls containing a -provision that persons found in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_61">{61}</a></span> possession of stolen property might -receive absolution if they applied it to the purposes of the Crusade. At -the outset victorious, Ezzelin was at last defeated, and received wounds -from which, refusing all aid, he died. The victor, Pallavicino, was, -however, no friend of the Inquisition, and, being irritated by the -Pope’s ungrateful treatment of him, he used every opportunity to prevent -the Inquisitors from carrying on their work. Pallavicino was summoned to -the Papal presence to answer for his heresy, and, disregarding the -summons, became involved in war, and died in 1268, when besieged in one -of his castles.</p> - -<p>In spite of occasional but determined opposition, the Inquisition was by -this time supreme all over the Peninsula; the temporal power of the -Church grew with its triumph, and heretics were burnt in considerable -numbers. It was hardly possible, says an Italian writer, for a man to be -a Christian and die in his bed.<a id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> At one small town seventy persons, -and at Piacenza, it is said, twenty-eight wagon loads of human beings, -were thus put to death. It is curious that of one man who secretly -propagated heretical opinions, while professing to be a devout Catholic, -many miracles were recorded after his death. When the evidence of his -heterodoxy was found to be conclusive, they ceased, and the quarrel -which arose about his sanctity lasted for thirty-two years, until the -Pope decreed that the charge of heresy was proved, that his bones should -be burnt, all his property confiscated, and all sales or transfers of it -declared void.</p> - -<p>In the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, Charles of Anjou, whose ambition to -dominate Italy had been fostered by the Papacy, established the -Inquisition about 1268 or 1269. It looked sharply after the financial -results, but,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_62">{62}</a></span> although its operations were at first carried on with -vigour, it did not assume the compact and effective form which it -possessed in the South of France. Heretics were occasionally burnt, but -numbers remained unmolested—a fact which implies some inefficiency on -the part of the Inquisitors. At Venice the success of the persecutors -was still more meagre, for the Republic jealously kept them in -subordination. Its lack of persecuting zeal aroused the ire of the Pope, -but his peremptory orders were complied with only in such a way as to -leave the supremacy of the State unimpaired. Reserving the right to -control confiscations, it undertook only to defray the Inquisitors’ -expenses. The Inquisition was becoming no longer a paying concern, and -its decay in Italy, as in France, went on steadily during the fourteenth -and fifteenth centuries. Catharism had been virtually stamped out, but -the Waldenses remained obstinate, strong in their simple faith and -hopefulness, their incessant industry, and hardy virtues. In spite of -the burning of some of their number in 1312, they flourished in their -remote villages until a pitiless persecution by Gregory XI, in 1375, -thinned their ranks and avenged the murder of two Inquisitors. About the -middle of the fifteenth century a zealous priest in one raid burned -twenty-two relapsed heretics, whose property was confiscated. A respite -then ensued, but persecution was shortly recommenced, in the form of a -crusade. On one occasion five heretics were sentenced to be burnt, but -managed to escape. Determined not to be baulked of his prey, the -Inquisitor burnt in their stead three other persons whose confessions -had secured their pardon. The Waldenses fought bravely, and once nearly -annihilated the crusading army, but in the end they were overpowered. -Many emigrated to more peaceful districts, where they maintained a -precarious existence till 1530,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_63">{63}</a></span> when, like their brethren in France, -they were merged in the Calvinist body.</p> - -<p>In the Sicilies the Jews were the chief objects of the Inquisition’s -activities, but its power, although stimulated in the middle of the -fifteenth century by an impudent forgery of the Inquisitor of Palermo, -was not equal to its ambitions; its judgments continued to be subject to -revision by the State, and were largely nullified by the opposition of -the people until the Reformation gave a fresh impetus to the sacred duty -of persecution.</p> - - -<h3>Bosnia.</h3> - -<p>The strength and persistence of the Catharan heresy determined Innocent -III to convert the nominal allegiance of the Slav race in the south-east -of Europe into a definite submission to the rule of Rome. Driven from -the Adriatic shore, the Cathari of Italy went to Bosnia, where a -considerable number of their faith already flourished. Although the -sword supplemented the love of God, the efforts of the Church resulted -in only a temporary obedience. Under the relentless pressure of Rome, -Dominican Inquisitors arrived in Bosnia by instalments during the -thirteenth century, and the martyrdom of some of them only inflamed the -zeal of the rest. Holy crusaders ravaged the country, repeating the -horrors of the Albigensian wars. Time after time heresy was to all -appearance extirpated, but it raised its head again as soon as the -pressure was removed. More than a century of hopeless confusion and -strife between Dominicans and Franciscans, as well as between them and -heretics, followed, and in 1331 it was found that the worship of trees -and fountains still prevailed among the “Christian” population. The -progress of heresy may be estimated from the fact that early in the -fifteenth century Catharism became the State religion of Bosnia.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_64">{64}</a></span> -Matters were complicated by the invasion of the Turks, to whose Sultan, -Mohammed II, the King rendered allegiance on the fall of Constantinople -in 1453, not because of any admiration for Islam, but because he could -obtain military assistance from Christendom only on terms of complete -submission to Rome, which meant a free hand for the Inquisition. Under -another King, who refused payment of the agreed tribute to the Turkish -Sultan, the country was conquered, almost without a struggle, by the -Ottomans. Most of the Cathari embraced the Moslem faith, and thus a sect -which had existed for more than a thousand years became extinct. The -majority of the orthodox left the country rather than practise their -religion under Moslem tolerance.</p> - - -<h3>Germany.</h3> - -<p>It was discovered in 1209 that the diocese of Strassburg was gravely -infected with heresy, and a large number of unfortunate persons perished -at the stake. On one day in that city the episcopal authorities caused -to be burnt eighty persons who had failed to pass successfully through -the ordeal of the red-hot iron. Catharism was little known in Germany, -and the heretics were mainly Waldenses. A body allied to them, known as -the Ortlibenses, or Brethren of the Free Spirit, founded by one Ortlieb, -of Strassburg, held that God was the essence of all creatures, and -invisible except through them. From this it followed, or was believed to -follow, that man, being an embodiment of the spirit of God, was -incapable of sin. This doctrine swept away, not merely the entire -apparatus of theology, but the whole system of observances which -constituted the religion of the Church and the source of its wealth. And -as it was broad enough to include the Prince of Darkness himself in the -possibility of redemption, its advocates became<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_65">{65}</a></span> known as Luciferans, a -designation which gave rise to many scandalous reports. The tenets of -the Ortlibenses were doubtless capable of being abused, though there is -little evidence to show that they were so to any serious extent. Spurred -on by Gregory, the cruel fanatic, Conrad of Marburg—whom he had -appointed first Inquisitor of Germany—carried on the work of -persecution to the utmost of his power, but his success failed to -satisfy the merciless Pontiff. Transparently-invented confessions, -detailing hideous and absurd orgies of devil-worship, which Conrad -extracted from the Luciferans and forwarded to the Pope, drove him -almost insane with wrath, and persecution was carried on with such -frantic intensity that even the Bishops protested against its excesses. -Conrad was greatly mortified by the acquittal of a powerful noble, Count -Sayn, who had been accused of the deadly crime of riding on a crab! -During this reign of terror the Ortlibenses were suppressed, with the -burning of ten of their leaders, who met their fate with calmness; and a -few years afterwards, on July 31, 1233, Conrad was murdered. In this -case, also, a singular leniency on the part of the Church towards -serious crime was observed, the guilty parties being punished merely -with excommunication. Strangely enough, the Church has not manufactured -a saint out of Conrad of Marburg, whether because of his brutal -treatment of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, or because of the unpopularity -caused by his excessive zeal, history does not record. It is to the -credit of the German Bishops that they declined to give any public -approval of his actions. Another persecuting Conrad, who had much to do -with the troubles, was slain, and his assistant hanged. The number of -these men’s victims is not known, but that it must have been large is -shown by the profound impression produced in Germany by the persecution. -It should be mentioned<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_66">{66}</a></span> that the secular code and episcopal laws of -Germany made ample provision for the suppression of heresy without -reference to the Inquisition.</p> - -<p>The doctrines of the Ortlibenses embodied a mixture of ascetic and -pantheistic tendencies which, though at first pure, were afterwards so -developed as to be made a cloak for immoral practices. The original -ideal seems to have been fairly well maintained, and it is doubtful -whether there was any foundation for the charges made by some Italian -ecclesiastics, that the ideas of sinlessness and of bodily nakedness as -a state of grace were deliberately employed for the corruption of women. -Another notorious sect, calling themselves the Friends of God, held the -daring conception that it was possible for Jews and Moslems to obtain -salvation, and refused to denounce heretics as long as God tolerated -them.</p> - -<p>The episcopal Inquisition was not organized in Germany until 1317, and -was directed mainly against the Beghards (known also as the Lollards), -who originated in the Netherlands and taught that poverty was the -greatest virtue. Upon these inoffensive people the Archbishop of Cologne -had opened war a few years earlier. The female heretics, known as -Beguines, were severely persecuted, though not to death; and it is said -that on his death-bed Pope Clement V bitterly regretted authorizing the -proceedings against them. Walter the Lollard, the most dangerous heretic -of the Rhine provinces, was terribly tortured in 1322, and, on the -special instructions of the Pope, he and many of his followers perished -in the flames, meeting their fate with undaunted cheerfulness. In 1353 -renewed attempts were made to establish the Inquisition in Germany, but -without success. The well-known mania of the Flagellants was persecuted -as heresy, and many people were burnt, while many<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_67">{67}</a></span> others were left to -rot in underground dungeons. Another sect, called the “Friends of God,” -furnished more victims, and during the great plague the murder of Jews -was thought to be pleasing to God. In 1369 the Emperor Charles IV took -the Inquisition under State protection, and it was organized for work, -five Inquisitors being appointed, though it still lacked houses and -prisons. The unfortunate Beghards and Beguines were turned out of their -houses, which were appropriated by the Inquisitors, of course without -paying compensation, and not without opposition from the Bishops, who -saw their own prerogatives threatened. The Beghards had been allowed to -make their opinions public by means of tracts written in the vernacular; -the censorship vested in the Holy Office rectified the oversight. Both -the Bishops and the civil authorities objected to indiscriminate -persecution, and even succeeded in obtaining from Gregory XI authority -to restrict the Inquisitors’ activity in regard to the Beghards and -Beguines. Being almost unmolested for a time, the Waldensian heretics -again came into prominence, and from 1393 to 1397 suffered severely from -persecution. At Steyer, in the latter year, more than a hundred -Waldenses of both sexes were burnt. Of the followers of Conrad Schmidt, -of Thuringia, many were discovered in 1414, and ninety-one were burnt in -one town, forty-four in another, and many more in the villages of that -province. A still more horrible case occurred two years later, when 300 -of the Flagellants, penitent as well as impenitent, suffered at the -stake in one day.</p> - -<p>The superiority of the episcopate over the Inquisition was asserted by a -Bull of Eugenius IV in 1431, which had the novel effect of rendering the -Inquisitors liable to excommunication if they interfered with the -Bishops. Persecution went on, however, until, in the time of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_68">{68}</a></span> -Reformation, most of the heretical bodies lost their identity in the -spread of Lutheranism. One of the precursors of that great movement was -Gregory of Heimburg, who for twenty-five years boldly wrote and preached -against the Papacy and the abuse by the Church of its power. A similar -campaign was carried on by Hans of Niklaushausen, who proclaimed that -the wickedness of the clergy was bringing about the destruction of the -world. He was seized by the episcopal tribunal of Wurzburg, and silenced -in the customary manner. In spite of intermittent activity and a large -number of burnings in Germany, the Inquisition never obtained a firm -foothold in that country; while in Bavaria it was not formally -established till 1599, and did not retain power for long. Had it been as -strong and efficient as it proved in Spain, the career of Martin Luther -would have been a brief one, and the Reformation would have been -postponed indefinitely.</p> - - -<h3>Bohemia.</h3> - -<p>In 1257, owing to a request by the King of Bohemia for aid in -suppressing heresy, the Inquisition was, under episcopal sanction, -established in his dominions, and two Inquisitors were appointed. The -people evidently thought them more than sufficient, for when, in 1341, -another ecclesiastic was empowered to act he was speedily slain by the -angry populace. Bohemia was in the fourteenth century one of the most -prosperous countries in Europe; but the state of its morals was far from -satisfactory, the clergy in particular being worldly and depraved, and -almost universally practising concubinage. The privileges of the Church -were habitually sold for cash, and the land was full of vagrants, whose -clerical immunities enabled them to gamble, brawl, drink, and rob at -their pleasure. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_69">{69}</a></span> demand of Innocent VI in 1354 for a tenth of the -ecclesiastical revenues of the Empire to enable him to carry on his -Italian wars threw Germany into an uproar. The scandalous moral laxity -of the clergy passed almost unreproved, but an attack on the Church’s -money bags was a much more serious matter. The clergy sheared their -flocks without mercy, but they had the strongest objection to being -shorn. Eighteen years elapsed before the Papal Inquisition was set up in -Bohemia by Bull of Gregory XI, and it was then confined to five of the -more important provinces, Prague being omitted. Many forerunners of the -reformer John Huss appeared in Bohemia, and the general dissatisfaction -with the Church had given rise to a powerful movement on behalf of -liberty—a movement stimulated by the influence of John Wycliffe, whose -writings were greatly esteemed in Prague. Wycliffe and his followers -boldly taught that the Pope was Antichrist, and that excommunications -might be disregarded. The clergy were vicars of Satan, their churches -dens of thieves and habitations of fiends. It is curious that the -Inquisition, relentless in its persecution of the Waldenses, appears to -have seen nothing specially objectionable in the doctrines of Huss. At -any rate, it took no official part in his trial, which, however, was -modelled on the familiar Inquisitorial procedure. The controversy -between orthodoxy and heresy now centred on points of doctrine rather -than on the purification of the Church. The reformers contended that the -Papal claim to the power of the keys was either essential to salvation -or a cunning lie to gratify power and self-interest. Huss was -excommunicated; and, although victorious in argument, his injudicious -reliance on the Emperor’s honour led to his terrible end in 1415. -Sigismund’s violation of his safe conduct was expressly recommended and -defended by the clergy, on the ground that, under the law, a heretic -could<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_70">{70}</a></span> neither expect nor receive protection, and that the word of a -king could not be allowed to prejudice the Catholic faith. Technically -the contention was sound, for the law was largely an ecclesiastical -creation, which reversed the accepted ideas of morality, and a word from -Rome could absolve men from the most sacred obligations. The Council of -Constance, having rid the world of John Huss and Jerome of Prague, began -to apply the methods of the Inquisition to the whole kingdom of Bohemia, -while making no attempt to check the corruption which had been the chief -cause of the growth of heresy. A Bull of Martin V in 1418 urged prelates -and Inquisitors to track out the heretics and deliver them to justice, -and all secular rulers were commanded to aid the work. In the following -year rebellion broke out, and the hardy zealots rivalled the persecutors -in atrocities of cruelty. After ten years of struggle peace was -restored. The more moderate among the reformers accepted the dogmas of -the Church, while the extremists held firmly to their anti-sacerdotal -opinions. They were met by another revival of bigotry. An energetic -Inquisitor appointed by the Pope in 1436 persecuted throughout Hungary -and Austria with extreme severity, but no detailed record of his victims -remains. From the rude and miserably poor Hussites arose the sect of -Moravian Brethren, which has existed for 400 years to the present day, -preserving amid sore trials and persecutions the simplicity and purity -of its faith.</p> - - -<h3>The Netherlands.</h3> - -<p>In the middle of the sixteenth century the most prosperous portion of -Europe was the Netherlands or Low Countries, which comprised the -provinces now forming the kingdoms of Holland and Belgium. Many large -towns adorned these fertile plains, inhabited by an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_71">{71}</a></span> energetic and -hard-working people, whose vast commerce extended to every quarter of -the globe. Antwerp, the banking centre of Europe, contained nearly as -many people as then inhabited London; and splendid public buildings -testified to the taste, wealth, and civic spirit of its citizens. The -municipal institutions of the country were in advance of those of any -other, and even the poorer classes lived in something like comfort, -while education was so diffused that there was scarcely a peasant who -was unable to read and write. As in the south of France 300 years -earlier, a rich and progressive civilization had been developed by a -self-reliant and independent people, and had created a predisposition to -heresy—that is, it stimulated men’s minds in every department of life, -and in none more powerfully than in that of religion. The Church had -succeeded in destroying the civilization of Languedoc. It joined -zealously in a similar attempt in the Netherlands. But it had to do with -a different people.</p> - -<p>In 1520 the Emperor Charles V, of whose dominions the seventeen -Provinces of the Netherlands formed part, issued the first of his nine -Edicts for the purpose of enforcing religious uniformity. These made up -a complete system of persecution, and included the introduction of the -Inquisition, not after the Spanish model with which Charles was -familiar, but in the somewhat less efficient and imposing form -instituted by the Papacy in the thirteenth century, and perfected by -long experience. Certain safeguards were insisted upon by the -Netherlands, such as the vesting of inquisitorial powers in laymen, and -confirmation of sentences by members of provincial councils. The Emperor -appointed a supreme Inquisitor for the whole country, and the Edicts -were so efficiently carried out as to render the Spanish organization -superfluous. These “placards,” as they were termed, were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_72">{72}</a></span> directed -against Protestantism, which had made remarkable progress among a people -to whose temperament it strongly appealed, and had not been repressed by -the local tribunals of the episcopal Inquisition. Under Charles’s Edicts -great numbers of persons were put to death for such enormous offences as -reading the Bible, ridiculing the sacred wafer, or even casting a -disapproving glance on a graven image. Motley states that in 1546 the -number of victims had been estimated by the Venetian Envoy at 30,000, -and it is accepted by most historians as true that during Charles’s -reign from 50,000 to 100,000 persons suffered death for their religious -opinions, and that his son Philip caused at least half as many to be -executed.</p> - -<p>These figures are in all probability exaggerated, but they at least -indicate very severe and prolonged persecution. The mere terms of the -Edict of 1550 compel this conclusion. They provide that the crimes of -printing, copying, possessing, or circulating the works of the -Protestant Reformers, image breaking, unauthorized worship or discussion -whether in public or in private, disputes upon or exposition of the -Scriptures, or preaching openly or secretly, were to be punished by -death; “the men with the sword and the women to be buried alive, if they -do not persist in their errors; if they do persist in them, then they -are to be executed with fire; all their property in both cases being -confiscated to the Crown.”<a id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> The Edict also forbade any aid or favour -of suspected heretics, and provided that persons who failed to denounce -them became thereby liable to the same punishments as the heretics -themselves. In order to forestall any softening of the hearts of the -judges, they were forbidden, under the threat of severe penalties, to -grant or<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_73">{73}</a></span> request pardons, or to relax the severity of their -instructions.</p> - -<p>This barbarous Edict, which merely completed previous enactments of -almost equal ferocity, was renewed and confirmed by Philip II when, in -1555, he assumed the reins of power on the Emperor’s abdication. Though -egregiously in error in yielding to the counsels of his spiritual -advisers, Charles was an able and prudent ruler, who persecuted only for -supposed reasons of State, and did not scruple to employ Protestants in -his service, provided they were fit men. His appointment of an -Inquisitor-General for the Netherlands was confirmed by Pope Adrian VI -in 1522, thus establishing the Papal Inquisition; but, the official -being dismissed for forgery, fresh Inquisitors were nominated to see -that the Edicts were obeyed. “They were empowered,” says Motley, “to -inquire, proceed against, and chastise all heretics, all persons -suspected of heresy—and their protectors. Accompanied by a notary, they -were to collect written information concerning every person in the -provinces ‘infected or vehemently suspected.’ They were authorized to -summon all subjects of his Majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or -station, and to compel them to give evidence, or to communicate -suspicions. They were to punish all who pertinaciously refused such -depositions with death. The Emperor commanded his presidents, judges, -sheriffs, and all other judicial and executive officers to render all -‘assistance to the Inquisitors and their familiars in their holy and -pious Inquisition, whenever required so to do,’ on pain of being -punished as encouragers of heresy—that is to say, with death. Whenever -the Inquisitors should be satisfied as to the heresy of any individual, -they were to order his arrest and detention by the judge of the place, -or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them.... In conclusion, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_74">{74}</a></span> -Emperor ordered the ‘Inquisitors to make it known that they were not -doing their own work, but that of Christ, and to persuade all persons of -this fact.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><a id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> - -<p>The strangely perverted vision which could thus see the work of Christ -in the merciless cruelty of the Inquisition need not be analysed. The -mean-souled bigot Philip made the most desperate efforts to break the -will and enforce the submission of a high-spirited and resolute people, -among whom the tenets of Protestantism had made remarkable progress. For -details of the appalling and well-nigh incredible horrors perpetrated by -the Inquisitors, the monster Titelmann in particular, the reader is -referred to Motley’s great work.</p> - -<p>The persecutions produced the effects which might have been foreseen. -They caused the immortal revolt of the Netherlands. “Nothing was talked -of but the Edicts and the Inquisition. Nothing else entered into the -minds of men. In the streets, in the shops, in the taverns, in the -fields; at market, at church, at funerals, at weddings; in the noble’s -castle, at the farmer’s fireside, in the mechanic’s garret, upon the -merchants’ exchange, there was but one perpetual subject of shuddering -conversation. It was better, men began to whisper to each other, to die -at once than to live in perpetual slavery. It was better to fall with -arms in hand than to be tortured and butchered by the Inquisition.”<a id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p> - -<p>Eminent men inveighed against the tyranny of the Government, and several -of the nobles refused to obey the Edicts. At first it was debated -whether Philip would be mad enough to enforce them, but all doubt as to -his intentions was removed by the Inquisition being formally proclaimed -in every town and village throughout the country. The Netherlanders -steeled their hearts, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_75">{75}</a></span> prepared to resist to the death. As Motley -remarks: “They knew that the obligation of a King to his vassals was as -sacred as the duties of the subjects to the sovereign.” Philip was not -unaware of the peril, but, like the wooden-headed bigot that he was, -considered the danger of discrediting the Inquisition greater than any -inconveniences that were likely to result from its rigour. The general -indignation became so pronounced that Philip was urged to modify his -instructions in some important particulars, the chief of which were the -repeal of the Edicts and the abolition of the Inquisition. Very -reluctantly he agreed to make certain concessions, but the sincerity of -his compliance may be estimated from the facts that he withdrew the -Papal but maintained the Episcopal Inquisition, stimulating the latter -to fresh exertions, and that he agreed to relax the penalty of death for -heresy, though, considering the promise extorted from him, he declined -to be bound by it. He wrote to his envoy at Rome that this was, perhaps, -the best arrangement, “since the abolition would have no force unless -the Pope, by whom the institution had been established, consented to its -suspension. This matter, however, was to be kept a profound secret.... -The Papal institution, notwithstanding the official letters, was to -exist, unless the Pope chose to destroy it; and his Holiness had sent -the Archbishop of Sorrento, a few weeks before, to Brussels, for the -purpose of concerting secret measures for strengthening the Holy Office -in the Provinces.”<a id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> The severity of the Edicts Philip declined to -mitigate; his secret resolve was not only to keep them in full force, -but so efficiently to support the Inquisition that all his heretic -subjects could be exterminated, even if it cost him his realm and his -life.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_76">{76}</a></span></p> - -<p>All this time persecution was going on, and men and women were being -daily tortured, beheaded, strangled, and burnt alive. Did the Church of -Christ utter one word of protest? Let the Archbishop of Cambrai answer. -An intercepted letter written by him to Cardinal Granvelle in 1565 -contained these words: “Since the pot is uncovered and the whole cookery -known, we had best push forward and make an end of all the principal -heretics, whether rich or poor, without regarding whether the city will -be entirely ruined by such a course. Such an opinion I should declare -openly were it not that we of the ecclesiastical profession are accused -of always crying out for blood.”