Notas
Research work for this article has been made possible by a Fellowship granted by AHRC (January-June 2011). I am indebted to the three anonymous Reviewers for supporting this project and making it real. I am also particularly grateful to Riccardo Parmeggiani, for his unbeatable historiographical orientation, and to Lorenzo Paolini and Pete Biller for the suggestions and guidance they never cease to provide. My thanks go also to the staff of Archivio Segreto Vaticano, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Archivio di Stato di Bologna, Dipartimento di Paleografia e Medievistica Universita` di Bologna, for their help in researching literature and sources, and for providing the right material at the right time.
See for instance the eight cult-novels written by V. Evangelisti, around the character of Catalan inquisitor Nicholas Eymerich, here investigating what the author calls « Medieval Mysteries » (http ://www.eymerich.com/eymerich/eym1.htm), and the videogames inspired by the series.
See for instance L. Albaret, Les inquisiteurs. Portraits de défenseurs de la foi en Languedoc (XIIIe-XIVe siècles), Toulouse, 2001; Benedetti 2008; K. Sullivan, The inner lives of Medieval Inquisitors, Chicago, 2011.
This concern has also been indicated as the starting point for the operation of ideological and historical revision recorded in the Dominican series Praedicatores inquisitores (Praedicatores Inquisitores. The Dominicans and the Medieval Inquisition, Atti del I Seminario Internazionale sui Domenicani e l’Inquisizione – Rome 23-5 Feb 2002, Rome, 2004), and in the equivalent Franciscan operation [Frati minori e inquisizione, Atti del XXXIII Convegno Internazionale, Assisi 6-8 ottobre 2005, Spoleto, 2006] : see in particular G. G. Merlo, Frati Minori e Inquisizione, p. 5-24, esp. p. 6-12.
Thus, for instance, M. Bellomo, Giuristi e inquisitori del Trecento. Ricerca su testi di Iacopo Belvisi, Taddeo Pepoli, Riccardo Malombra e Giovanni Calderini, in Per Francesco Calasso. Studi degli allievi, Roma, 1978, pp. 9-57, p. 41 et passim; J. Théry-J. Chiffoleau, Introduction, in Les justices d’Église dans le Midi (XIe-XVe siècle), (Cahiers de Fanjeaux, 42), Toulouse, 2007, p. 7-18, p. 13.
Lea 1887, I, p. 381; da Alatri 1987 shares this view at p. 58, where he calls the familiares « wretched scoundrels » about whom contemporary sources would talk with « badly-hidden anger ».
Devic-Vaissete, Histoire générale de Languedoc, Toulouse 2003 (repr.), VIII, p. 1155.
« Trucidati sunt Frater Guillelmus Arnaldi inquisitor, F. Bernardus de Rupe Forti, et Frater Garcias de Aura ordinis Predicatorum, F. Stephanus et F. Raymundus Carbonarii de Ordine Minorum Sancto Officio deservientes, Prior Avegnonensis, Raymundus Scriptoris canonicus Sancte Sedis Tholosane Archidiaconusque Lezatensis in eadem ecclesia Tholosana, et Petrus Arnaldi notarius, duoque clerici eorum nuncii Fontanerius et Adhemarius », I. I. Percin, Monumenta conventus Tholosani ordinis Fratrum Predicatorum, Toulouse, 1693, p. 52 [from the Chronicle of Stephen of Salagnac]; p. 202 [here the total amount of men killed becomes thirteen].
Sources allow mainly the investigation of familie at a time when the tribunal was almost exclusively run by members of the Mendicants.
