A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages Volume III Part 52

[657] Reusch, Der Index der verbotenen Bucher, II. 843, 986.--Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary s. v. Immaculate.

[658] Reusch, op. cit. II. 989.

[659] Mosheim de Beghardis, pp. 368, 378.--Eymeric. pp. 311-16.

[660] Albertini Repertor. Inquis. s. vv. Libri, Scriptura.--Raynald. ann. 1501, No. 36.

[661] Concil. Lateran. V. Sess. IX. (Harduin. IX. 1779-81).

These rules were probably enforced only where there was an Inquisition in working order. In the edition of Nifo's work, De Coelo et Mundo, printed at Naples in 1517, there is an imprimatur by Antonio Caietano, prior of the Dominican convent, reciting the conciliar decree, and stating that in the absence of the inquisitor he had been deputed by the Vicar of Naples to examine the work, in which he found no evil.

In the Venice editions of Joachim of Flora, printed in 1516 and 1517, there is not only the permission of the inquisitor and of the Patriarch of Venice, but also that of the Council of Ten, showing that the press was subjected to no little impediment.

In the contemporaneous Lyons edition of Alvaro Pelayo's De Planctu Ecclesioe (1517), however, there is no imprimatur, and evidently there was no censorship, and the same is the case in such German books of the period as I have had an opportunity of examining.

[662] S. Raymondi Summ. I. VI. i.--I. Extrav. Commun. I. viii.--Lib. Carolin. III. 1, 3.--Harduin. Concil. IV. 131, 453-4, 747, 775, 970.--Hartzheim Concil. German. I. 390-6.--Eymeric. p. 325.--Tocco, L'Eresia nel Medio Evo, pp. 389-90.--C. 9, 11, Extra, I. xi.

When Sigismund of Austria, in his quarrel with Nicholas of Cusa over the bishopric of Brixen, refused to observe the interdict cast on his territories, Pius II., in 1460, summoned him to trial within sixty days as a heretic, because his disobedience showed him to be notoriously guilty of that heresy of heresies, disbelief in the article of the Creed, "Credo in unam sanctam Catholicam et Apostolicam ecclesiam" (Freher et Struv. II. 192).

[663] Innoc. PP. III. Regest. VII. 47.--Batthyani Legg. Eccles. Hung. II. 355-6.--Ripoll I. 70-1, 186.--Wadding. ann. 1351, No. 8; ann. 1354, No. 4, 5.

[664] Innoc. PP. III.. Regest. VII. 2-12, 121, 152-4, 164, 203-5; IX. 243-6; X. 49-51.

[665] C. 35 Decr. P. II. Caus. xxiv. Q. 9.--Berger, Registres d'Innoc. IV. No. 573, 1817.--Raynald. ann. 1233, No. 1-15.--Epistt. Saeculi XIII. T. I. No. 725 (Pertz).--Buchon, Recherches et Materiaux, pp. 31, 40-2.

[666] Theiner Monument. Slavor. Meridional. I. 120.--Berger, Registres d'Innoc. IV. No. 2058, 4053, 4750, 4769.--Barb, de' Mironi, Hist. Eccles. di Vicenza II. 102.--Thomas, Registres de Boniface VIII. No. 613-4.--Raynald. ann. 1318, No. 57.--Ripoll II. 172, 482.--B. Guidon. Practica P. II. No. 9; P. V. No. 11.--Eymeric. p. 303.--Harduin. VII. 1700, 1709, 1720.

The relations between the races in the Levant were not such as to win over the Greeks. A writer of the middle of the thirteenth century, who was zealous for the reunion of the churches, repeatedly alludes to the repulsion caused by the tyranny and injustice of the Latins towards the Greeks. Even the lowest of the former treated the Greeks with contempt, pulling them by the beard and stigmatizing them as dogs.--Opusc. Tripart.i.ti P. II. c. xi., xvii. (Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. II. 215, 216, 221).

[667] Raynald. ann. 1373, No. 18; ann. 1375, No. 25.

[668] Raynald. ann. 1449, No. 10.--Ripoll IV. 72.

