A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume IILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume II
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
have his proclamation calling upon every one to aid Copin, sergeant of
the Bailli of Caen, who had been despatched in her pursuit. Frère Duval
was apparently making an extended inquest, for July 5 he summons the
people and clergy of Orleans to attend his sermon on the 7th. A
fortnight later he is back in Normandy and has discovered a nest of
heretics near Evreux, for on July 21 we have his citation of thirteen
persons from a little village hard by to appear before him. These
fragmentary and accidental remains show that his life was a busy one and
that his labors were not unfruitful. A letter of the young Philippe le
Bel, in February, 1285, to his officials in Champagne and Brie, ordering
them to lend all aid to the inquisitor Frère Guillaume d’Auxerre,
indicates that those provinces were about to undergo a searching
examination.[133]
The inquisitors of France complained that their work was impeded by the
universal right of asylum which gave protection to criminals who
succeeded in entering a church. No officer of the law dared to follow
and make an arrest within the sacred walls, for a violation of this
privilege entailed excommunication, removable only after exemplary
punishment. Heretics were not slow in availing themselves of the
immunity thus mercifully afforded by the Church which they had wronged,
and in the jealousy which existed between the secular clergy and the
inquisitors there was apparently no effort made to restrict the abuse.
Martin IV. was accordingly appealed to, and in 1281 he issued a bull
addressed to all the prelates of France, declaring that such perversion
of the right of asylum was no longer to be permitted; that in such
cases the inquisitors were to have full opportunity to vindicate the
faith, and that so far from being impeded in the performance of their
duty, they were to be aided in every way. The special mention in this
bull of apostate Jews along with other heretics indicates that this
unfortunate class formed a notable portion of the objects of
inquisitorial zeal. Several of them, in fact, were burned or otherwise
penanced in Paris between 1307 and 1310.[134]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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