[1] Lea, op. cit., vol. i, p. 421. The use of torture, as Tanon has pointed out, had perhaps never been altogether discontinued. Some ecclesiastical tribunals, at least in Paris, made use of it in extremely grave cases, at the close of the twelfth andd beginning of the thirteenth centuries.[1] But this was exceptional: in Italy, apparently, it had never been used. [1] Tanon, op. cit., pp. 362-373. Gregory IX ignored all references to torture made in the Veronese code, and the constitutions of Frederic II. But Innocent IV, feeling undoubtedly that it was a quick and effective method for detecting criminals, authorized the tribunals of the Inquisition to employ it. In his bull _Ad Extirpanda_, he says: "The podestà or ruler (of the city) is hereby ordered to force all captured heretics to confess and accuse their accomplices by torture which will not imperil life or injure limb, just as thieves and robbers are forced to accuse their accomplices, and to confess their crimes; for these heretics are true thieves, murderers of souls, and robbers of the sacraments of God."[1] The Pope here tries to defend the use of torture, by classing heretics with thieves and murderers. A mere comparison is his only argument. [1] Bull _Ad Extirpanda_, in Eymeric, _Directorium_, Appendix, p. 8. This law of Innocent IV was renewed and confirmed November 30, 1259, by Alexander IV,[1] and again on November 3, 1265, by Clement IV.[2] The restriction of Innocent III to use torture "which should not imperil life or injure limb" (_Cogere citra membri diminutionem et mortis periculum_), left a great deal to the discretion of the Inquisitors. Besides flogging, the other punishments inflicted upon those who refused to confess the crime of which they were accused were antecedent imprisonment, the rack, the _strappado_, and the burning coals. [1] Potthast, _Regesta_, no. 17714. [2] Ibid., no. 19433. When after the first interrogatory the prisoner denied what the Inquisitors believed to be very probable or certain, he was thrown into prison. The _durus carcer et arcta vita_ was deemed an excellent method of extorting confessions. "It was pointed out," says Lea, "that judicious restriction of diet not only reduced the body, but weakened the will, and rendered the prisoner less able to resist alternate threats of death and promises of mercy. Starvation, in fact, was reckoned one of the regular and most efficient methods to subdue unwilling witnesses and defendants."[1] This was the usual method employed in Languedoc. "It is the only method," writes Mgr. Douais,[2] "to to extort confessions mentioned either in the records of the notary of the Inquisition of Carcassonne[3] or in the sentences of Bernard Gui. It was also the practice of the Inquisitors across the Rhine." [1] Lea, op. cit., vol. i, p. 421. [2] Douais, _Documents_, vol. i, p. ccxl. [3] Douais, _Documents_, vol. ii, p. 115 and seq.