A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages Volume I Part 45

Confiscation was an ordinary resource of mediaeval law. In England, from the time of Alfred, property, as well as life, was forfeited for treason (Alfred's Dooms 4--Thorpe I. 63), a penalty which, remained until 1870 (Low and Pulling's Dictionary of English History, p. 469). In France murder, false-witness, treachery, homicide, and rape were all punished with death and confiscation (Beaumanoir, Coutumes du Beauvoisis x.x.x.

2-5). By the German feudal law the fief might be forfeited for a vast number of offences, but the distinction was drawn that, if the offence was against the lord, the fief reverted to him; if simply a crime, it descended to the heirs (Feudor. Lib. I. t.i.t. xxiii.-iv.). In Navarre, confiscation formed part of the penalties of suicide, murder, treason, and even of blows or wounds inflicted where the queen or royal children were dwelling. There is a case in which confiscation was enforced on a man because he struck another at Olite, which was within a league of Tafalla, where the queen chanced to be staying at the time (G.B. de Lagreze, La Navarre Francaise II. 335).

[463] Guid. Fulcod. Quaest. XV.--Coll. Doat, XXI. 154; x.x.xIII. 207; x.x.xIV. 189; x.x.xV. 68.--MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 9992.--Coll.

Doat, XXVIII. 131, 164.--Responsa Prudentum (Doat, x.x.xVII. 83).--Grandes Chroniques, ann. 1323.--Les Olim, T. I. p. 556.--Guill. Pelisso Chron.

Ed. Molinier, p. 27.--Practica super Inquisit. (MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 14930, fol. 224).--Coll. Doat, XXVII. fol. 118.

In 1460, when the nearly extinct French Inquisition was resuscitated to punish the sorcerers of Arras, confiscation formed part of the sentence.--Memoires de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 4.

[464] Coll. Doat, x.x.xI. 175.--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c. xviii., xxv., xxvi., xli.--Archivio Storico Italiano, No. 38, p. 29.

[465] Lami, Antichita Toscane, 560, 588-9.--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c.

xxvi.--Archiv. di Firenze, Prov. S. Maria Novella, Nov. 18, 1327.--Archivio di Napoli, Regist. 253, Lett. A, fol. 63.

[466] Hist. Diplom. Frid. II. T. III. p. 466.--Kaltner, Konrad v.

Marburg u. die Inquisition, Prag, 1882, p. 147.--Mosheim de Beghardis, p. 347.

[467] Harduin. VII. 203.--Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1233 c. 4; ann. 1246, Append. c. 35.--Concil. Albiens. ann. 1254 c. 26.--Coll. Doat, XXI.

151.--Guid. Fulcod. Quaest. xv.--Isambert Anc. Loix Francaises, I.

257.--Arch. de l'Inq. de Carca.s.sonne (Doat, x.x.xI. 263).--Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquisit. s. v. _Filii_.

[468] Archives de l'Inq. de Carca.s.sonne (Doat, x.x.xI. 152).--Berger, Registres d'Innoc. IV. No. 1844.--MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No.

9992.--Lib. Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp. 158-62.--Arch. de l'Inq. de Carca.s.sonne (Doat, XXVII. 98).--Eymeric. Direct. Inquis. pp.

663-5.--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c. xviii., xix., xxv.

[469] Archives de l'eveche de Beziers (Doat, x.x.xI. 35).--Potthast No.

12743.--Isambert, I. 257.--C. 14 s.e.xto v. 2.--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret.

c. xxv.--Livres de Jostice et de Piet, Liv. I. t.i.t. iii. -- 7.

[470] Hoffmann, Geschichte der Inquisition, II. 370.--Lucii PP. III.

Epist. 171.--Innoc. PP. IV. Bull. _Ad extirpanda_, -- 34.--Ejusd. Bull.

_Super extirpatione_, 30 Mai. 1254 (Ripoll, I. 247).--Alex. PP. IV.

Bull. _Discretioni_ (Mag. Bull. Rom. I. 120).--Potthast No. 18200.

[471] Nich. PP. IV. Bull. _Habet vestrae_, 3 Oct. 1290.--Raynald. ann.

1438, No. 24.--Lami, Antichita Toscane, pp. 588-9.--Alv. Pelag. de Planctu Eccles. Lib. II. art. 67.--Archivio di Firenze, Riformagioni, Cla.s.se v. No. 110; Cla.s.se XI. Distinz. I, No. 39.

[472] Archivio di Napoli, Registro 9, Lett. C, fol. 90; Regist. 51, Lett. A, fol. 9; Reg. 98, Lett. B, fol. 13; Reg. 113, Lett. A, fol. 194; MSS. Chioccorelli, T. VIII.

[473] Albizio, Risposto al P. Paolo Sarpi, p. 25.--Sclopis, Antica Legislazione del Piemont, p. 485.

[474] Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c. xix., xxvi., xli. Cf. Pegnae Comment.

in Eymeric. p. 659.--Grandjean, Registre de Benoit XI. No.

299.--Raynald. ann. 1438, No. 24.--Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquis. s.

v. _Bona haereticorum_, No. 6, 8. As early as 1387, in the sentences of Antonio Secco on the Waldenses of the Alpine valleys, the confiscations are declared to be solely for the benefit of the Inquisition (Archivio Storico Italiano, No. 38, pp. 29, 36, 50).

It must be placed to the credit of Benedict XI, that, in 1304, he authorized Fra Simone, Inquisitor of Rome, to restore confiscations unjustly made by his predecessors and to moderate punishments inflicted by them if he considered them too severe (Grandjean, No. 474).

