A HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION
Vol. I.
A HISTORY OF
THE INQUISITION
OF
THE MIDDLE AGES.
BY
HENRY CHARLES LEA,
AUTHOR OF
“AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SACERDOTAL CELIBACY,” “SUPERSTITION AND FORCE,”“STUDIES IN CHURCH HISTORY.”
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
NEW YORK:
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE.
Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers.
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All rights reserved.
PREFACE.
THE history of the Inquisition naturally divides itself into twoportions, each of which may be considered as a whole. The Reformation isthe boundary-line between them, except in Spain, where the NewInquisition was founded by Ferdinand and Isabella. In the present work Ihave sought to present an impartial account of the institution as itexisted during the earlier period. For the second portion I have madelarge collections of material, through which I hope in due time tocontinue the history to its end.
The Inquisition was not an organization arbitrarily devised and imposedupon the judicial system of Christendom by the ambition or fanaticism ofthe Church. It was rather a natural—one may almost say aninevitable—evolution of the forces at work in the thirteenth century,and no one can rightly appreciate the process of its development and theresults of its activity without a somewhat minute consideration of thefactors controlling the minds and souls of men during the ages whichlaid the foundation of modern civilization. To accomplish this it hasbeen necessary to pass in review nearly all the spiritual andintellectual movements of the Middle Ages, and to glance at thecondition of society in certain of its phases.
At the commencement of my historical studies I speedily became convincedthat the surest basis of investigation for a given period lay in anexamination of its jurisprudence, which presents without disguise itsaspirations and the means regarded as best adapted for theirrealization. I have accordingly devoted much space to the origin anddevelopment of the inquisitorial process, feeling convinced that in thismanner only can we understand the operations of the Holy Office and theinfluence which it exercised on successive generations. By theapplication of the results thus obtained it has seemed to me that manypoints which have been misunderstood or imperfectly appreciated can beelucidated. If in this I have occasionally been led to conclusionsdiffering from those currently accepted, I beg the reader to believethat the views presented have not been hastily formed, but that they arethe outcome of a conscientious survey of all the original sourcesaccessible to me.
No serious historical work is worth the writing or the reading unless itconveys a moral, but to be useful the moral must develop itself in themind of the reader without being obtruded upon him. Especially is thisthe case in a history treating of a subject which has called forth thefiercest passions of man, arousing alternately his highest and hisbasest impulses. I have not paused to moralize, but I have missed my aimif the events narrated are not so presented as to teach theirappropriate lesson.
It only remains for me to express my thanks to the numerous friends andcorrespondents who have rendered me assistance in the arduous labor of