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
What effect on the future of the Waldenses a continuance of Gregory’s
remorseless energy would have wrought can only be matter of conjecture.
He died March 27, 1378, and the Great Schism which speedily followed
gave the heretics some relief, during which they continued to increase,
although in 1380 Clement VII. renewed the commission of Borel, whose
activity was unabated until 1393, and his victims were numbered by the
hundred. A good many conversions rewarded his labors, and the converts
were allowed to retain their property on payment of a certain sum of
money, as shown by a list made out in 1385. In 1393 he is said to have
burned a hundred and fifty at Grenoble in a single day. San Vicente
Ferrer was a missionary of a different stamp, and his self-devoted
labors for several years in the Waldensian valleys won over numerous
converts. His memory is still cherished there, and the village of
Puy-Saint-Vincent, with a chapel dedicated to him, shows that his kindly
ministrations were not altogether lost.[175]
The Waldenses by this time were substantially the only heretics with
whom the Church had to deal outside of Germany. The French version of
the _Schwabenspiegel_, or South German municipal code, made for the
Romande speaking provinces of the empire, is assignable to the closing
years of the century, and it attests the predominance of Waldensianism
in its chapter on heresy, by translating the _Käezer_ (Catharus) of the
original by _vaudois_. Even “Leschandus” (Childeric III.) is said to
have been dethroned by Pope Zachary because he was a protector of
vaudois. That at this period the Inquisition had become inoperative in
those regions where it had once been so busy is proved by the episcopal
tribunals being alone referred to as having cognizance of such
cases--the heretic is to be accused to his bishop, who is to have him
examined by experts.[176]
How completely the Waldenses dropped out of sight in the struggles of
the Great Schism is seen in a bull of Alexander V., in 1409, to Frère
Pons Feugeyron, whose enormous district extended from Marseilles to
Lyons and from Beaucaire to the Val d’Aosta. This comprehended the whole
district which François Borel and Vicente Ferrer found swarming with
heretics. The inquisitor is urged to use his utmost endeavors against
the schismatic followers of Benedict XIII. and Gregory XII., against the
increasing numbers of sorcerers, against apostate Jews and the Talmud,
but not a word is said about Waldenses. They seem to have been
completely forgotten.[177]
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