In order to form some correct idea of the jurisprudence of the
Inquisition, and the forms of its proceedings, unknown to civil
tribunals, let us take a cursory view of the "Directory of Inquisitors,"
which Nicolas Eymeric, grand inquisitor of the kingdom of Aragon about
the middle of the fourteenth century, composed in Latin, and addressed
to his brother inquisitors, in virtue of the authority of his office.
A short time after the invention of printing, an edition of this work
was printed at Barcelona, and soon conveyed to all the inquisitions in
the Christian world. A second edition appeared at Rome in 1578, in
folio, with scholia and commentaries by Francois Pegna, doctor in
theology and canonist.
The following eulogium on the work is given by the editor in an epistle
dedicatory to Gregory XIII.: "While Christian princes are everywhere
engaged in combating with arms the enemies of the Catholic religion, and
pouring out the blood of their soldiers to support the unity of the
Church and the authority of the apostolic see, there are also zealous
and devoted writers, who toil in obscurity, either to refute the
opinions of innovators or to arm and direct the power of the laws
against their persons, in order that the severity of punishments, and
the solemnity and torture attending executions, keeping them within the
bounds of duty, may produce that effect upon them which cannot be
produced in them by the love of virtue.
"Although I fill only the lowest place among these defenders of
religion, I am nevertheless animated with the same zeal for repressing
the impious audacity and horrible depravity of the broachers of
innovation. The labor which I here present to you on the 'Directory of
Inquisitions,' will be a proof of my assertion. This work of Nicolas
Eymeric, respectable for its antiquity, contains a summary of the
principal articles of faith, and an elaborate and methodical code of
instruction for the tribunals of the Holy Inquisition, on the means
which they ought to employ for the repression and extirpation of
heretics; on which account I felt it my duty to offer it in homage to
your holiness, as the chief of the Christian republic."