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 scale at length seemed to turn with the advent on the scene of the
Mendicant Orders, full of the irrepressible enthusiasm, the disregard of
toil and hardship, and the thirst for martyrdom of which we have already
seen so many examples. Behind them now, moreover, was Gregory IX., the
implacable and indefatigable persecutor of heresy, who urged them
forward unceasingly. The Dominicans were first upon the ground. As early
as 1221 the Order formed establishments in Hungary, developing its
proselyting energy from that centre, and thus taking the heretics in
flank. The Dominican legend relates that the Inquisition was founded in
Hungary by Friar Jackzo (St. Hyacinth), an early member of the Order,
who died in 1257, and that it could soon boast of two martyred
inquisitors, Friar Nicholas, who was flayed alive, and Friar John, who
was lapidated by the heretics. In 1233 we hear of the massacre of ninety
Dominican missionaries among the Cumans, and it was perhaps somewhat
earlier than this that thirty-two were drowned by the Bosnian heretics,
whom they were seeking to convert; but Dominican ardor was only inflamed
by such incidents. Preparations were made for systematic work. In 1232
Gregory ordered his legate in Hungary, Giacopo, Bishop of Palestrina, to
convert the Bosnians. King Andreas gave the Banate to his son Coloman,
Duke of Croatia and Dalmatia, and ordered him to assist. Results soon
followed. The Catholic Bishop of Bosnia was himself infected with
heresy, and excused himself on the ground that he had ignorantly
supposed the Cathari to be orthodox. The Archbishop of Ragusa was
cognizant of this, and had paid no attention to it, so Giacopo
transferred Bosnia to Kalocsa--a transfer, however, which was for the
present inoperative. More important was the conversion of Ninoslav, who
abandoned the religion of his fathers in order to avert the attacks of
Coloman, which were rapidly dismembering his territories. He was
effusively welcomed by Gregory; he gave money to the Dominicans for the
building of a cathedral; many of his magnates followed his example, and
his kinsman, Uban Prijesda, handed his son to the Dominicans as a
hostage for the sincerity of his conversion. Gregory was overjoyed at
this apparent success. In 1233 he ordered the boy restored to his
father; he took Bosnia under the special protection of the Holy See, and
ordered Coloman to defend Ninoslav from the attacks of disaffected
heretics; he deposed the heretic bishop, and instructed his legate to
divide the territory into two or three sees, appointing proper
incumbents. The latter measure was not carried out, however, and a
German Dominican, John of Wildeshausen, was consecrated Bishop of all
Bosnia.[328]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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