In 1718 the congregation of the Propaganda permitted the erection of a Greek episcopate in Calabria, to supply the spiritual needs of the Greek population. The Greeks in the Island of Sicily complained of the expense of sending their youths to Calabria or to Rome for ordination, and in 1784, at the instance of Ferdinand III., Pius VI. authorized the establishment of another Greek bishop in Palermo.--Gallo, Codice Ecclesiastico Siculo, IV. 47 (Palermo, 1852).

[669] Th. Cantimprat. Bonum Universale, Lib. II. c. 2.--Humb. de Roman. Tract. in Concil. Lugdun. P. III. c. 8. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 197). Cf. Opusc. Tripart. P. III. c. viii. (Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. II. 227).

William Langland sets forth the popular appreciation of the Quaestuarii with sufficient distinctness-- "Here preched a Pardonere as he a prest were, Broughte forth a bulle with bishopes seles, And seide that hym-selfe myghte asoilen hem alle Of falshed of fastyng of vowes ybroken. Lewed men leued hym well and lyked his wordes ... ...Were the bischop yblissed and worth bothe his eares His seel shulde not be sent to deceyue the peple."

Piers Plowman, Prologue, 68-79.

[670] C. xi. -- 2 s.e.xto v. ii.--Bern. Guidon. Practica P. v. (Ed. Douais, p. 199).--Eymeric. pp. 107, 564.--Coll. Doat, XXVI. 314.

[671] 2 Clement, v. ix.--Concil. Senonens. ann. 1485, Art. II. c. 8 (D'Achery, I. 758).--C. Trident. Sess. xxi. De Reform. c. 9.

[672] Bertholdi a Ratispona Sermones, Monachii, 1882, p. 93.

[673] Carmina Burana, Breslau, 1883, pp. 22-3.--This was a favorite theme with the poetasters of the time-- "Cardinales ut praedixi novo jure crucifixi vendunt patrimoniam. Petrus foris, intus Nero, intus lupus, foris vero sicut agni ovium" (Ib. p. 18), and this pervaded the whole Church-- "Veneunt altaria, venit eucharistia c.u.m sit nugatoria gratia venalis."--(Ib. p. 41).

The honest Franciscan, John of Winterthur, attributed all the evils which oppressed the Church to its venality-- "Ecclesiam nummus vilem fecit meretricem, Nam pro mercede scortum dat se cupienti. Nummus cuncta facit nil bene just.i.tia, Cunctis prost.i.tuens pro munere seque venalem, Singula facta negat vel agit pro stipite solo; Divino zelo nulla fere peragit." Vitodurani Chron. ann. 1343.

[674] C. 7, 20, 21 Decr. P. II. Caus. 1, Q. 1.--Th. Aquin. Summ. Sec. Sec. Q. 100, Art. 1.--Gloss. Bernardi; Gloss. Hostiens. (Eymeric. pp. 138, 143, 165).--Eymeric. p. 318.--Berger, Registres d'Inn. IV. No. 2977, 3010, 4668, 4718.--Thomas, Reg. de Boniface VIII. No. 547, 554, 557-8, 644, 726, 747.--Taxae Sac. Poenitent. Ed. Friedrichs, p. 35; Ed. Gibbings, p. 3 (cf. Van Espen, Dissert. in Jus Canon. noviss. P. III. p. 699).--Durandi Specul. Juris Lib. IV. Partic. iv. Rubr. de Simonia.

Clement IV. was exceptional in seeking to repress the acquisitiveness of the curia. When, in 1266, Jean de Courtenai was elected Archbishop of Reims, and enc.u.mbered his see with a debt of twelve thousand livres to pay the Sacred College, Clement promptly excommunicated him and summoned him to reveal the names of all who partic.i.p.ated in the spoils. Yet Clement had no scruple in following the example of his predecessor, Urban IV., in the negotiations which resulted in the crusade of Charles of Anjou against Manfred. Simon, Cardinal of S. Cecilia, sent to France for the purpose, was furnished with special powers to dispense for defects of age or birth or other irregularities in the acquisition of benefices, for holding pluralities, and for marriage within the prohibited grades, and was instructed to distribute these favors so as to remove obstacles to the enterprise (Urbani PP. IV. Epistt. 32-35, 40, 64-5, 68; Clement. PP. IV. Epistt. 8, 19, 20, 41, 383.--ap. Martene Thesaur. II.).

