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
In 1265 and
1266 Clement IV. is found issuing instructions as to the duties and
appointment of inquisitors as vigorously as though there were no
impediments to their functions. It seemed only a question of time,
however, when the districts yet open should be closed to them.[257]
There have been few revolutions more pregnant with results than that
which occurred when the popes, renouncing the hope of acquiring for
themselves the kingdom of Sicily, and vainly tempting Edmond, son of
Henry III. of England, succeeded in arousing the ambition of Charles of
Anjou, and caused a crusade to be preached everywhere in his behalf. The
papacy fully recognized the supreme importance of the issue, and staked
everything upon it. The treasures of salvation were poured forth with
unstinted hand, and plenary indulgences were given to all who would
contribute a fourth of their income or a tenth of their property. The
temporal treasury of the Church was drawn upon with equal liberality.
Three years’ tithe of all ecclesiastical revenues in France and
Flanders were granted to Charles, and when all this proved insufficient,
Clement IV. sacrificed the property of the Roman churches without
hesitation. An effort to raise one hundred thousand livres by pledging
it brought in only thirty thousand, and then he pawned for fifty
thousand more the plate and jewels of the Holy See. He could truly
answer Charles’s increasing demands for money to support his naked and
starving crusaders by declaring that he had done all he could, and that
he was completely exhausted--he had no mountains and rivers of gold, and
could not turn earth and stones into coin. So utter was his penury that
the cardinals were reduced to living at the expense of the monasteries;
and when the Abbot of Casa Dei complained of the number quartered on
him, he was told that he would be relieved of the Cardinal of Ostia, but
that he must support the rest. More permanent relief, however, was found
at the expense of the foreigner by assigning to them revenues on
churches abroad on the liberal scale of three hundred marks a year
apiece.[258]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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