[475] Alonsi de Spina Fortalicii Fidei, Lib. II. Consid. xi. (fol. 74 Ed. 1594).

[476] MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 14930, fol. 224.--Livres de Jostice et de Plet, Liv. I. t.i.t. iii. -- 7.--Vaissette, III. 391.--Les Olim, I. 317.--MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 11847.--Concil. Insulan.

ann. 1251 c. 3.--Teulet, Layettes, II. 165.--Concil. Biterrens. ann.

1246 c. 4.--Vaissette, ed. Privat, VIII. 975.--Baluz. Concil. Narbonn.

Append. pp. 96-99.--Coll. Doat, x.x.xV. 48. Cf. Berger, Registres d'Innoc.

IV. No. 1543-4, 1547-8.--Vaissette, IV. 170.--Baudouin, Lettres inedites de Philippe le Bel, Paris, 1886, p. xl.

In spite of the general sense of equity manifested by St. Louis, he was by no means indifferent to acquisitions justified by the spirit of the age. In 1246 there seems to have been a raid made upon the Jews of Carca.s.sonne, who were thrown into prison. In July St. Louis writes to his seneschal that he wants to get from them all that he can; they are, therefore, to be held in strict duress, while the amount which they can be made to pay is to be reported to him. In August he writes that the sum proposed is not satisfactory, and the seneschal is instructed to extort all that he can.--Vaissette, ed. Privat, VIII. 1191-2.

[477] A. Molinier (Vaissette, ed. Privat, VII. 284-94; VIII.

919).--Coll. Doat, x.x.xIV. 131, 135, 189; x.x.xV. 93.--Urbani PP. IV.

Epist. 62 (Martene Thesaur. II. 94).--Bern. Guidon. Hist. Conv.

Albiens.--Vaissette, III. Pr. 467, 500.--Arch. de l'Inq. de Carca.s.s.

(Doat, x.x.xI. 143, 146).

[478] C. Molinier, L'Inquisition dans le midi de la France, p. 101.--Les Olim, III. 1126-9, 1440-2. See also I. 920.

[479] Archives de l'eveche d'Albi (Doat, x.x.xV. 83).--Les Olim, I.

556.--Archivio di Napoli, Regist. 4, Lett. B, fol. 47.--Archives de l'eveche de Beziers (Doat, x.x.xI. 35).--Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1246 c.

3.--Isambert, Anc. Loix Francaises, I. 257.--C. 19 s.e.xto v. 2.--MSS.

Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 11847.--Collect. Doat, x.x.xV. 68.--Molinier, L'Inq. dans de midi de la France, p. 102.--Vaissette, ed. Privat, X. Pr.

370 sqq.

[480] Boutaric, Saint Louis et Alphonse de Poitiers, Paris, 1870, pp.

455-6.--Douais, Les sources de l'histoire de Inquisition (Revue des Questions Historiques, Oct. 1881, p. 436).--Coll. Doat, x.x.xII. 51, 64.

[481] Archives de l'eveche d'Albi (Doat, x.x.xIII. 207-72).--Coll. Doat, x.x.xV. 93.--Les Olim, II. 111.

[482] Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquis. s. v. _Bona hreticor_.--Archidiac. Gloss. sup. c. 19 s.e.xto v. 2.--Archivio di Napoli, Regist. 15, Lett. C, fol. 77, 78.

The English law of felony was also retroactive, and all alienations subsequent to the commission of the crime were void (Bracton, Lib. III.

Tract. ii. cap. 13, No. 8).

[483] Coll. Doat, x.x.xII. 309, 316.

[484] Les Olim, II. 147.--Doat, XXVI. 253.

[485] Archives Generales de Belgique, Papiers d'etat, v. 405.--Memoires de Jacques du Clercq, Liv. IV. ch. 4, 14.

In Arras a charter of 1335, confirmed by Charles V. in 1369, protected the burghers from confiscation when condemned for crime by any competent tribunal.--Duverger, La Vauderie dans les etats de Philippe le Bon, Arras, 1885, p. 60.

[486] C. 6, 8, 9, 14, s.e.xto XII. 26.--Bernardi Comensis Lucerna Inquis.

s. v. _Bona hreticorum_.--Eymeric. Direct. Inquis. pp. 570-2.--Zanchini Tract. de Haeret. c. xxiv.--J.F. Ponzinib. de Lamiis c. 76.

Severe as was the contemporary English law against felony, it had at least this concession to justice, that a felon had to be convicted in his lifetime; his death before conviction thus prevented confiscation (Bracton, Lib. III. Tract. ii. cap. 13, No. 17).

[487] Lami, Antichita Toscane, pp. 497, 536-7.--It is true that when, in 1335, Henri de Chamay, Inquisitor of Carca.s.sonne, sent to the papal court the depositions against the memory of eighteen persons accused of heretical acts committed between 1284 and 1290, and asked for instructions, the decision was that no reliance was to be placed on the testimony of witnesses who mostly contradicted themselves, and who only swore to what they had heard long before. Three previous investigations against the same persons had been held without reaching a conclusion, and the papal advisers a.s.sumed that there had been good reasons for dropping the matter.--Vaissette, ed. Privat, IX. 401.

How the system worked is seen in the complaint made in 1247 to St.

Louis, by Guillem Pierre de Vintrou, that the royal seneschal of Carca.s.sonne had seized his property derived through his mother, because his grandfather, seventeen years after death, had been accused of heresy. St. Louis thereupon ordered an examination and report.--Vaissette, ed. Privat, VIII. 1196.