Continuation of the Preceding Inquisition in the Year 1252

That the inquisition or examination of the faith spoken of above did not end with the close of the previous year, but continued afterward as well, is so plain that proof is almost unnecessary. Still, it came to a brief halt, caused by the sudden and unexpected death of Peter of Verona, who at that time held the office of inquisitor.

About this, the author mentioned above relates the following: "In the year 1252, Peter of Verona, inquisitor in Lombardy, justly perished near the city of Milan, because of his tyranny against the Waldenses, and, twenty-four days afterwards, was canonized, that is, placed on the register of the saints of the Roman church, by the antichrist, the Pope of Rome, Innocent the Fourth."

NOTE. In the following year, namely, in the year 1253, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, was deposed from his bishopric by this same Pope Innocent the Fourth, because in his preaching he had often, though with discretion, openly rebuked the greed, ambition, arrogance, and tyranny of the pope; indeed, he had expressly written him severe letters, in which he accused him of draining almost all England by unusual taxes, in order to enrich his illegitimate children, nieces and nephews. When the pope summoned him to Rome, he appealed from the papal tyranny to the judgment and tribunal of Jesus Christ, whereupon the pope soon died. Bal. Cent. 4, chapter 18, in Roberta Grossoreste ex Annalis. John. Buriens. Ranulpho, Mattheo and Fabiano, compared with A. Mell., Hist., page 470, column 1.

In the year 1258, the Jacobines and Dominicans, in the bishopric of Cambray, caused a great number of Christians, whom they had condemned as heretics, to be burned alive. Bal. Cent. 4, chapter 26, ad Matt. Paris. Append., page 315, ex Th. Cantiprmt., book 2, chapter 56. [n451-1] Also, A. Mell., Hist., book 2, page 470, column 2.

In the year 1260, Pope Alexander the Fourth wrote letters to the inquisitors from the order of the Dominicans, in Lombardy and the margravate of Genoa, to persecute the heretics (as they were called) there. He further decreed that the inquisitors might compel the secular authorities, whoever they might be, by excommunication, to carry out without delay the sentence of the inquisitors against those suspected of heresy. Compare the author last mentioned, in the place cited, with Bzov., in the year 1260, Article 4, ex Decret. Epist. Alexand. 4.