By simply typing familia into the Patrologia Latina or Corpus Christianorum search engine. For example, « [P. Sestius] cuius ego clientibus, libertis, familia, copiis, litteris ita sum sustentatus » (Cicero, Orationes, Post reditum in senatu, 20); « Dein, cum familia tanta imperatorum gravis liberae civitati esset omniaque ipsi agerent simul et iudicarent » (Iustinus, Historiarum Philippicarum Libri XLIV, XIX, II); and later on, for instance « Et cum esset homo fortunatus et hominibus dilectus, adaucta sunt predia et edificia, et numerus fratrum ac sororum supra facultates eorum excrevit, in tantum ut haberentur in loco persone religiose, scilicet viginti quatuor litterati et sexaginta conversi et nonaginta sorores, et magna familia famulancium » (Historie Augienses [1220 ca], in MGH, Scriptores, XXIV, 647). Interestingly, this assumption is operated also juridically, both in Justinian’s Code (see for instance, Codex Iustinianaeus, I, 12,9 « Sane si servus aut colonus vel adscripticius, familiaris sive libertus et huiusmodi aliqua persona domestica vel condicioni subdita [...] »), and in the Decretum Gratiani. Here, however, the Christian structures add up to the existing idea of familia, so that the concept widens to a familia fidelium, a familia Domini and a familia ecclesie (e.g. C 12.2.65 (T) 708,22; C 24.3.1.(A) 987,47; C 35.1.1.(P) 1263,2; C 3.11.4 (P) 536,9 [« Si quis enim ex familiaribus vel servis cuiuslibet domus »]; in general, Wortkonkordanz zum Decretum Gratiani, ed. T. Reuter, G. Silagi, MGH, Hilfsmittel 10,2, II, Munich, 1990, p. 1845-6.
Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae, IX, V, 12 « Familia autem pro servis abusive, non proprie dicitur »; IX, VI, 9 « Porro cognatione fratres vocantur, qui sunt de una familia, id est patria; quas Latini paternitates interpretantur, cum ex una radice multa generis turba diffunditur. »
See P. Sambin, La familia di un vescovo italiano del ‘300, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia 4 (1950), p. 37-47; A. Paravicini Bagliani, Cardinali di curia e familiae cardinalizie 1227-1254, Padova, 1972; M. C. Rossi, Gli ‘uomini’ del vescovo. Familiae vescovili a Verona (1259-1350), Venice, 2001; Ead., Governare una chiesa. Vescovi e clero a Verona nella prima meta` del Trecento, (« Quaderni di storia religiosa », III) Verona, 2003, esp. p. 43-8. Examples are also found in the lay world, where Italian communes used foreign lay officers. However, it is my intention here to avoid moulding our concept of familia inquisitionis to fit these models, as this could create inappropriate mirror-images as, although entourages could have shared similar features, the different functions they covered dictated substantial variations in their composition, functioning and roles.
Paravicini, Cardinali di curia, p. 237-8, 243.
Tanon 1893, p. 188-214; Lea 1887, I, p. 374-84; C. Douais, L’inquisition. Ses origines, sa procédure, Paris, 1906, p. 163-4, 258; H. Maisonneuve, Études sur les origines de l’Inquisition, Paris, 1960 [orig. ed. 1942], p. 294-5, 310-11, 322-3; J.B. Given, Inquisition and Medieval society : power, discipline and resistance in Languedoc, Ithaca NY, 1997, p. 144-8, 195-8. More specifically, see Kieckhefer 1995, where the topic is investigated as a functional tool to demonstrate how a progressive growth in support staff was proportional to the bureaucratization and institutionalization of the tribunals; W. Wakefield, Les assistants des inquisiteurs témoins des confessions dans le manuscript 609, Heresis 29 (1993), pp. 57-65; Benedetti 2008, p. 143-51, 116-31 has concentrated on the registers of inquisitor Lanfranc of Bergamo (Collectoria 133 – see below) and mainly reviews functions and numbers establishing a « grille » of competences for each inquisitorial officer; similarly, L. Paolini (Paolini 1975, p. 8-15) extracts information from the Acta Sancti Officii Bononie, but goes further in drawing together functions and the bigger picture of inquisitorial procedure; Da Alatri 1987, p. 55-9. Generally, the limit of localized studies is that of suggesting checklists of functions, to be confirmed or dismissed by further research work. Its advantage, that of being able to trace at length individuals appearing in the records, by cross-referencing registers, and investigating within other local resources. Da Alatri 1987, p. 55-9; lastly, Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 48-63 (by P. Biller).