[675] Von der Hardt, I. XVI. 841.--D'Argentre I. II. 228.--Theod. a Niem de Schismate Lib. II. c. xiv.; Ejusd. Nemor. Unionis Tract. VI. c. 36, 37, 39.--Poggii Bracciol. Dialogus contra Hypocrisim.--Gobelini Personae Cosmodrom. aet. V. c. 85.

The question as to the possibility of a pope committing simony was long under discussion. At the Council of Lyons, in 1245, Guiard, Bishop of Cambrai, was asked by a cardinal if he believed it possible, when he rendered a most emphatic answer in the affirmative (Th. Cantimprat. Bonum Universale, Lib. II. c. 2). Thomas Aquinas not only a.s.serts it, but adds that the higher the position of the offender the greater the sin (Summ. Sec. Sec. Q. 100, Art. 1, No. 7). Yet the venality of the Holy See was too notorious for concealment, and arguments were framed to prove that the pope had a right to sell preferments, for which see the Aureum Speculum Papoe, P. II. c. 1, written in 1404, under Boniface IX., and the laborious effort of William of Ockham to controvert the a.s.sertion. The ingenious methods of the curia to extract the last penny from applicants are described in P. I. c. v. of the Speculum. The author has no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing the curia to be in a state of d.a.m.nation (Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. II. 63, 70, 81, 461). All who deplored the condition of the Church instinctively turned to the Holy See as the source of corruption and demoralization. Nothing can well be conceived more terrible than the account of it given about this time by Cardinal Matthew of Krokow in his tract De Squaloribus Romanoe Curioe (Ib. II. 584-607).

[676] Gersoni Tract. de Symonia.--D'Argentre I. II. 234.--Goldast. Const.i.t. Imp. I. 402.

In La deploration de l'Eglise militante of Jean Boucher, in 1512, simony is described as the chief source of trouble-- "Ceste sixte gloute et insatiable Du sanctuaire elle a fait ung estable, Et de mes loys coustume abhominable. Ha, ha, mauldicte et fausse symonie! Tu ne cessas jamais de m'infester.... Pour ung courtault on baille ung benefice; Pour ung baiser ou aultre malefice Quelque champis aura ung evesche; Pour cent escus quelque meschant novice, Plein de luxure et de tout aultre vice, De dignitez sera tout empesche." (Bull. de la Soc. de l'Hist. du Prot. Francais, 1856, pp. 268-9).

[677] Vaissette, Ed. Privat, X. Pr. 242, 254.--See the author's "Studies in Church History," 2 Ed. pp. 210 sqq.

[678] Nic. de Clemangis de Ruina Ecclesiae, cap. xix.-x.x.xvi.

[679] S. Bonaventurae Libell. Apologet. Quaest i.; Tractatus quare Fr. Minores praedicent.

[680] Pelayo, Heterodoxos Espanoles, I. 721-3, 735-6.

[681] Marsil. Patav. Defensor Pacis II. xi. Cf. cap. xxiii., xxiv.--Alvar. Pelag. de Planct. Eccles. Lib. II. Art. vii.--Baluz. et Mansi, III. 24-5.

[682] Chron. Gla.s.sberger ann. 1335.--Albert. Argentinens. Chron. ann. 1351.--Hist. Ordin. Carthus. (Martene Ampl. Coll. VI. 187).

[683] Petrarchi Lib. sine t.i.tulo Epistt. vii., viii., ix., xii., xvi.--Decamerone, Giorn. I. Nov. 2.

Petrarch's wrath at the papal court is explicable if there is truth in the disgusting story alleged in explanation of the enigmatical allusions in his Canzone XXII.--"Mai non vo' piu cantor com'io soleva."

[684] Revelat. S. Brigittae Lib. I. c. 41; Lib. IV. c. 33, 37, 142.

St. Birgitta was canonized in 1391 by Boniface IX., and after the Schism was healed this was confirmed in 1419 by Martin IV. Both popes ascribe her revelations to the Holy Ghost.

[685] Epistole della Santa Caterina da Siena, Lett. 9, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 35, 38, 39, 41, 44, 50, 91, etc. (Milano, 1843).

[686] Telesphori de magnis Tribulationibus (Venet. 1516, fol. 11).--Henrici de Ha.s.sia Lib. contra Thelesphori Vaticinia c. i., ii., x., xx., x.x.xvi., x.x.xvii., xli., xlii., (Pez, Thesaur. Anecd. T. I. P. II.).