<a id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> - -<p>An even more precise indication of the general feeling in the Church is -found in the resolution passed at a great meeting of the rulers and -nobility in the same year. The question debated was whether any change -should be made in the treatment of heretics. The lay doctors present -were all in favour of the death penalty being abolished. All the -ecclesiastics stoutly maintained the opposite opinion, and unanimously -resolved that no attempt should be made to improve a system which had -hitherto worked so well, and that heretics were to be rigorously -chastised, as before. That Philip shared to the full their truculent -zeal is shown by his fury when he learnt that in May, 1567, a decree of -slightly mitigated ferocity had been issued by his representative, the -Duchess of Parma. He ordered its immediate revocation, on the ground -that its excessive clemency was indecent and contrary to the Christian -religion. The clemency consisted in permitting heretics to be hanged -instead of being burnt alive. This royal fanatic personally commended -the outrageous Titelmann for his persecuting energy.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_77">{77}</a></span></p> - -<p>When the Prince of Orange, who had earnestly defended the cause of -freedom, left the Netherlands for Germany in 1567, the country, says -Motley, “was absolutely helpless, the popular heart cold with -apprehension. All persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or -suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. Fugitive soldiers were -hunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, or -drowned, like dogs, without quarter and without remorse. The most -industrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. -The tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the Netherlands seemed -fast becoming the desolate waste they had been before the Christian era. -Throughout the country those Reformers who were unable to effect their -escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. The new religion -was banished from the cities, every conventicle was broken up by armed -men, the preachers and leading men were hanged, their disciples beaten -with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even if they sometimes -escaped the scaffold. An incredible number, however, were executed for -religious causes. Hardly a village so small, says the Antwerp -chronicler, but that it could furnish one, two, or three hundred victims -to the executioner. The new churches were levelled to the ground, and -out of their timber gallows were constructed. It was thought an -ingenious pleasantry to hang the Reformers upon the beams under which -they had hoped to worship God.”<a id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></p> - -<p>The troubles became more and more serious, and at length culminated in -open revolt. In 1567 the Duke of Alva arrived in Brussels with a -well-appointed army of Spanish veterans, and at once began his career of -blood and cruelty. When he left the country, six years later, a baffled -man, he is said to have boasted that he had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_78">{78}</a></span> caused 18,600 persons to be -executed during that period. On the 16th February, 1568, the Inquisition -framed the most comprehensive death-warrant ever issued, and ten days -later Philip confirmed it; the whole of the inhabitants of the -Netherlands were regarded as heretics and condemned to death, a few -persons only being excepted by name. Motley appears to have no doubt as -to the authenticity of this appalling document, but Prescott states that -he can find no Spanish record of it, and that it is related by only two -Dutch historians. In 1568 the rebellion broke out in earnest, and led to -that great and glorious war which lasted, with intervals, for eighty -years, with the result that the Low Countries were delivered from the -oppressor, and one of the noblest of nations secured its independence -and religious freedom.</p> - - -<h3>The Spiritual Franciscans.</h3> - -<p>A section of the Mendicant Order founded by Francis of Assisi became -known as the Spiritual Franciscans, whose adherence to their vows of -poverty and purity was disapproved, as reflecting on the luxury and the -moral apathy which prevailed in the Order generally. The Inquisition -took up the task of showing the folly of being righteous overmuch, and -in the fourteenth century the Spiritual Franciscans were very firmly -handled. Twenty-five of them were severely tortured in 1318, and four -were burnt at Marseilles for the criminal inconsistency of wearing -flowing garments and having granaries and cellars. The lawfulness of -possessing property was then one of the great questions that distracted -the Church, and people ran the risk of being burnt whichever opinion -they held. Encouraged by their success, the Inquisitors proceeded with -increased vigour. At Narbonne the bishops tried to protect some accused -persons, but were cowed by Inquisitorial threats.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_79">{79}</a></span> Three victims went to -the stake in 1319, seventeen during the Lent of 1321, and several in the -following year. At Lunel seventeen were burnt, at Beziers nine, and at -Carcassonne 113 persons were executed between 1318 and 1350. All these -fell victims to the Dominicans, but the orthodox Franciscans rivalled -them in zeal, 114 persons being burnt by them in the year 1323. Having -departed from their original moderation, the Franciscans had become -energetic persecutors, who even went the length of burning a man for -persistently refusing to break his vows of poverty and chastity.</p> - -<p>In the latter part of the thirteenth century great unrest in religious -matters prevailed throughout Europe, and credulity took strange forms. -The expectation that the era of the Holy Ghost was about to begin was a -common and harmless delusion which the orthodox felt in duty bound to -extirpate. With little difficulty and by comparatively lenient methods -and the use of a moderate amount of torture, the Inquisition put an end -to a small sect called the Guillemites, named after a woman who was -worshipped as an incarnation of the Holy Ghost, and whose resurrection -after death was confidently looked for. Other eccentric modes of piety -were suppressed with only a few burnings, but the episode of Dolcino in -1300 was a much more serious matter.</p> - -<p>Apparently a man of commanding personality but holding a curious medley -of religious opinions, Dolcino was soon recognized as the spiritual head -of a community numbering several thousand persons, who called themselves -the Apostles. The success of his mission being dangerous to the Church, -the Pope Clement V proclaimed a crusade against him. He and his -followers camped on a bleak mountain summit in the province of Vercelli, -supporting themselves by raids for food into the neighbouring valleys. -Three crusades failed, but a fourth<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_80">{80}</a></span> was successful; and after terrible -sufferings, cannibalism being resorted to by the besieged, the mountain -was captured with merciless slaughter on both sides, the fanatics were -broken up, and their leaders handed over to the secular arm and punished -with the utmost barbarity. The beautiful Margarita, Dolcino’s “sister in -Christ,” refusing pardon and offers of marriage, was slowly roasted -alive before his eyes, and Dolcino himself was taken on a cart through -the district on a hot summer day, and gradually torn to pieces with -red-hot pincers. Such was the man’s resolution that he bore this -frightful treatment without even a change of countenance. Strange as -were some of the tenets of these enthusiasts, they were harmless enough -in a moral sense, their chief crimes being their protests against the -evil lives of the clergy, their success in making converts, and their -contention that Christ had forsaken the Church of Rome because of its -wickedness. Believing purity of life to be the first essential to -salvation, they scorned the formalities of priestly religion, and -dedicated themselves to poverty, chastity, and humility.</p> - -<p>In the fourteenth century the great question which divided the Church -was that of the poverty of its founder, and to this all other questions -had to give way. The Franciscans ventured to say that Jesus was very -poor in worldly goods. The Dominicans, on the other hand, were confident -that he possessed some property, though they could not say exactly how -much. On this momentous question the good old Church was rent almost in -twain. Regardless of Scripture, the Dominicans even hung on the walls of -their monasteries pictures representing Jesus on the Cross, with one -hand nailed and the other putting money in his pouch. The latter Order -was favoured by the Pope, who persecuted the Franciscans with great -persistency, and men were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_81">{81}</a></span> burnt for holding heretical opinions on a -subject of which no one possessed the smallest fragment of knowledge.</p> - -<p>With the death of the chief defenders of comparative sanity in -religion—Marsilio of Padua, William of Ockham, and others—the -Spiritual Franciscans again underwent severe persecution, and -controversy centred round the rights and privileges of the Church and -the moral condition of the clergy. The well-known sect of the -Fratricelli maintained that the real heretic was the Church, which by -its evil conduct had created the heresies that it punished, and by its -doctrines perverted the minds of simple believers. Popular sympathy in -their favour was powerless to prevent punishment. The Popes commanded -the Inquisitors to persecute, and about the middle of the century -several persons were burnt in Italy and France, a number apparently in -the presence of Pope Nicholas V. One of the leaders was burnt by -instalments, and lingered for three days before death freed him from his -torturers. Under this vigorous repression the Fratricelli became extinct -towards the end of the fifteenth century.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_82">{82}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br><br> -MISCELLANEOUS ACTIVITIES</h2> - - -<h3>Political Heresy.</h3> - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">The</span> charge of heresy, being easy to make and hard to disprove, furnished -a useful and efficacious means of attacking political enemies, -especially as there was no other offence for which the penalty was so -severe. Crusades against heretics were common. Prior to the great -Albigensian war there were several crusades against the Stedingers of -north-western Germany, a harmless sect of Waldensian tendencies, who -were finally suppressed in the twelfth century. During the three -following centuries the Papacy started or sanctioned crusades against -Viterbo, Aix la Chapelle, Aragon, Ezzelin da Romano, Manfred of Sicily, -Ferrara, Venice, the Visconti of Milan, the Hussites, the Maffredi, and -others. During this period Italy was a scene of almost chronic disorder, -turbulence, and war of the most ruthless character. At the capture at -Cesena in 1376 the Papal Legate ordered that all the inhabitants should -be put to the sword, “without distinction of age or sex, after they had -admitted him and his bandits into the city under his solemn oath that no -injury would be inflicted on them. The number of the slain was estimated -at 5,000.”<a id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> In the early part of the fourteenth century many noble -Italian families had sentences<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_83">{83}</a></span> of heresy pronounced against them by the -Inquisition.</p> - -<p>The earnest efforts of Savonarola to purify the Church and the freedom -of his preaching induced the Papacy to proceed against him, though, as -usual, political considerations also were influential. He was tried -under a Papal commission and in accordance with the formulas of the -Inquisition, though it does not appear that the proceedings were -officially held by that body. At any rate, he was burnt in 1498, and -after his death it was discovered that his writings contained no -definitely heretical opinions.</p> - - -<h3>The Templars.</h3> - -<p>A very important case in the fourteenth century was the trial of the -Templars, which dragged on for over six years. Some of the accusations -were of a trivial and ridiculous character, others implied traces of the -Catharist heresy and dark practices at the initiation of neophytes, none -of which could be proved, and the whole proceedings were a mockery of -justice. The real motive was the desire of the King of France to seize -the immense wealth of the Order, and grossly exaggerated charges were -made with a view of giving a suitable colour to the course of “justice.” -The Inquisition set to work, and secured many confessions, of course by -the liberal use of torture; and that it was of a rigorous kind is shown -by the fact that in Paris alone thirty-six Templars perished under their -torments, at Sens twenty-five, and many more elsewhere. So untrustworthy -and contradictory is the recorded evidence that there is little reason -to doubt the innocence of the accused. Special Inquisitors were -appointed all over Europe; the slow process of ecclesiastical law, which -then sanctioned abuses from which the secular power shrank, was -expedited by the Pope,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_84">{84}</a></span> the bishops were compliant, the State was -greedy. The king and the Pope entered into an agreement defining the -disposition of the victims’ property. In the clutches of the Inquisition -the Order of the Temple was doomed. After a prolonged series of trials -it was condemned, and its property confiscated. On May 12, 1310, -fifty-four Templars were burnt in Paris, four more a few days later, and -about twenty at other places. In Lorraine many of the Order suffered at -the stake, while in Germany the victims were comparatively few, some in -the diocese of Maintz being fortunate enough to secure an acquittal—a -verdict highly displeasing to the Pope. In England the prosecution was -greatly hampered by that peculiarity of English law which made torture -illegal. The difficulty was got over by the express instructions of the -Pope; but, in spite of a certain temporary success in that method of -extracting evidence, no Templars were put to death, and the Inquisition -failed to establish itself in this country. Results hardly more -satisfactory attended its operations in Italy. The Templars were few; -they strenuously avouched their innocence, and produced evidence highly -favourable to their plea. They were, nevertheless, imprisoned, their -property was confiscated, and the Pope in 1311 gave urgent instructions -to have them tortured, but with what result is not known. In Castile and -Aragon the Templars, notwithstanding another Papal command for their -torture and the presence of special Inquisitors sent for the purpose, -were declared innocent of the crimes attributed to them; but their Order -was dissolved, and its property in Aragon handed over to the -Hospitallers, who were burdened with their support. All over Europe -repeated and urgent orders were received from Rome that the Templars -were to be tortured, and the historian justly remarks that these Papal -Bulls were “perhaps the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_85">{85}</a></span> most disgraceful that ever proceeded from a -vicegerent of God.”