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
The non-resistance doctrines of the Waldenses rendered them, as a rule,
a comparatively easy prey, but human nature sometimes asserted itself,
and a sharp persecution carried on at this period by Frère Jacques
Bernard, Inquisitor of Provence, provoked a bloody reprisal. In 1321 he
sent two deputies--Frères Catalan Fabri and Pierre Paschal--to the
diocese of Valence to make inquisition there. Former raids had left the
people in an angry mood. Multitudes had been subjected to the
humiliation of crosses, and these and their friends vowed revenge on the
appearance of the new persecutors. A plot was rapidly formed to
assassinate the inquisitors at a village where they were to pass the
night. For some reason, however, they changed their plans, and passed on
to the Priory of Montoison. The conspirators followed them, broke down
the doors, and slew them. Strangely enough, the Prior of Montoison was
accused of complicity in the murder, and was arrested when the murderers
were seized. The bodies of the martyrs were solemnly buried in the
Franciscan convent at Valence, where they soon began to manifest their
sanctity in miracles, and they would have been canonized by John XXII.
had not the quarrel which soon afterwards sprang up between him and the
Franciscans rendered it impolitic for him to increase the number of
Franciscan saints.[168]
A few Waldenses appear in the prosecutions of Henri de Chamay of
Carcassonne in 1328 and 1329, and, from the occasional notices which
have reached us in the succeeding years, we may conclude that
persecution, more or less fitful, never wholly ceased; while, in spite
of this, the heresy kept constantly growing. After the disappearance of
Catharism, indeed, it was the only refuge for ordinary humanity when
dissatisfied with Rome. The Begghards were mystics whose speculations
were attractive only to a certain order of minds. The Spirituals and
Fraticelli were Franciscan ascetics. The Waldenses sought only to
restore Christianity to its simplicity; their doctrines could be
understood by the poor and illiterate, groaning under the burdens of
sacerdotalism, and they found constantly wider acceptance among the
people, in spite of all the efforts put forth by the waning power of the
Inquisition. Benedict XII., in 1335, summoned Humbert II., Dauphin of
Viennois, and Adhémar of Poitou to assist the inquisitors. Humbert
obeyed, and from 1336 to 1346 there were expeditions sent against them
which drove them from their homes and captured some of them. Of these a
portion abjured and the rest were burned; their possessions were
confiscated and the bones of the dead exhumed. The secular and
ecclesiastical officials of Embrun joined in these efforts, but they
had no permanent result. In Languedoc Frère Jean Dumoulin, Inquisitor of
Toulouse, in 1344 attacked them vigorously, but only succeeded in
scattering them throughout Béarn, Foix, and Aragon. In 1348 Clement VI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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