See the issues raised by Sambin, La familia del vescovo, p. 243-5, 238, n. 3; Kieckhefer 1995, p. 58-9. Few historians make careful distinctions, on the basis of terminology, within the familia, with most using indifferently and interchangeably « entourage », « officers », « familia/familiares ». It is on the basis of Sambin’s and Kieckhefer’s thoughts that I intend to try and set out the boundaries for these groups of people. I shall use « entourage/personnel » as a general description of all people working around and for the tribunal and the inquisitors, while I shall explain the distinction in contemporary documents between familia/familiares and « officers » and apply it, where appropriate.
Kieckhefer 1995, p. 56.
I have consulted the following sources :
For Italy : Archivio di Stato di Firenze (henceforth ASFi), Diplomatico (online at http://lartte.sns.it/pergasfi/), secc. XIII-XIV; Archivio Segreto Vaticano (ASVat), Camera Apostolica, Collectorie, n. 133 [G. Biscaro, Inquisitori ed eretici Lombardi (1292-1318), in Miscellanea di Storia Italiana III ser., XIX (1922), p. 447-557 (documents at p. 503-555 are taken from Collectoria 133, though the transcription is incomplete)], 421-A, 249, 250, 251; ASVat, Registri Vaticani, voll. 67, 69; Acta Sancti Officii Bononie, I-II, ed. L. Paolini, R. Orioli, Rome, 1980-2; Bronzino 1980-3; Il Liber contractuum dei Frati Minori di Padova e di Vicenza (1263-1302), ed. E. Bonato, Rome, 2002; F. Lomastro Tognato, L’eresia a Vicenza nel Duecento, Vicenza, 1988 (docs. at p. 81-144); F. Tocco, Quel che non c’e` nella Divina Commedia, o Dante e l’eresia, Bologna, 1899, (docs. at p. 34-78); M. da Alatri, L'inquisizione francescana nell'Italia centrale del Duecento : con in appendice il testo del 'Liber inquisitionis' di Orvieto trascritto da Egidio Bonanno, ('Bibliotheca Seraphico-Capuccina' 149), Rome, 1996; G. Biscaro, Inquisitori ed eretici a Firenze (1319-1334), Studi Medievali, n.ser., 2 (1929), p. 347-75, and 3 (1930), p. 266-87.
For the Languedoc : Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BnF), Collection Doat, n. 31, 32, 34; n. 25-6 in Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011; Comptes royaux 1285-1314, ed. R. Fawtier, Recueil des historiens de la France, Documents financiers III, 3 vols. (Paris, 1953-6); Comptes royaux 1314-28, ed. F. Maillard, Recueil des historiens de la France, Documents financiers, IV, Paris, 1961; Cabié 1905; Douais 1900; Compotus prepositorum et ballivorum Francie de termino ascensionis anno Domini MCCXLVIII, in Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, XXI, ed. Guignaut, De Wailly, Paris, 1855; Devic-Vaissete, Histoire générale; A. Germain, Inventaire inédit concernant les archives de l’inquisition de Carcassonne, publié avec une notice, Montpellier, 1856; I. I. Percin, Monumenta conventus Tholosani ordinis Fratrum Predicatorum, Toulouse, 1693; Correspondence amministrative d’Alphonse de Poitiers, ed. C. Molinier, I-II, Paris, 1894-1900; C. Compayré, Études historiques et documents inédits sur l’Albigeois, le Castrais, et l'Ancien Diocèse de Lavaur, Albi 1841; J. Duvernoy, Registres DDD et GGG de l’Inquisition de Carcassonne (http://jean.duvernoy.free.fr/text/pdf/DDD.pdf; http://jean.duvernoy.free.fr/text/pdf/GGG.pdf). A stronger focus on Florence is dictated by the sheer amount of available sources, which stand out for abundance and significance to this research.
Tanon 1893, p. 199 (Italics are mine).
See Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 43. From our repertoire, it is evident that the poor quality of French records’ entries depends on one main factor : records of payments are kept by the royal officials who are in charge of confiscations and requisition of money. The entries of these registers are to do with incoming money, payment of prisoners’ expenses, salary and reimbursement of expenses to inquisitors. Entries are rather practical, concise and to the point. Officers are not part of the entourage itself, but normally depending from the bailiff or seneschal, or employed by the bishops, or envoys of the king. Thus, it is not in the interest of record-keepers to detail thoroughly the purpose of expenses. Edmund Cabié, editing partially ms J330, n. 59 of the Archives Nationaux of 1255-6 thought it was a unique exemplar of records including the names of the assistants to the inquisitors among the entries of expenses (Cabié 1905, p. 110).
On inquisitorial texts, see Texts and the repression of Medieval Heresy, ed. C. Bruschi and P. Biller, ('York Studies in Medieval Theology' 4), York, 2002. Libraries of inquisitorial officers have been studied by M. D’Alatri, Archivio, officio e titolari dell’Inquisizione Toscana verso la fine del Duecento, in Eretici e Inquisitori, I, Roma 1986, p. 269-95 [first appeared in Collectanea Franciscana XL (1970), p. 169-90]; G.G. Merlo, Problemi documentari dell’Inquisizione medievale in Italia, Cromhos 11 (2006), http://www.cromohs.unifi.it/11_2006/merlo_problemi.html [same as in Tribunali della fede. Continuta` e discontinuita` dal medioevo all’eta` moderna (Atti del XLV Convegno di studi sulla Riforma e sui movimenti religiosi in Italia, Torrepellice 3-4 Settembre 2005, ed. S. Peyronel Rambaldi, Bollettino della Societa` di Studi Valdesi 200 (2007), p. 19-29]; M.G. Bascape`, In armariis officii inquisitoris Ferrariensis. Ricerche su un frammento inedito del processo Pungilupo, Quaderni di Storia Religiosa 9 (2002), p. 31-110; M. Benedetti, I libri degli inquisitori, in Libri, e altro : nel passato e nel presente, ed. G. G. Merlo, Milan, 2006, p. 15-32; P. Biller, Introduction, in Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 3-19, esp. p. 4-10.
See further on, p. 19-21 on this aspect of procedure and its fundamental implications for our study. Here is will be sufficient to note that requisitions, to which these documents refer, were only applied to those whose heretical status was ascertained at the end of a trial, whereas there seems to be no connection with ecclesiastical taxation, or banishment.
« […] mandamus quatinus …facias tibi prothocolla et scripturas predicta, que fratres ipsi ad manus suas…receperunt....ab eis vel personis aliis quibuscumque…totaliter exhiberi […] super testamentis aliquibus vel aliis quibuscumque negotiis exsequendis [and gather the information contained] in libris aliis seu scripturis autenticis sive publicis instrumentis, per commune Paduanum et alias communitates et singulares personas eiusdem provincie tibi tradendis, perspexeris contineri », Super eodem (12 June 1302), in Les registres de Boniface VIII, ed. Digard, Paris, 1909, n. 4702, quoted and discussed in A. Rigon, Introduzione, in Liber Contractuum, p. viii-ix.
The biggest « hole » in the research individuated by our study is that of a work on the treatment of bona hereticorum, that is the handling, commercialization, management and financial consequences of the massive operation of confiscation of heretics’ goods. A greater understanding of the role of inquisitors’ entourage has really opened a Pandora’s box on the financial aspect of the inquisition, first hinted at by H.C. Lea, Confiscation for heresy in the Middle Ages, English Historical Review, 2 (1887), p. 235-59. See now Paolini 1998; then followed by M. Benedetti, Le finanze dell'Inquisitore, in L'economia dei conventi dei frati minori e predicatori fino alla metà del Trecento. Atti del XXXI Convegno Internazionale (Assisi 9-11 October 2003), Spoleto, 2004, p. 363-401; lastly by Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004.
The same « concidence » between the great trials of the beginning of the XIV century (called « epidemics ») and the « documentary revolution » which took place in that time and saw the esponential development of written codification of practices has been noted by J. Chiffoleau, Le procès comme mode de gouvernement, in L’eta` dei processi. Inchieste e condanne tra politica e ideologia nel ‘300. Atti del convegno di studio, Ascoli Piceno, 30 Nov - 1Dic 2007, Rome, 2009, p. 321-47, p. 324 , 334.