<a id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>The magnitude of the proceedings against the Templars may be estimated -from the fact that when the Papal archives were by order of Napoleon -transferred to Paris in 1810 the boxes of documents relating to the -trial numbered 3,239; and many further records were, it is said, sold by -Papal agents to grocers as waste paper. At the Council of Vienne -convened in 1312, mainly to consider the case of the Templars, the Pope -did his utmost to get them condemned without a hearing; and, though -unsuccessful in this, the Order was formally abolished at his -instigation, and the bulk of its property, as in Aragon, transferred to -the Hospitallers, who did not relish the duty of supporting their -unfortunate rivals. The rest of the booty was divided among the royal -and other thieves who had long lusted for it. Many of the principal -Templars were sentenced to perpetual imprisonment, in the course of -which they rotted to death. The two chiefs, De Molay and De Charny, were -slowly burned to death in Paris in March, 1314, as relapsed heretics, on -the day after their declaration that they had confessed merely to save -their lives. It would have been impossible thus to destroy the -wealthiest and most powerful Order in Europe without the agency of the -Holy Office.</p> - - -<h3>Joan of Arc.</h3> - -<p>When Joan of Arc was captured by John of Luxemburg in May, 1430, she was -sold by him for 10,000 livres to the English, who desired to have her -tried before the Inquisition. She was bitterly hated by them, and the -University of Paris heartily joined in their ferocious pursuit of the -heroic maid. Pierre Cauchon, the Bishop<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_86">{86}</a></span> of Beauvais, another of her -opponents, presided at the trial, which opened in February, 1431; and, -as it was assumed that the proceedings would be invalid without the -presence of an Inquisitor, though Cauchon himself was nominally one, -Jean le Maitre, Vicar for Rouen, acted (reluctantly, be it said to his -credit) as representative of the Inquisitor for France. The trial was a -monstrously unjust one; evidence in Joan’s favour was suppressed, and a -number of skilled lawyers and theologians worked hard to entrap her into -confession. It is one of the marvels of history that this untaught -peasant girl time after time baffled her persecutors by her simple and -truthful answers to their cunningly framed questions. Worn out at last -by their tireless persistence, she abjured, and received the customary -sentence of perpetual imprisonment. The English were furious, and made -desperate efforts to secure her death. It was not easy to find a -pretext, but one was discovered in her change of clothing. Joan was -tempted by having her usual man’s dress placed within her reach. She -donned it; advantage was taken of her imprudence to treat it as a formal -relapse into heresy, and two days later the noble and innocent deliverer -of her country was burnt alive in the market place of Rouen, to the -everlasting shame of France and England.</p> - - -<h3>Sorcery and Magic.</h3> - -<p>It is impossible to understand the life of the Middle Ages unless it is -borne in mind that men and women everywhere held an implicit belief in -the reality of the supernatural and of evil spirits, who were for ever -tempting them to wrong. The idea of natural law being unknown, it was -not perceived that this belief conflicted with the notion of an -intelligible cosmos, or that it violated the idea of human -responsibility by assuming<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_87">{87}</a></span> that man’s actions are attributable, not to -himself, but to either good spirits or demons. It was man, however, who -received the punishment. The air was believed to be thick with spirits; -they might be seen as dust, as motes in the sunbeam, or in the falling -rain. The sounds of the wind, of any clashing objects, of running -streams and roaring cataracts, were the voices of spirits. From -Scriptural texts, such as Genesis vi, 5, Luke iv, 7, and others, the -logical deduction was drawn that intercourse between angelic and human -beings was not merely possible, but continually took place.</p> - -<p>At first the Inquisition neither had nor claimed jurisdiction over -dealings with evil spirits. The Church, indeed, was sometimes more -rational than the people, for in 1279 an Alsatian nun would have been -burnt by the peasantry for sorcery had she not been rescued by some -friars. The question of repressing this crime had been raised in 1257, -and before many years elapsed it was generally recognized that the -Inquisition had some sort of jurisdiction over it. Astrology soon -attracted its attention, and was ranked as heresy. Peter of Abano seems -to have been the first to be prosecuted, and he would have been burnt as -a relapsed heretic had he not taken the precaution to die in the -ordinary way first. In 1324 the astrologer, Cecco d’Ascoli, was forced -to abjure, but, being imprudent enough to relapse, was burnt three years -later. Several people were excommunicated for sorcery early in the -fourteenth century, and the growing belief in the reality and gravity of -the offence was greatly stimulated by Pope John XXII.</p> - -<p>In Ireland a zealous Franciscan worked up a case against Lady Alice -Kyteler, alleged to be one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world; -and, though the lady escaped to England, her maid was mercilessly -scourged until she confessed a tissue of absurdities, after which she -was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_88">{88}</a></span> burnt. Persecution diminished when, in 1330, the Pope withdrew -sorcery from the jurisdiction of the Holy Office, but the popular belief -continued and extended, and the secular courts were sufficiently -rigorous in their treatment of offenders. In 1390 two women, after being -severely tortured two or three times without result, finally confessed -to a charge of making a love-philtre, and were burnt. The early trials -for sorcery in England were held in the civil courts, the leniency of -which was disapproved by the Church; in 1407, therefore, Henry IV placed -the offence under ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which naturally made the -most of it, and prepared a congenial soil for the witchcraft delusion.</p> - -<p>One of the most extraordinary cases in history is that of Gilles de Retz -(or Rais), who in 1440 was accused of sacrilege, child murder, -intercourse with demons, and other offences savouring of heresy. Gilles -de Rais, Marshal of France, was a rich and powerful baron of Brittany, -whose extravagance involved him in many difficulties. He was pious, as -far as the observances of religion went, a man of unusual culture, with -a passion for expensive books, paintings, music, the drama, and other -forms of art. A dabbler in the occult, he sought perseveringly for the -Philosopher’s Stone, by which he believed unlimited wealth would be -gained, enabling him to keep up his lavish display and prodigality. But -there was a very much darker side to his character. He was accustomed to -employ agents, women as well as men, to entice children from their -parents, by whom they were never seen again. These disappearances became -so numerous that suspicion was aroused, and de Rais was at last arrested -and tried before the Bishop of Nantes and the Vice-Inquisitor of the -diocese. He was found guilty, but no sentence was pronounced. -Immediately afterwards he was tried in a secular court, and sentenced to -be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_89">{89}</a></span> hanged and burnt, with two servants who had been accomplices in his -ghastly crimes. Making allowance for popular exaggeration, which -attributed countless victims to him, there is reason to believe that 140 -children were outraged and murdered, their bodies being thrown into -pits. It is said that “so depraved became his appetite that he found his -chief enjoyment in the death agonies of his victims, over whose -sufferings he gloated as he skilfully mangled them and protracted their -torture. When dead he would criticize their beauties with his -confidential servitors, would compare one with another, and would kiss -with rapture the heads which pleased him most.”<a id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Yet this monster -died with words of godly exhortation on his lips and confident of -salvation. Under the threat of torture he freely confessed to crimes -enough to put 10,000 men to death. He was taken into church and granted -absolution, and the execution was carried out on the following day. The -extraordinary wickedness of this man made a deep impression on the -superstitious people of Brittany, where he became, in later ages, -identified with the Bluebeard of Perrault’s nursery story, of which some -writers maintain that he furnished the original, possibly because he is -said to have had seven wives, though he possessed only one. It is -something to the credit of the Holy Office that it had a share in -bringing this fiend to justice.</p> - -<p>The growing belief in witchcraft and demonology in the fifteenth century -gave additional strength to the long arm of the Inquisition, for witches -were of necessity heretics. They were at first treated with comparative -mildness, the secular courts being apparently the first to inflict the -penalty of burning in such cases. But the Inquisition soon equalled this -severity, and gave the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_90">{90}</a></span> accused fewer chances of escape. Venice, -however, was less energetic in this matter than most States, for in 1486 -and 1521 it incurred the wrath of the Papacy by refusing to burn some -witches condemned by the Inquisition. In 1474 several women were burnt -in Piedmont for witchcraft, but two others, who were able to employ -counsel of their own, had their case transferred to Turin, and -presumably secured acquittals—a fact which seems to show the prudence -of the Inquisitors in choosing the advocate for the defence, and -excommunicating him if he was successful.</p> - -<p>Of the Vaudois, or witches of Arras, several persons after being cruelly -tortured, were burnt in 1460, a hermit being the first to suffer at -Langres; and seven persons were put to death in one <i>auto de fé</i> in July -of that year. Many of the leading and wealthiest men of Arras were -arrested; confessions, some of them afterwards withdrawn, were wrung -from them by torture, and twelve persons in all were burnt out of the -thirty-four apprehended. The epidemic of credulity died away after a -time, and the Inquisition stopped further prosecutions; but the -prosperous city of Arras suffered enormous loss by the confiscations -imposed and the panic which dislocated its trade. The return to sanity -was chiefly due to the son of one of the victims succeeding in an appeal -to the Parliament of Paris (previous appeals had been suppressed), -which, after a brief inquiry lasting thirty years, issued a decree -rehabilitating some of the accused, and caused the promoters of the -prosecutions to be heavily fined. It was decreed that torture should be -for the future prohibited. This is “probably the only case on record in -which an Inquisitor was brought before a law court to answer for his -official actions.”<a id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Thus a healthy scepti<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_91">{91}</a></span>cism was beginning to enter -the public mind. Several persons were charged before the Bishop of -Amiens, who acquitted them; another was acquitted by the Archbishop of -Besançon; while a third was tried by a tribunal consisting of the -Archbishop of Rheims, the Bishop of Paris, the Inquisitor of France, and -some theological experts. He was not only acquitted, but authorized to -prosecute his accusers for reparation and damages. A poor man who went -mad on the subject of witchcraft was burnt in August, 1460.</p> - -<p>In its early stages the belief in witchcraft was artificially stimulated -by the Church, and flourished in an atmosphere of ignorance and dread of -the unseen. “Had the Church resolutely repressed the growing -superstition in place of stimulating it with all the authority of the -Holy See, infinite bloodshed and misery might have been spared to -Christendom.”<a id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Every Inquisitor was an agent for the spread of the -belief, and the Church industriously taught it. An Italian Inquisitor in -1485 burnt forty-one people for witchcraft in one district in the -Grisons—an exploit which gratified the historian Sprenger; and -Innocent’s Bull of 1484 gave a perceptible impulse to the superstition, -forty-eight persons being burnt in one small German town in five years -by order of Sprenger and a fellow Inquisitor. To doubt the reality of -the crime was to dispute the authority of the Church; to aid an accused -person was to impede the Inquisition. A woman charged with witchcraft -had little chance of escape, for if her defence made a favourable -impression on the judges they also were considered to have been -bewitched, and few of them cared to run that risk. Confessions made -under severe torture were, of course, numerous, and were afterwards used -as proving the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_92">{92}</a></span> reality of the crime. The small amount of incredulity -which existed vanished before Sprenger’s <i>Malleus Malficarum</i>, which Lea -terms “the most portentous monument of superstition which the world has -produced.” With perfect good faith and absolute belief in the truth of -demoniacal possession, Sprenger brought forward an overwhelming mass of -evidence, which no one in those times was able to rebut or dared to -dispute. This terrible book, which remained the recognized authority on -the subject for more than a century, immensely stimulated a belief -which, as Lea remarks, is “ a process of purely natural evolution from -the principles which the Church had succeeded in establishing.”<a id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> For -200 years the Church had done all it could to promote this belief. Pope -Calixtus, in 1457, ordered the repression of witchcraft, and towards the -end of the century Alexander VI urged the Inquisitor of Lombardy to show -greater zeal in his work. Early in the sixteenth century Julius II -defined the powers of the Inquisitors, and issued to their helpers -indulgences similar to those given to Crusaders. Thus persecution -produced its natural effect in a great revival of superstition in -Northern Italy. The Inquisitors burnt 140 persons at Brescia in 1510, -and 300 at Como four years later.