Mediæval Heresy & the InquisitionTurberville, Arthur Stanley
History
Mediæval Heresy & the Inquisition
Turberville, Arthur Stanley
Heresy; Inquisition; Sects, Medieval
[331] _Summa_, 2, 2, qu. 11, arts. 3 and 4. ‘Multo enim gravius
corrumpere fidem, per quam est animae vita, quam falsare pecuniam, per
quam temporali vitae subvenitur. Unde si falsarii pecuniae vel alii
malefactores statim per saeculares principes juste morti traduntur,
multo magis haeretici statim ex quo de haeresi convincuntur, possunt
non solum excommunicari, sed et juste occidi.’ Vacandard (p. 176)
answers: ‘Such reasoning is not very convincing. Why should not the
life-imprisonment of the heretic safeguard the faithful as well as his
death? Will you answer that this penalty is too trivial to prevent
the faithful from falling into heresy? If that be so, why not at
once condemn all heretics to death, even when repentant? That would
terrorize the wavering ones all the more. But St. Thomas evidently was
not thinking of the logical consequences of his reasoning. His one aim
was to defend the criminal code in vogue at the time. That is his only
excuse. For we must admit that rarely has his reasoning been so faulty
and so weak as in his thesis upon the coercive power of the Church
and the punishment of heresy.’ St. Thomas’s logic is sounder than his
apologist’s, if his humanity is less! It is not St. Thomas’s logic that
is at fault, but the standpoint of mediæval Christianity, which it is
vain to seek to harmonize with modern humanitarianism.
[332] St. John, xv, 6. Vacandard, p. 177. ‘To regard our Saviour as the
precursor or rather the author of the criminal code of the Inquisition
evidences, one must admit, a very peculiar temper of mind.’ So judged,
again by modern humanitarianism.
[333] Tanon, pp. 52-3. To be carefully distinguished from Arnaud of
Citeaux, Archbishop of Narbonne, the former papal legate in Languedoc.
[334] Vaissete & Devic, _op. cit._, vol. iv, p. 118. ‘Clamor validus et
insinuatio luctuosa fidelium subditorum, processus suos inquisitionis
negotio a captionibus, quaestionibus, et excogitatis tormentis
incipiens personas quas pro libito asserit haeretica labe notatas,
abnegare Christum ... vi vel motu tormentorum fateri compellit.’
[335] See Douais, _Documents_, vol. ii, pp. 303-27, for particulars of
this commission.
[336] The bull, _Multorum querela_, incorporated in the decrees of this
Council. See Frédéricq, _Corpus_, vol. i, No. 170.
[337] _Practica_, p. 188.
[338] Tanon, p. 116.
[339] See Tanon, p. 119. Also the case of the Sieur de Partenay, the
most powerful noble of Poitou. Lea, vol. ii, p. 124.
[340] Lea, vol. ii, p. 130.
[341] Lea, vol. ii, pp. 130-2.
[342] _Ibid._, p. 140.
[343] Lea, vol. ii. p. 341.
[344] Lea, vol. ii, p. 221. For Peter Martyr, see Ludovico à Paramo,
pp. 108-9.
[345] Lea, vol. ii, p. 236.
[346] Lea, vol. ii. p. 236. Notably Honorius III in 1286, who, in
consideration of the fidelity of the people of Tuscany, relieved them
of the penalties of heresy, save in the case of the relapsed, so that
the children of heretics could enjoy the property confiscated from
their parents.
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