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A HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION

VOL. I.




A HISTORY OF

THE INQUISITION

OF

THE MIDDLE AGES.

BY

HENRY CHARLES LEA,
AUTHOR OF
"AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SACERDOTAL CELIBACY," "SUPERSTITION AND FORCE,"
"STUDIES IN CHURCH HISTORY."

_IN THREE VOLUMES_.

VOL. I.

NEW YORK:

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE.

Copyright, 1887, by HARPER & BROTHERS.

_All rights reserved._




PREFACE.


The history of the Inquisition naturally divides itself into two
portions, each of which may be considered as a whole. The Reformation is
the boundary-line between them, except in Spain, where the New
Inquisition was founded by Ferdinand and Isabella. In the present work I
have sought to present an impartial account of the institution as it
existed during the earlier period. For the second portion I have made
large collections of material, through which I hope in due time to
continue the history to its end.

The Inquisition was not an organization arbitrarily devised and imposed
upon the judicial system of Christendom by the ambition or fanaticism of
the Church. It was rather a natural--one may almost say an
inevitable--evolution of the forces at work in the thirteenth century,
and no one can rightly appreciate the process of its development and the
results of its activity without a somewhat minute consideration of the
factors controlling the minds and souls of men during the ages which
laid the foundation of modern civilization. To accomplish this it has
been necessary to pass in review nearly all the spiritual and
intellectual movements of the Middle Ages, and to glance at the
condition of society in certain of its phases.

At the commencement of my historical studies I speedily became convinced
that the surest basis of investigation for a given period lay in an
examination of its jurisprudence, which presents without disguise its
aspirations and the means regarded as best adapted for their
realization. I have accordingly devoted much space to the origin and
development of the inquisitorial process, feeling convinced that in this
manner only can we understand the operations of the Holy Office and the
influence which it exercised on successive generations. By the
application of the results thus obtained it has seemed to me that many
points which have been misunderstood or imperfectly appreciated can be
elucidated. If in this I have occasionally been led to conclusions
differing from those currently accepted, I beg the reader to believe
that the views presented have not been hastily formed, but that they are
the outcome of a conscientious survey of all the original sources
accessible to me.

No serious historical work is worth the writing or the reading unless it
conveys a moral, but to be useful the moral must develop itself in the
mind of the reader without being obtruded upon him. Especially is this
the case in a history treating of a subject which has called forth the
fiercest passions of man, arousing alternately his highest and his
basest impulses. I have not paused to moralize, but I have missed my aim
if the events narrated are not so presented as to teach their
appropriate lesson.

It only remains for me to express my thanks to the numerous friends and
correspondents who have rendered me assistance in the arduous labor of
collecting the very varied material, much of it inedited, on which the
present work is based. Especially do I desire to record my gratitude to
the memory of that cultured gentleman and earnest scholar, the late Hon.
George P. Marsh, who for so many years worthily represented the United
States at the Italian court. I never had the fortune to look upon his
face, but the courteous readiness with which he aided my researches in
Italy merit my warmest acknowledgments. To Professor Charles Molinier,
of the University of Toulouse, moreover, my special thanks are due as to
one who has always been ready to share with a fellow-student his own
unrivalled knowledge of the Inquisition of Languedoc. In the Florentine
archives I owe much to Francis Philip Nast, Esq., to Professor Felice
Tocco, and to Doctor Giuseppe Papaleoni; in those of Naples, to the
Superintendent Cav. Minieri Riccio and to the Cav. Leopoldo Ovary; in
those of Venice to the Cav. Teodoro Toderini and Sig. Bartolomeo
Cecchetti: in those of Brussels to M. Charles Rahlenbeck. In Paris I
have to congratulate myself on the careful assiduity with which M.L.
Sandret has exhausted for my benefit the rich collections of MSS.,
especially those of the Bibliothèque Nationale. To a student, separated
by a thousand leagues of ocean from the repositories of the Old World,
assistance of this nature is a necessity, and I esteem myself fortunate
in having enlisted the co-operation of those who have removed for me
some of the disabilities of time and space.

Should the remaining portion of my task be hereafter accomplished, I
hope to have the opportunity of acknowledging my obligations to many
other gentlemen of both hemispheres who have furnished me with
unpublished material illustrating the later development of the Holy
Office.

PHILADELPHIA, _August_, 1887.



CONTENTS.

BOOK I.--ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE INQUISITION.


CHAPTER I.--THE CHURCH.


                                                                    Page

Domination of the Church in the Twelfth Century                        1

Causes of Antagonism with the Laity                                    5

   Election of Bishops                                                 6

   Simony and Favoritism                                               7

   Martial Character of Prelates                                      10

   Difficulty of Punishing Offenders                                  13

   Prostitution of the Episcopal Office                               16

   Abuse of Papal Jurisdiction                                        17

   Abuse of Episcopal Jurisdiction                                    20

   Oppression from the Building of Cathedrals                         23

   Neglect of Preaching                                               23

   Abuses of Patronage                                                24

   Pluralities                                                        25

   Tithes                                                             26

   Sale of the Sacraments                                             27

   Extortion of Pious Legacies                                        28

   Quarrels over Burials                                              30

   Sexual Disorders                                                   31

   Clerical Immunity                                                  32

   The Monastic Orders                                                34

The Religion of the Middle Ages                                       39

   Tendency to Fetishism                                              40

   Indulgences                                                        41

   Magic Power of Formulas and Relics                                 47

Contemporary Opinion                                                  51


CHAPTER II.--HERESY.

Awakening of the Human Intellect in the Twelfth Century               57

Popular Characteristics                                               59

Nature of Heresies                                                    60

Antisacerdotal Heresies                                               62

Nullity of Sacraments in Polluted Hands                               62

Tanchelm                                                              64

Éon de l'Étoile                                                       66

Peculiar Civilization of Southern France                              66

Pierre de Bruys                                                       68

Henry of Lausanne                                                     69

Arnaldo of Brescia                                                    72

Peter Waldo and the Waldenses                                         76

Passagii, Joseppini, Siscidentes, Runcarii                            88


CHAPTER III.--THE CATHARI.

Attractions of the Dualistic Theory                                   89

Derivation of Catharism from Manichæism                               89

Belief and Organization of the Catharan Church                        93

Missionary Zeal and Thirst for Martyrdom                             102

Not Devil-worshippers                                                105

Spread of Catharism from Slavonia                                    107

Diffusion throughout Europe in the Eleventh Century                  108

Increase in