</p> - -<p>The Witch Sabbaths were a well-known institution in the Middle Ages, and -it is reported that more than 25,000 persons were sometimes present at -these weird gatherings. In view of the danger incurred, such popularity -seems unaccountable enough to suggest that the narratives spring from -sheer delusion. In the district of Valcamonica an Inquisitor burnt -seventy witches and sent as many more to prison, while those suspected -or accused numbered 5,000, about one-fourth of the popula<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_93">{93}</a></span>tion of the -valleys. The Venetian Senate thought this was going too far, but its -protest only brought strong remonstrances from the Pope, Leo X, and -fresh orders for persecution. The Senate replied by a dignified and -rational document, laying it down that the accused were to have a fair -trial with legal safeguards, that torture must be discontinued, that the -Inquisition’s expenses were to be kept within moderate bounds, that -greed for money was not to be the reason for prosecution, and that the -excesses alleged against Inquisitors would have to be investigated. This -document, “a monument of considerate wisdom and common-sense,” was -ignored, and Christendom abandoned itself to a senseless, delirious orgy -of superstition and cruelty. Between the madness of the Catholic and the -madness of the Protestant there was little to choose. On one point at -least they were in accord, and it is significant that Calvin used the -arguments of the Inquisitors to justify persecution. In Geneva 500 -persons are said to have been burnt within three months, at Toulouse 400 -on a single occasion (some say 1,500), at Bamberg 600, at Wurzburg 900 -in one year—all in the sixteenth century. The Senate of Savoy condemned -800 at one time. That a cold spring in 1586 was caused by witchcraft was -proved by the confessions of the guilty parties, and for this crime 118 -women and two men were burnt by the Archbishop of Treves. This city -seems to have exceeded all others in its atrocities. According to Lecky, -7,000 persons were burnt there for sorcery, but he does not state over -what period these figures extend. The Inquisitor Paramo, who wrote in -the sixteenth century, boasts that since 1404 the Holy Office burnt as -many as 30,000 persons, who, if let alone, would have “brought the whole -world to destruction.”<a id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_94">{94}</a></span> This Paramo defended the secrecy of the -Inquisition on the ground that God was the first Inquisitor, and that in -secret Adam and Eve had been tried.</p> - - -<h3>Intellect and Faith.</h3> - -<p>A religion which imagined that it was the repository of a full and final -revelation, that it possessed the keys of the invisible world, and which -regarded every doubt as a heresy born of the devil, naturally became in -practice a vast machine for persecution. When mental activity was thus a -crime, and any attempt to increase knowledge an act of rebellion against -God, it was clear that human progress was brought to a standstill. No -one can tell what progress would have been made had the Inquisition not -existed; that it kept Europe for hundreds of years in mental torpor, and -did what it could to make the reign of stupidity eternal, does not admit -of question. What the magnificent brain of Roger Bacon could have -achieved is matter for speculation. It has been disputed, but seems to -be true, that he was imprisoned for his advanced opinions, and died a -captive; but, however that may be, it is certain that the Church -succeeded in preventing mankind from benefiting by his researches. -Anything like modern Freethought was out of the question, but distinct -approaches to it were made in the twelfth century by Averrhoes, whose -particular tenets were that matter is uncreated and eternal, that the -soul dies with the body, only collective humanity being immortal, and -that all religions are of human origin and, though useful incentives to -virtue, contain only relative truth. These doctrines, which were looked -upon as deadly heresies, surprisingly anticipate some of the -speculations of our own times. It is remarkable that under the rigorous -conditions which prevailed Averrhoism should have spread so rapidly as -it did, but it could have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_95">{95}</a></span> been only among the scholarly few; and in the -thirteenth century, which was in certain respects more advanced than the -fifteenth, these opinions made some slight impression on the popular -mind. Had the impression been deeper, the results might have been in -some respects more disastrous. The general ignorance was so great that a -premature abandonment of the orthodox faith might have been made the -occasion of even more flagrant moral licence than actually existed, and -so have strengthened the hands of the persecutors. A system which held -all religions to be untrue, especially the religion of the Christians, -who daily ate their God, would naturally enough be thought to emanate -from the bottomless pit, and it is an astonishing circumstance that for -a long time the Inquisition left Averrhoism alone. Herman of Ryswick, -the most famous successor of Peter of Abano, after being sentenced to -perpetual imprisonment, continued to propagate his errors, and in 1512 -was burnt at the Hague by order of the Inquisition. It is evident that -at times considerable freedom of speech existed, or Laurentius Valla -would scarcely have been able, in the middle of the fifteenth century, -to assail the “Donation of Constantine,” or to declare that the Papacy -should be deprived of its temporal power. Valla got off cheaply by a -simple declaration that he believed as Mother Church believed, though -Mother Church, he added, knew nothing about it. Ultimately this restless -disputant obtained a clerical sinecure in Rome, and died in peace. -Several other unbelievers escaped the customary doom of mental -independence. It is one of the anomalies of ecclesiastical history prior -to the Reformation that, while the most trifling variations from -orthodoxy were relentlessly crushed, a philosophical humanism hardly -distinguishable from downright Atheism was fashionable among the -intellectual<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_96">{96}</a></span> classes, even those in clerical orders, and frequently -went unpunished. The writings of the famous Raymond Lully—perhaps the -most voluminous author on record, for he is credited with 321 -volumes—brought him into conflict with the Inquisition; and long after -his death in 1315 Eymeric, the Inquisitor of Aragon, sought to have his -memory condemned. This was partially done in 1620, though the main -object of Lully had been to suppress the heresy of Averrhoism, and many -miracles wrought by his remains had evidenced his saintliness. Not many -figures of the Middle Ages have had the doubtful honour of being both -heretic and saint.</p> - -<p>In 1331 Pope John XXII had imprisoned an English priest who maintained -that the saints after death are at once admitted to the presence of God. -This doctrine, known as the “Beatific Vision,” had aroused the Pope’s -anger, but he was subsequently compelled by the strength of the general -opinion in its favour to accept it, after a controversy which nearly -cost him his tiara. Years of bitter dispute ensued on a subject about -which no human being knew anything whatever, and it even became a -question of grave political consequence, for the monarchs of the time -ventured to differ from the Papal opinion. The Inquisition espoused the -popular view, and made questions on the subject an important part of the -interrogatories addressed to the unlucky persons brought before its -tribunals.</p> - -<p>About the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, a purely dogmatic -development, a further mass of superstition spread, and gave rise to -bitter controversies, the Franciscans and Dominicans quarrelling so -fiercely that in 1482 popular tumults broke out in Italy on this -mysterious topic, of which everybody was supposed to know something. The -theory that the Virgin Mary never from the moment of her conception -shared the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_97">{97}</a></span> sinful tendencies of ordinary mortals was something of a -novelty, and the Dominicans who rejected it had tradition in their -favour, but they were overborne by the increasing power of the new -superstition. An Italian priest who in 1504 maintained that Christ was -conceived in the Virgin’s heart was seized by the Inquisition, and had a -narrow escape from death by fire. A special appearance of the Virgin -herself, who expressed her annoyance at the doctrine, caused an immense -sensation until it was discovered that the manifestation was a trick got -up by the Dominicans, and four of the culprits were burnt. Not until -1854, after five centuries of struggle, was the doctrine officially -proclaimed as a formal act of faith, when the Dominicans obediently -began to find reasons in its favour. It would seem to be a logical -sequence that the reputed father of the Virgin was no more concerned in -her birth than Joseph was supposed to be in that of Jesus, but for -maintaining this thesis a man was condemned so recently as 1876.</p> - - -<h3>Censorship of Books.</h3> - -<p>Notwithstanding the extent to which heresy was propagated by printed -books, it was a long time before the Inquisition was recognized as the -most convenient instrument for their supervision and suppression. The -first Papal deliverance on the subject was a Bull by Gregory XI in 1376, -instructing the Inquisition to examine and condemn suspected writings, -but what were the results is not known. An Archbishop who burnt some -writings of John Wycliffe at Prague was found to have exceeded his -powers, and it was not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that -a regular censorship was organized, and then in Germany only. However, -the Inquisition was willing to undertake additional responsibilities, -and at length made a rule<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_98">{98}</a></span> that any one possessing books of doubtful -orthodoxy must within eight days deliver them to the Bishop or -Inquisitor of his district, on pain of being under vehement suspicion of -heresy. That the Church was more anxious to preserve its privileges than -to promote religion may be inferred from the fact that translations into -the vernacular of any parts of the Bible were prohibited. As it was -found before long that books containing heretical doctrines were being -circulated, it was deemed expedient to forbid anything being printed -without previous examination by the Holy Office and the Papal and -episcopal authorities. The religious world, however, became so -disorganized by the Reformation that these precautions were of little -avail, and it was not until the Church had regained much of its power in -the counter Reformation that a really strict censorship could be -established.</p> - - -<h3>The Greek Church.</h3> - -<p>Although one Pope, Boniface VIII, issued a Bull decreeing that every -human being, including the members of the Greek Church, was bound to -obey the Roman Pontiff, a prudent and tolerant attitude was usually -maintained towards that unsound but powerful rival. Stray members of the -Greek communion who happened to be found in Western Europe were at times -persecuted as heretics, and in 1351 all Greeks were ordered once a year -to confess and take the sacrament according to the Latin usage. Any -person who after this decree violated it was a relapsed heretic, and -entitled to no mercy. But to coerce effectively a great religious -organization, every member of which was in the eyes of Rome a heretic, -proved too arduous a task for orthodoxy, and the Inquisition failed to -utilize the glorious opportunities for persecution afforded by Eastern -Europe, with its variety of races and religious ideas. The Church was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_99">{99}</a></span> -therefore prudent enough to follow a line of policy as mild and tolerant -as it was novel.</p> - - -<h3>Indulgences and Simony.</h3> - -<p>The scandal to the cause of true religion which accompanied the sale of -Indulgences was so notorious all over Europe that it is surprising to -find that this abuse—deeply prejudicial to the Church and to public -morals—was not considered to deserve vigorous repression. It is true -that the practice was sometimes officially denounced, as when Pope -Alexander IV gave the Inquisitors power to deal with the evil. But Lea -asserts that, so far as he can discover, only one man was tried by the -Inquisition for this prevalent offence. He admitted that he had been in -the habit of telling monstrous falsehoods and filling the superstitious -people with absurdities, but it is doubtful whether he was punished—if -at all, it was by nothing more than a light penance. The remarkable -lenity of the Church towards this traffic was, of course, due to the -fact that it furnished a very substantial source of profit; but if the -Popes had expended on the internal reform of the Church a hundredth part -of the energy which they devoted to the suppression of minor differences -of opinion the Reformation might conceivably have been averted. It was -the Reformation that made imperative that moral renewal which prolonged -the influence of the Church and still constitutes one of the chief -elements of its strength.</p> - -<p>It is a striking proof of human selfishness and of the extent to which -it blinds mankind to its own failings that the Inquisition was never -instructed to put down simony (which, as heresy, came within its -jurisdiction), and that it never volunteered to do so—a fact which -shows very clearly that, in the view of the Christian Church, morals -were of trifling importance compared with belief. One or two of the -Popes worked with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_100">{100}</a></span> genuine zeal and immense energy to extirpate the -evil, but without avail. The practice being highly profitable -financially to the Church, its disastrous moral effects were ignored, -the laudable desires of some Pontiffs being thwarted by others less -scrupulous. Every clerical office, from the highest to the lowest, was -virtually sold by auction. Pope John XXII even drew up a scale on which -absolutions for simony could be granted at the lowest market rates. The -prevalence of this offence was perhaps the chief of all the causes which -contributed to the degradation of the Christian Church. In this -connection it may be interesting to reproduce here a clever and daring -satire which was popular in the thirteenth century:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>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 odour 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.