At the same time, Castilian justice kept itself free from one of the worst abuses which, as we shall see hereafter, grew out of the use of torture, in the secret inquisitorial process which established itself almost everywhere. A law of Alfonso XI. issued in 1325 peremptorily ordered that the accused should not be denied the right to know the contents of the inquest made with respect to him, and that the names of the witnesses should be communicated to him so that he could defend himself freely and have all the means to which he was entitled of establishing his innocence. Ferdinand and Isabella, moreover, in 1480, decreed that all who desired counsel should be allowed the privilege, those who were poor being furnished at the public expense, and no torture could be inflicted before this was complied with. These laws, which offer so creditable a contrast to the legislation of other lands, remained in force and were embodied in the Recopilacion.[1501] CHAPTER V. CARLOVINGIAN AND FEUDAL LAW. In turning to the other barbarian races which inherited the fragments of the Roman empire, we find that the introduction of torture as a recognized and legal mode of investigation was long delayed. Under the Merovingians, as we have seen, its employment, though not infrequent, was exceptional and without warrant of law. When the slow reconstruction of society at length began, the first faint trace of torture is to be found in a provision respecting the crimes of sorcery and magic. These were looked upon with peculiar detestation, as offences against both God and man. It is no wonder then if the safeguards which the freeman enjoyed under the ordinary modes of judicial procedure were disregarded in the cases of those who violated every law, human and divine. The legislation of Charlemagne, indeed, was by no means merciful in its general character. His mission was to civilize, if possible, the savage and turbulent races composing his empire, and he was not overnice in the methods selected to accomplish the task. Still, he did not venture, even if he desired, to prescribe torture as a means of investigation, except in the case of suspected sorcerers, for whom, moreover, it is ordered indirectly rather than openly.[1502] Yet, by this time, the personal inviolability of the freeman was gone. The infliction of stripes and of hideous mutilations is frequently directed in the Capitularies, and even torture and banishment for life are prescribed as a punishment for insulting bishops and priests in church.[1503]