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
de Villars, on being refused, coolly proceeded to break open the door of
the chamber in which the registers were kept. The inquisitor appealed,
and again it was not to the pope, but to the Parlement, and that body,
in condemning de Villars to pay the costs and damages, did so on the
ground that the Inquisition was a royal and not an ecclesiastical court.
This was a Pyrrhic victory; the State had absorbed the Inquisition. It
was the same when, in 1334, Philippe listened to the complaints of the
inquisitors that his seneschals disturbed them in their jurisdiction,
and gave orders that they should enjoy all their ancient privileges, for
these are treated as derived wholly from the royal power. Henceforth the
Inquisition could exist only on sufferance, subject to the supervision
of the Parlement, while the Captivity of Avignon, followed by the Great
Schism, constantly gave to the temporal powers increased authority in
spiritual matters.[145]
How completely the Inquisition was becoming an affair of state is
indicated by two incidents. In 1340, when the lieutenant of the king in
Languedoc, Louis of Poitou, Count of Die and Valentinois, was making his
entry into the good city of Toulouse, he found the gate closed.
Dismounting and kneeling bareheaded on a cushion, he took an oath on the
Gospels, in the hands of the inquisitor, to preserve the privileges of
the Inquisition, and then another oath to the consuls to maintain the
liberties of the city. Thus both institutions were on the same footing
and required the same illusory guarantee, the very suggestion of which
would have been laughed to scorn by Bernard Gui. Again, in 1368, when
the royal revenues were depleted by the English wars and the ravages of
the Free Companies, and were insufficient to pay the wages of the
Inquisitor of Carcassonne, Pierre Scatisse, the royal treasurer,
ordered a levy by the consuls of twenty-six livres tournois to complete
the payment. Confiscations had long since ceased to meet the
expenditures, but the inquisitor was a royal official and must be paid
by the city if not by the state.[146]
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