</p> - -<p>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 -naught to comfort him. Then came to the court a rich clerk, fat and -broad<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_101">{101}</a></span> 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.<a id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p></div> - -<p>Avaricious men were enabled by an incredibly bad system to make religion -a public danger. Priests who led women astray on the plea that -intercourse with holy men was not sinful, a depraved laity, religion -severed from morals—these made up a state of society in which -apprehensions existed that the wickedness of the clergy would provoke -the people to rise against them, or perhaps even bring on the world the -final visitation of Divine wrath. Good men asked why God did not -intervene to save his Church from ruin. No intervention came.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_102">{102}</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br><br> -THE GENTLE ART OF WHITEWASHING</h2> - - -<p class="nind"><span class="smcap">If</span> the Inquisition really was the beneficent institution which some of -its apologists represent, it is singular that their defences should be -so weak and their admissions so damaging. The line taken is, in the -main, that heresy is a crime against social order, that the Holy Office -embodied the tendencies of the age, that its methods were no worse than -those of the secular powers—were, indeed, an improvement upon them, and -that no special reproach can be directed against the Church on the score -of inhumanity. It is claimed that the practice of the Inquisition, -though rigorous at the outset from the necessities of the case, was -modified by experience in the direction of mildness and mercy, and that -the frequent appeals to Rome implied the certainty of an indulgent -hearing.</p> - -<p>Thus the Rev. J. Balmez, a Spanish writer who, in his <i>European -Civilization</i>, defends the Inquisition—on the whole in a fairly -judicious and tolerant spirit—alleges that the Inquisitorial “rigour -was the result of extraordinary circumstances—the effect of the spirit -of the nations and the severity of customs in Europe at that time.”<a id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> -No student of history will deny that there is some truth in this -contention, though he would naturally expect the Christian Church to -have made far greater efforts than it did to mitigate the “severity of -customs.” Its conceptions of social order were incompatible with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_103">{103}</a></span> -personal liberty. And it is curious that when in Southern France the -majority of the people were heretics they showed no tendency to -persecute, though they had the power. All the events, the movements, and -the personages of human history are necessarily the consequences of -their antecedents; but, unless we are to relieve all human beings from -responsibility for their actions, we cannot exonerate the Inquisition -from crimes of the greatest magnitude. It may have been established from -the best and purest motives; yet, though experience made it fully aware -of the terrible evils which resulted from its procedure, it deliberately -increased them. All the actions of virtuous men are not good actions, -and if, in putting into practice particular theories, they are found to -produce mischievous effects, a sacred obligation rests upon the holders -to revise their views in the light of the experience gained. Buckle, -with justice, maintains that moral feelings alone are not equal to the -task of preventing persecution. If the moral feelings are enlisted on -the side of what is erroneously believed to be the truth, the sincerity -of the persecutor only makes him the more dangerous to society. “That -the Inquisitors were remarkable for an undeviating and incorruptible -integrity may be proved in a variety of ways and from different and -independent sources of evidence.”<a id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> In admitting the general truth of -this remark, it must be borne in mind that the Inquisitorial system -facilitated grave abuses by officials whose integrity was far from -“undeviating.” Buckle adds: “The evidence decisively proves the utter -inability of the moral feelings to diminish religious persecution.... -The great antagonist of intolerance is not humanity, but knowledge. It -is to the diffusion of knowledge, and to that alone, that we owe<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_104">{104}</a></span> the -comparative cessation of what is unquestionably the greatest evil men -have ever inflicted on their own species. For that religious persecution -is a greater evil than any other is apparent, not so much from the -enormous and almost incredible number of its known victims as from the -fact that the unknown must be far more numerous, and that history gives -no account of those who have been spared in the body in order that they -might suffer in the mind. We hear much of martyrs and confessors—of -those who were slain by the sword or consumed in the fire; but we know -little of that still larger number who, by the mere threat of -persecution, have been driven into an outward abandonment of their real -opinions, and who, thus forced into an apostasy the heart abhors, have -passed the remainder of their lives in the practice of a constant and -humiliating hypocrisy. It is this which is the real curse of religious -persecution. For in this way, men being constrained to mask their -thoughts, there arises a habit of securing safety by falsehood and of -purchasing impunity with deceit. In this way fraud becomes a necessary -of life; insincerity is made a daily custom; the whole tone of public -feeling is vitiated, and the gross amount of vice and of error fearfully -increased. Surely, then, we have reason to say that, compared to this, -all other crimes are of small account; and we may well be thankful for -that increase of intellectual pursuits which has destroyed an evil that -some among us would even now restore.”<a id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Notwithstanding the great -improvement in knowledge, however, the main body of the Christian Church -still holds that persecution of erroneous doctrines is not an evil, and -still officially teaches that their propagation should be punished with -death. A Dominican priest in 1782 ferociously argued that “the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_105">{105}</a></span> command -in Deuteronomy xiii, 6-10, to slay without mercy all who entice the -faithful from the true religion, is almost literally the law of the Holy -Inquisition; and proceeded to prove from Scripture that fire is the -peculiar delight of God, and the proper means of purifying the wheat -from the tares.”<a id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></p> - -<p>It is perhaps going too far to affirm that all the Inquisitors were men -of incorruptible integrity. From the first the motive of religious zeal -was alloyed with the desire of personal or corporate profit, and an -elaborate system of persecution and extortion was invented which -permitted the exercise of both passions, whereby the many suffered to -gratify the few.</p> - -<p>Balmez remarks that “the Roman Inquisition has never been known to -pronounce the execution of capital punishment ... the facts show the -difference between the Popes and the Protestants. The Popes, armed with -the tribunal of intolerance, have not spilt a drop of blood; Protestants -and philosophers have shed torrents.”<a id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The object of this impudent -lie is simply to score a point against Protestantism. That Protestants -persecuted vigorously when they had the power no one disputes; for a -long time they failed to understand their own principles. But they had -less power and fewer opportunities than the Church of Rome. The precise -degrees of culpability in the two bodies cannot be determined here. No -other Church but that of Rome has ever set up an Inquisition. The -preceding pages will have shown that the Popes many times officially -instituted crusades against Christians who rejected parts of their -teaching; that they expressly commanded human beings to be tortured and -put to death; that all through the Middle Ages the Church exerted a -dominant influence over the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_106">{106}</a></span> State, and, while affecting scruples as to -the actual shedding of blood, insisted on the secular power inflicting -death in a form infinitely more painful than that of the sword. Thus an -educated writer can actually maintain that, because a man does not -murder with his own hand, but induces another to murder for him, he has -no moral responsibility for the crime. What civil code would recognize -such a doctrine? The subterfuge merely adds hypocrisy to cruelty. The -admission will be noticed that the Popes were “armed with the tribunal -of intolerance.” The “facts” show unmistakably who created that -tribunal. They show with equal clearness how it was employed. It will -also be observed that in this passage Balmez suppresses the fact that -the Inquisition had been actively at work for 300 years before -Protestantism was heard of, and that its most frightful excesses were -committed against those whose moral sense was outraged by the conduct of -the clergy.</p> - -<p>It is true that the practice of the Inquisition became milder in the -course of time. But to claim this as a merit is to falsify the plain -historical record. There were two principal reasons for the diminished -severity, neither of them reflecting special credit on the persecutors. -In Languedoc and Spain the Inquisition succeeded in exterminating -practically every heretic in the kingdom, so that the field of its -operations became gradually narrowed. The Inquisition ceased to burn -heretics only when there were no more heretics to burn. And a certain -inclination to milder penalties was made inevitable by an improvement in -secular morals which can hardly have been the work of the Church which -had seriously retarded it. In other countries the diffusion of knowledge -led even some ecclesiastics to perceive the futility of persecution, and -when that point was reached they became convinced of its inhumanity. -Balmez might as well have argued<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_107">{107}</a></span> that the dying-out of the witchcraft -mania was due to the benevolent spirit of the witch-hunters.</p> - -<p>A significant admission made by Balmez may be noticed. “I see,” he -remarks, “that from the earliest times, when the Church began to exert -political influence, heresy began to figure in the codes as a crime; and -I have never been able to discover a period of complete tolerance.”<a id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> -This means that the spirit of intolerance, so rapidly developed in the -Church, infected the State also. The fact is beyond dispute, but it -simply furnishes an additional testimony to the evils of -ecclesiasticism. Nor will any one deny that the Christian Church has -never yet shown to the world “a period of complete tolerance.”</p> - -<p>The further argument of Balmez, that the Inquisition preserved Spain -from the “dangers” of Judaism and Protestantism, may also be admitted as -representing facts, though it is necessary to draw from them conclusions -other than his own. The material prosperity of Spain would have been -incalculably greater if the Jews had been allowed the free exercise of -their business abilities and the practice of their non-aggressive faith; -while, if Protestantism had been permitted the freedom which it secured -elsewhere, the cause of spiritual religion must have been promoted. As -to the Inquisition having averted civil war, if the Church had grasped -the idea of tolerance civil war over religious differences would have -been impossible. But even that serious peril would have been a less evil -than the extinction of liberty, the slow suffocation of the intellectual -life, the neglect of science, and the decay of commerce, which actually -resulted from the Inquisition’s policy. Civil war would have been at -least an indication of life. The Inquisition meant death.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_108">{108}</a></span></p> - -<p>Perhaps the best-known and most thorough-going apologist for the -Inquisition, so far as Spain is concerned, is Count Joseph De Maistre -(1754-1821), a Romanist layman who adopted a strongly ecclesiastical -point of view, and whose great ability was marred by a tendency to -paradox and dogmatism. His <i>Letters to a Russian Gentleman on the -Spanish Inquisition</i> are full of a vivacious special pleading, which -perplexes without enlightening the reader. His main arguments group -themselves round three points: (1) That the Spanish Inquisition was a -purely secular institution; (2) that it did not condemn to death; (3) -that it did not punish the expression of opinion on questions of -religion.</p> - -<p>With regard to the first point De Maistre says: “The Inquisition, by -virtue of the Bulls of the Sovereign Pontiff, and the King, by virtue of -his royal prerogative, constitute the authority which regulates, and has -always regulated, the tribunals of the Inquisition—tribunals which are, -at the same time, both royal and ecclesiastical; so that, if either of -the two powers happened to withdraw, the action of the tribunal would -necessarily be suspended” (p. 8). How this explicit admission that the -Spanish Inquisition was both a State and a religious organization is -reconcilable with the assertion that it was “entirely a royal -institution” must be left to the reader’s ingenuity to discover. De -Maistre effectively demolishes his own contention. It is still more -effectively confuted by a later and better authority. Dr. Pastor admits -that the Spanish Inquisition was “a mixed, but primarily ecclesiastical, -institution. The fact that the condemned were handed over to the secular -arm testifies to the correctness of this view. Had the Spanish -Inquisition been a State Inquisition, a royal court of justice, there -would have been no necessity for this. A court which invariably hands -over those whom it finds guilty to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_109">{109}</a></span> secular arm for punishment -cannot itself be a secular tribunal. It was precisely the ecclesiastical -character of the new Inquisition which made its judges decline to -execute capital sentences and follow the custom always observed by the -ecclesiastical Inquisition, of requesting that the prisoner ‘might be -leniently dealt with’—a formality prescribed by the canon law.”<a id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> The -formula of mercy, of course, deceived no one. In another place Dr. -Pastor says: “It is important to note, as a significant fact bearing on -the character of this institution, that ‘not only the ecclesiastical -authorization of the first Inquisitors, but also the first regulations -as to the mode of procedure, emanated directly from the Pope.’