Henry wrote a letter to the princes of the Church in the name of Lucifer, Prince of Darkness and Emperor of Acheron, similar to that which agitated Clement VI. in 1351 (Pez, Dissert, p. lxxix.).

[687] Libellus Supplex oblatus Papae in Concilio Pisano (Martene Ampl. Coll. VII. 1124-32).--Von der Hardt, IV. 1414, 1417-18, 1422-3, 1426-7, 1432.--Rymer, X. 433-6.--Gobelini Personae Cosmodrom. aet. VI. cap. 96.

[688] Andreae Gubernac. Concil. P. II., III., V. cap. 2 (Von der Hardt, VI. 175, 179, 209).--Nideri Formicar. Lib. I. c. vii.

[689] Fascic. Rer. Expetend. et Fugiend. I. 68, 417; II. 105 (Ed. 1690).--Herm. Ryd de Reen de Vita Clericor. (Ib. II. 142).--Mem. de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. III. ch. 43.--Steph. Infessurae Diar. Urb. Roman. ann. 1474 (Eccard. Corp. Hist. II. 1939).--Wimpfeling de vita et moribus Episcoporum, Argentorati, 1512.--De Munditia et Cast.i.tate Sacerdotum (sine nota, sed Parisiis c. 1500).--Rapp, Die Hexenprocesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol, p. 148.

[690] Joann. de Trittenheim Lib. Lugubris de Statu et Ruina Monast. Ord. c. i., iii.--Angeli Rumpheri Hist. Formbach. Lib. II. (Pez, I. iii. 446, 451-2).

This is by no means a solitary case. In 1329 the Abbot of La Gra.s.se was by a judgment of the Parlement of Paris deprived for life of haute justice, and the abbey condemned in a fine of thirty thousand livres to the king and six hundred livres damages to victims, for murders committed, illegal tortures, and other crimes.--A. Molinier, Vaissette, Ed. Privat, IX. 417.

[691] Gersoni de Reform. Eccles. c. xxiv. (Von der Hardt, I. v. 125-8).--Theod. Vrie Hist. Concil. Constant. Lib. IV. Dist. vii.--Revel. S. Brigittae Lib. VII. cap. vii.

[692] Alvar. Pelag. de Planctu Eccles. Lib. II. Art. i., ii.--Meyeri Annal. Flandriae Lib. XIII. ann. 1379.--Religieux de S. Denys, Hist. de Charles VI. Liv. XVI. ch. 10; Liv. x.x.xv. ch. 8.--Wadding. ann. 1405, No. 7.--aen. Sylvii opp. inedd. (Atti della Accad. del Lincei, 1883, pp. 558-9).--Steph. Infessurae Diar. (Eccard. II. 1988, 1996-7).

[693] Pet. Alliacens. Principium in Cursum Bibliae (Fascic. Rer. Expetend. II. 516).--Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquis. s. v. h.o.e.resis, No. 21.

[694] It would scarce seem possible that, in the full light of the nineteenth century, men could still be found hardy enough to defend the position of the Church towards heretics, but it is a sign of the progress of humanity that this is no longer done by justifying the irrefragable facts of history, but by boldly denying them. In a recent work by M. le Chanoine Claessens, "Camerier secret de Sa Saintete," who informs us that after long and serious study of the original sources he writes with scrupulous impartiality and with the calmness befitting history, we are told that the penalty of the Church for public and obstinate heretics is simply excommunication, and that it has never allowed itself to employ any direct constraint, whether for the conversion of Jews and Pagans or to bring back wandering Christians to unity. At the same time he is careful to make the reservation that the Church possesses an incontestable right to use physical means to compel those who have been baptized to fulfil the obligations thus a.s.sumed.--Claessens, L'Inquisition et le regime penal pour la repression de l'heresie dans les Pays-Bas du pa.s.se, Tournhout, 1886, p. 5.

[695] Jacques Fournier (subsequently Benedict XII.) was made Cardinal of S. Prisca in the creation of December 18, 1327, but he had been previously translated from the see of Pamiers to that of Mirepoix (Ciacconii Vit. Pontif. Ed. 1677, II. 424). Pierre Recordi's trial must, therefore, have endured for at least several years.