<span class="lftspc">”</span><a id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Lea -states that the Inquisition even claimed that all civil statutes of -which it disapproved should be abrogated.<a id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> But if the responsibility -for the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition rests only partially -upon the Popes, there is no question of divided responsibility in the -case of the institution with which the present essay is concerned. That -was established, renewed, and supervised at every turn by the Papacy.</p> - -<p>De Maistre’s second contention is that the Inquisition did not pass -sentences of death, but that if it virtually did so it merely followed -the practice of all other tribunals, which necessarily have the power to -inflict death for serious crime. “All tribunals condemn to death,” he -says, adding: “The Church so abhors blood that a priest cannot be a -surgeon, lest his consecrated hand should shed the blood of the patient” -(p. 11). It is sheer superstition to argue that a tribunal notoriously -prone to inflict excessive punishment is relieved of moral -responsibility by omitting a particular form of words, while taking -every possible precaution to ensure the punishment being<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_110">{110}</a></span> mercilessly -inflicted. The argument is a dishonest shift, which “strains at a gnat -and swallows a camel.” The “consecrated hand” was too holy to practise -the art of saving life, but not too holy to employ an unconsecrated hand -to destroy it. In this connection De Maistre enlarges on the lenity of -Rome, which frequently protested against the severity of the laws -against heresy. That mildness was occasionally shown is true, but it is -forgotten that Rome itself—as the Papal Bulls ordering torture -prove—was very largely responsible for the severity. That the -tenderness was not due to an excess of humane feeling we may infer from -the savage rigour which in the thirteenth century became a feature of -the canon law. Had that law been a model of gentleness and love, -ecclesiastics would have found no difficulty in making it an engine of -cruelty and persecution, on the plea that concern for the heretic’s soul -made it necessary and wholesome to punish his body. As it was, -injunctions to deal mercifully with him were so systematically set at -naught that very little importance can be attached to their face value. -Inquisitors were seldom reproved for being zealous persecutors. De -Maistre’s verdict that the Inquisition was “mild, tolerant, charitable, -the bearer of consolation in every country of the world,” sounds like -irony, but was probably his sincere conviction. Polemical writers -sometimes empty words of all intelligible meaning.</p> - -<p>In his third main argument De Maistre shows the cloven hoof. He -maintains that people are rightly punished if they “strike deadly blows -at the religion of their nation,” that “the propagator of heresy ought -to be classed among the greatest criminals,” and that it is positively -wicked to protest against the punishments of the Inquisition (p. 44). If -these contentions are sound, it is a waste of time to argue that the -Inquisition<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_111">{111}</a></span> did not punish the expression of heretical opinions in -religion. It was established for that very purpose.</p> - -<p>The following specimen of De Maistre’s reasoning will probably be -sufficient: “God has spoken; it is for us to believe. The religion which -he established is one, even as He is Himself. Truth being essentially -intolerant, to profess religious toleration is to profess scepticism; in -other words, to exclude faith. Woe, a thousand times woe, to the stupid -imprudence which accuses us of damning men. It is only God who damns; He -alone has said to His messengers: <i>Go, teach all nations! He that -believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned</i>” -(p. 72). This passage is reproduced merely as a curious example of the -religious reasoning of a century ago. Fortunately for human happiness, -the world has condemned this point of view by abandoning it. The day has -gone by for arguments which seek to justify religious persecution, and -for appeals to supernatural authority in support of irrational dogmas.</p> - -<p>In our own time the Inquisition has found a far more reasonable and -fair-minded apologist in the person of Monseigneur Celestin Douais, -Bishop of Beauvais, who published in 1906 a scholarly examination of the -Holy Office. The first sentence of this work is that “The Inquisition -was established by the Papacy, which alone was qualified to do so,” and -that “this fact is universally known and recognized.” The Bishop adds -that the Inquisitor Eymerich expressly lays it down that an Inquisitor -is not a secular judge, but a delegate appointed by the Pope. If, in his -calm and restrained historical exposition, he nowhere condemns the -organized barbarity of the system, he freely exposes its defects, and -only incidentally defends its proceedings. He is a historian rather than -an apologist. The few considerations he urges are of quite minor -importance; if they<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_112">{112}</a></span> extenuate the guilt of the Inquisitorial practice, -they by no means disprove the enormous mischief it produced. Thus he -asserts, on the authority of Eymerich, that the names of witnesses were -suppressed because, if mortal enmity to the accused could be proved -against them, they were required to withdraw from the case. In practice -the accused gained no advantage from this provision, for he could only -guess at his possible enemy, and the Inquisitors were ingenious enough, -if they so desired, to prove his guesses wrong. The handicap to the -prisoner remained, and it is possible to assume that one reason for the -extreme secrecy was the determination to render the concession useless.</p> - -<p>Monseigneur Douais states that ecclesiastical law was in general milder -than secular law, and that torture was interdicted by the canons until -1252. This may be so, but it was a Pope who in that year insisted on the -employment of torture, and it was again expressly authorized by Innocent -IV, Urban IV, and other Popes. In this, as in other matters, it is -useless to rely on provisions which were habitually set at naught. The -contention that torture was seldom used is perhaps the result of too -implicit a trust in formulas. According to M. Langlois, torture became -so much a part of the ordinary process that it was purposely left -unrecorded.<a id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> The great thing was to extract confession; it was easy -to preserve a discreet silence as to the means. In the civil records the -same peculiarity is observable.<a id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> No institution has ever exhibited -greater discrepancies between theory and practice than has the -Inquisition.</p> - -<p>That provision was made for the mitigation and even remission of -penalties need not be doubted. But this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_113">{113}</a></span> was done in few and exceptional -cases only; the decision being customarily left to the Inquisitors’ -discretion, it became the practice to ignore everything that tended in -favour of the persons accused.</p> - -<p>That the co-operation of the Bishop of the diocese was necessary to give -validity to the Inquisitorial sentence is assumed by Monseigneur Douais -to have relieved the Inquisitors of some portion of their -responsibility. Probably it did sometimes make the trial a little less -serious for the accused, for the Bishops did not always share the -inflexibility of the Holy Office. But the argument merely lifts a part -of the responsibility from one department of the Church and places it on -another. Undeniably the Inquisition was set up by the Church of Rome. -The arrangement was, of course, no guarantee that justice would be done, -nor does it disprove the charge that the Inquisition was a serious -menace to civilization.</p> - -<p>The point on which Bishop Douais lays most stress is that the delivery -of the heretic to the secular arm was a matter quite distinct from his -subsequent fate, with which neither Inquisition nor Church had any -concern. It was regrettable that people should be burnt alive, but that -was entirely the affair of the civil power. The Church could not carry -out a sentence which it had not delivered; its own sentence was merely a -harmless pronouncement that the heretic was cut off from the Church. And -the Church always took particular care to plead for his gentle and -merciful treatment. Now the formula, “Without shedding of blood,” was -known to be a callous and cruel pretence. The Inquisition was perfectly -aware of the result of its relinquishing the heretic to the secular arm. -If it objected to men being burnt alive, if the civil power exceeded the -intentions and wishes of the Church, why did the Church never raise a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_114">{114}</a></span> -word of protest? What it did was usually to send a secretary to see that -the burning was properly carried out, and if it was not the magistrate -himself was liable to the penalties for heresy.<a id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a></p> - -<p>Finally, Monseigneur Douais claims that the Inquisition, by its wise -conformity with the social justice of the period, succeeded in reducing -heresy, and “separated the secular power from the spiritual domain of -the Church.”<a id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> Thus an arrangement by which the Church compelled the -State to do its dirty work is termed a “separation.” An ecclesiastic -sees separation where other people would see alliance. This is called -“reconciling the interests of God and Cæsar.” The blasphemy appears to -be quite unconscious.</p> - -<p>An article on the Inquisition by a Jesuit priest, Joseph Blötzer, of -Munich, which appears in the <i>Catholic Encyclopædia</i>, contains one or -two statements which may be very briefly noticed. The assertion that the -Church was more merciful than the State is true only in comparatively -rare instances; but, considering the claims of the Church to a Divine -origin and also the general spirit of its founder’s teachings, one would -expect the difference to be very much more perceptible.</p> - -<p>Heresy is said to have been primarily a political offence. On the -contrary, it was primarily a religious offence, as would naturally be -inferred from the flourishing condition of the Netherlands, the -Albigensian and other heretical communities, the remarkable industry of -whose members made them most valuable citizens. Throughout the shameful -story of religious persecution it was usually the Church which goaded -the sometimes reluctant State to suppress heresy; it was the Church that -nagged and bullied rulers into compliance with its<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_115">{115}</a></span> will. They were -fools to comply, but comply they did, frequently under threat of -excommunication. Occasionally the Church and its favourite department, -the Holy Office, did have a fit of compassion, but it was the exception -that proved the rule. And the fit usually came on when there was money -to be made by clemency.</p> - -<p>The Church, it is claimed, enjoined excommunication, but not death, as -the punishment of heresy. This is true of particular periods only; as -applied to the whole career of the Inquisition it is part of the -conventional hypocrisy. The Church disliked the term “blood,” but caused -it to be shed freely enough; it seldom used the word “death,” but it -handed over the heretic to the secular power with a perfectly clear -understanding that death was to be the penalty.</p> - -<p>According to Father Blötzer, the general lay opinion was that heretics -should be severely punished, and the Church endeavoured to soften this -feeling. If the Church is entitled to the credit of its rare attacks of -tenderness, it must also take the discredit of its general barbarity. It -cannot be allowed to “have it both ways.” And in the Middle Ages it was, -of course, the clerical body that was the fount of lay opinion regarding -heresy. Some doubt as to the softening process is natural enough in view -of the Papal decree of 1184 previously referred to. Peter Cantor was -ordered not to put the Cathari to death immediately after the -ecclesiastical judgment had been delivered, for the significant reason -that the Church might not be compromised. This shows that the Church was -aware of its complicity in the proceedings and in the fate of its -victims. In their language dealing with these matters the apologists of -the Inquisition display no small skill in casuistry. The <i>Catholic -Encyclopædia</i> palliates torture by saying that it was not intended as a -punishment, but as a method of eliciting truth. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_116">{116}</a></span> person on the rack -failed to appreciate the distinction. As torture usually elicited error, -the Inquisitors cannot be complimented on the rationality of their -methods. Other Inquisitorial terms are juggled with in the same way by -the apologists. Confiscation of a heretic’s goods was simply a mode of -defraying the costs and expenses of his trial. Imprisonment, again, was -not punishment; it was nothing more than a useful discipline which -afforded an opportunity of repentance.</p> - -<p>The Jesuit writer concludes that “the Inquisition marks a substantial -advance in the contemporary administration of justice, and therefore in -the general civilization of mankind.” If to prevent the honest -expression of thought is to advance civilization, the claim is just. If -the administration of justice is promoted by torture, when in the -extremity of pain people will confess anything, the correctness of the -assertion must be admitted. If to burn men and women alive is the way to -increase human happiness, the apologist is not audacious. Evidently the -Church has not yet repented of or profited by its own lurid past. It -would not be ashamed to persecute in the twentieth century if it had the -power. That power it still claims, and the right to exercise it even to -death is still maintained by its defenders.<a id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> In the middle of the -nineteenth century Rome was still able to imprison a vicar of the -Apostolic College who had embraced Protestant opinions.<a id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> The -Inquisitor-General of Ancona issued in 1843 a severe decree against -Jews, not as relapsed Christians, but simply as Jews.<a id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p> - -<p>According to this authoritative <i>Encyclopædia</i>, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_117">{117}</a></span> Inquisition still -preserves its official existence, and ranks as the “first among the -Roman Congregations.” “When momentous decisions are to be announced” the -Pope “always presides in person” over its deliberations; but in these -days the necessity for his attendance cannot frequently arise. The -Inquisition claims jurisdiction over all Christians, and even (as a -matter of theory) over the Cardinals of the Church, though in practice -the Cardinals are, as might be anticipated, exempt from any unwelcome -surveillance.</p> - -<p class="adtts">. . . .</p> - -<p>Readers who have thus far followed this brief account of the Inquisition -will have little difficulty in forming an opinion about it. Is it the -kind of institution they would like to see restored? Grant the -extravagant supposition that all the Inquisitors were men of probity, -kind, well-meaning, and conscientious—what we are chiefly concerned -with are the effects produced by the system of repression which they so -rigidly enforced. We have to judge whether it did or did not make for -human happiness and the advance of civilization. Intellectual freedom is -no less essential to progress than purity of morals. The Inquisition at -least temporarily destroyed the one, and certainly did not promote the -other. Knowledge grows by being shared; one idea leads, by association, -to others; one gleam of truth broadens into clearer light as the dawn -ushers in the day; one discovery affords a clue to another. For ever to -suppress truth is beyond the wit of man, but attempts to suppress it -have cumulative effects in prolonging the reign of ignorance. It is not -from the ignorant that intellectual greatness may be expected, and in -its effect upon public morals sheer ignorance is the mother of more -crime than some persons are willing to admit. Perhaps the Inquisitors -did not realize the evil of stifling thought for centuries; perhaps<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_118">{118}</a></span> -they did not know that the assassination of ideas is a crime. But their -twentieth-century apologists cannot plead this ignorance. They enjoy the -blessings of liberty, and defend the persecutor! They profit by the -heroism of those thousands of unknown faithful men and women who died -for religious freedom, and they would hand the world back to -intellectual slavery!</p> - -<p>No more summary verdict on the Inquisition can be given than the -concluding words of its chief historian: “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 -grim 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 reparation were doubt as to the -accuracy of the Church’s knowledge and attendance on the Sabbath. 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<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_119">{119}</a></span> higher -aspirations of humanity and stimulate its baser appetites.”<a id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> - -<p>This is a severe, but perhaps not unjust, verdict. Some allowance, -however, must be made for the customs of an intolerant and -semi-barbarous epoch. Catholic apologists are justified in claiming that -the Inquisition should be judged in relation to the times in which it -flourished. But this does not explain how it was that many men, both in -the Church and out of it, were so much in advance of the Inquisition as -to disapprove of people being put to death for their religious opinions. -If Thomas Aquinas advocated the death penalty for heresy, several -eminent Fathers of the Church deprecated it, holding persuasion to be -the better method. Why was not the milder and more ancient view adopted? -It is suicidal to admit that the Church held back from torture and death -for centuries on the ground that they were inconsistent with the spirit -of Christianity. The assertion clearly implies a recognition of the -incompatibility of the spirit of Christianity with calculated cruelty, -and if this recognition was confined to a few superior minds so much the -worse for the Church which paid no heed to them. There is obvious -insincerity in the plea that the Church adopted only with reluctance the -fatal policy of persecution. It insisted on that policy, often against -the remonstrances of the State. It claimed to be superior to the spirit -of the age, yet, on its own admission, yielded to the inferior -influence. In reality it did more; it actively and spontaneously made -persecution a fine art, and coerced the State to carry out its behests. -When the Church excuses its cruelty by pointing to the equal cruelty of -the medieval State it omits to mention that the State did not persecute -opinion as such. The Christian Church did.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page_120">{120}</a></span></p> - -<p>Let it be admitted that the Inquisitors—at least originally—were -well-intentioned men, who sought to promote religion as they understood -it. The question arises, Did they understand religion rightly? To them -religion was a complete and final revelation of a Divine will; the true -faith could be one only as God was one; all who sought to disturb that -faith, however good their intentions might be, were guilty of a sin -worse than temporal rebellion. Have we nothing to learn from their awful -error? If we may judge from the <i>Catholic Encyclopædia</i>, the Church of -Rome has not learned much. The attitude of the Inquisitors is not in the -least surprising when in the twentieth century we find persecution -defended as a religious duty. Another of its writers, Father Guiraud, -echoes De Maistre’s contention that the Church of Rome alone possesses -the truth, and therefore has a right to be intolerant.<a id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> The spirit of -orthodox clericalism unmistakably appears in the tendency common to all -these Romanist apologists to gloss over with a few smooth and -casuistical phrases the most appalling deeds of cold-blooded cruelty -which the world has ever seen. The commonwealth, says Father Guiraud, -“can no more recognize the maxim of unlimited and unbridled religious -freedom than it can adopt the suicidal principle of irreligion.”<a id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> -This implies that there is no <i>via media</i> between the rejection of all -religion and a blind acceptance of dogmatic authority, and involves a -claim practically identical with that of the Inquisition. If religious -persecution is excusable when the spirit of the age permits it, what are -we to think of those who justify persecution in an age which deems it a -blunder and a crime?</p> - - - - -<h2><span class="pagenum"><a id="page_121">{121}</a></span> -<a id="BIBLIOGRAPHY"></a>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> - - - -<p class="hang"><i>Achilli, Dr. G. G.</i> Dealings with the Inquisition. 1851.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Addis and Arnold.</i> A Catholic Dictionary.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Balmez, Rev. J.</i> European Civilization. 1868.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Buckle, H. T.</i> History of Civilization in England. 3 vols.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>De Maistre, J. M.</i> Letters to a Russian Gentleman on the Spanish Inquisition. 1851.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Douais, C., Bishop of Beauvais.</i> L’Inquisition. Paris, 1906.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Draper, J. W.</i> History of the Intellectual Development of Europe.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Langlois, C. V.</i> Histoire de l’Inquisition d’aprés des travaux récents. Paris, 1902.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Lea, H. C.</i> History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages. 3 vols. 1906.</p> -<p class="hang">—— History of Sacerdotal Celibacy. 2 vols. 1907.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Lecky, W. E. H.</i> History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Limborch, P. van.</i> History of the Inquisition. 1816.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Milman, Rev. H. H.</i> History of Latin Christianity. 9 vols.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Motley, J. L.</i> The Rise of the Dutch Republic.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Pastor, L.</i> Lives of the Popes. 12 vols. 1891-1912.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Prescott, W. H.</i> History of the Reign of Philip II.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Puigblanch, A.</i> The Inquisition Unmasked. 1816.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Ranke, L. von.</i> History of the Popes. 3 vols. 1908.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Rule, W. H.</i> History of the Inquisition. 2 vols. 1874.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Tanon, L.</i> Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en France. Paris, 1893.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>Vacandard, E.</i> The Inquisition. 1908.</p> -<p class="hang"><i>The Catholic Encyclopædia.</i></p> -<p class="hang"><i>Encyclopædia Britannica.</i></p> -<p class="hang"><i>Jewish Encyclopædia.</i></p> - - - - -<p class="fint"> -WATTS AND CO., PRINTERS,<br> -JOHNSON’S COURT, FLEET STREET,<br> -LONDON, E. C.<br> -</p> - - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Addis and Arnold, <i>Catholic Dictionary</i>, p. 776.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> H. C. Lea, <i>History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages</i>, -vol. iii, p. 630.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Lea, p. 639.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 642.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 644.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 648.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Lea, p. 643.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Lea, p. 645.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> H. C. Lea, <i>History of Sacerdotal Celibacy</i>, vol. ii, p. -347.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 319.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> L. Tanon, <i>Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en -France</i> (1893), pp. 290, 306.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition of Middle Ages</i>, vol. ii, p. 344.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 330.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Milman, <i>History of Latin Christianity</i>, vol. ix, p. 36.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 644.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, vol. ii, p. 346.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition in Middle Ages</i>, vol. i, p. 70.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. i, p. 85.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition of Middle Ages</i>, vol. i, p. 225.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The organization of the Medieval Inquisition was -practically the same as, though less efficient than, that of the Spanish -institution, which is explained in the author’s <i>Spanish Inquisition</i>.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Lea, <i>op. cit.,</i> vol. i, p. 228.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> At a later date the Dominicans became known as <i>Domini -canes</i>, or “dogs of the Lord.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Hastings, <i>Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics</i>; art. -“Inquisition.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Addis and Arnold, <i>A Catholic Dictionary</i>; art. -“Inquisition.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. i, p. 430.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>History of Latin Christianity</i>, vol. v, p. 316.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> Addis and Arnold, <i>Catholic Dictionary</i>, p. 459.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. i, p. 240.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Ranke, <i>Lives of the Popes</i>, vol. i, p. 144.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Motley, <i>Rise of the Dutch Republic</i>, part ii, ch. i.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Motley, part ii, ch. iii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, part ii, ch. v.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Motley, part ii, ch. viii.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> Motley, part ii, ch. v.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Motley, part ii, ch. x.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 204.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 318.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 472.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 530.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Lea, p. 534.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 544.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> <i>Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism</i>, vol. i, -p. 3.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 625.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Balmez, <i>European Civilisation</i> (London, 1855), p. 186.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Buckle, <i>History of Civilisation</i>, vol. i, p. 187.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Buckle, p. 189.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. i, p. 228.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Balmez, <i>European Civilisation</i>, p. 185.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Balmez, p. 181.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Pastor, <i>Lives of the Popes</i>, vol. iv, pp. 403-405.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 402.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. i, p. 385.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> C. Langlois, <i>L’Inquisition</i>, p. 65.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> L. Tanon, <i>Histoire des Tribunaux de l’Inquisition en -France</i>, p. 377.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Douais, <i>L’Inquisition</i>, p. 265 et seq.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 273.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> See <i>The Popes and their Church</i>, by J. McCabe, page 211.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> See <i>Dealings with the Inquisition</i>, by Dr. G. G. Achilli -(London, 1851).</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> <i>Ibid</i>, p. 392.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Lea, <i>Inquisition</i>, vol. iii, p. 650.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> <i>Catholic Encyclopædia</i>; art. “Toleration.”</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> - - - -</div> -<hr class="full"> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEDIEVAL INQUISITION ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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