Mansi, Conc., XXIII, (http://www.veritatis-societas.org/200_Mansi/1692-1769,_Mansi_JD,_Sacrorum_Conciliorum_Nova_Amplissima_Collectio_Vol_023,_LT.pdf), cols. 192-204.
See Lea 1887, I, p. 376-8.
Many versions are issued of this letter, by several pontiffs. We shall here take the one addressed to the lay governors of Lombardia, Romagna and March of Treviso, as in BOP, I, p. 209, n. 257; BOM, I, p. 608, n. 408, Mansi, Conc., XXIII, cols. 569-75 (who erroneously dates it at May 1243), Potth. 14592.
« Teneatur insuper potestas [...] nomina virorum omnium qui de heresi fuerint infamati, vel banniti, in quatuor libellis unius tenoris facere annotari...et ipsorum nomina ter in anno, et in concione publica solemniter faciat recitari », Ibid.
« Facies tibi quaternos et alia scripta in quibus inquisitiones facte contra hereticos et processus contra ipsos per quoscumque contra ipsos habiti, continentur, a quibuslibet assignari. » [Pre cunctis, Alexander IV, 9 November 1256, in Doctrina de modo procedendi contra hereticos, in Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, ed. E. Martène, U. Durand, V, cols. 1795-814; Potth. 16611].
« Periculosis casibus occurrentes, statuimus ut singuli inquisitores omnia scripta inquisitionis transcribi faciant, et translata de consensu legati a sede Apostolica, si in ora fuerit, per diocesanum imponatur et serventur in aliquo loco tuto. De scriptis autem que super his fient, de cetero annis singulis ab omnibus inquisitionibus idem fiat : ut scilicet duplicentur, scriptis, ut dictum est, tuto loco servandis », Devic-Vaissete, Histoire générale, III, 484.
« Ad hec si super his que circa idem officium illudque contingentia in scriptis fuerint redigenda, tabellionum secularium copia forte defuerit oportuna, personis regularibus cuiuscumque ordinis, qui tabellionatus officium in seculo habuisse noscuntur, exercendi illud in hiis cum a vobis, necessitate huiusmodi suadente fuerint requisiti, auctoritate nostra licentiam concedatis. [...] Quos si nec tales habere poteritis, alios duos viros, idoneos clericos, vel laicos, quotiens talis imminebit necessitas, assumatis, qui simul fideliter ea, que fuerint a vobis ex predicto officio gerenda, conscribant, quorum scripta, quantum ad hunc necessitatis articulum pertinet, ac si unius persone publice manu confecta fuissent, inconcussam habere decernimus firmitatem », Ne commisse vobis, in Bronzino 1980-3, p. 65-7.
« [...] adhibeatis duas religiosas et discretas personas in quarum presentia per publicam, si commode potest haberi, personam, aut per duos viros idoneos, fideliter eorundem depositiones testium conscribantur », Licet ex omnibus, in Bronzino 1980-3, p. 68-73, Potth. 18253, BOP I, p. 417, n. 4.
Not necessarily the verb conscribere indicates the production of more than one exemplar.
In Roman law, a tabellio is a private professional officer whose activity – from Justinian onwards - was supervised and regulated by government officials; he was to prepare, according to existing proper legal form, documents and transactions for private citizens. Experts in writing in extenso documents from short notes, Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law, ed. A. Berger, 43, Philadelphia, 1953, p. 728-9.
Although at times used as a synonym for tabellio or notary, this seems to indicate the functionary officer of a metropolitan church, entrusted with the conservation of archives and preparation of charters and documents, (Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, ed. J.F. Niermeyer, C. van de Kieft, I, Leiden, 1976, p. 947). Often indicating an officer of the papal or episcopal chancery, see for example, La chiesa e il monastero di San Sisto all’Appia, ed. R. Spiazzi, Bologna, 1992, p. 345-8 et passim, for examples of the slight variations of this term; also Dizionario Storico del Diritto Italiano ed Europeo, 2000 available at http://www.edizionisimone.it/newdiz/newdiz.php ?action=view&id=1015&dizionario=2 ]. It is important to note, however, that I have never found such distinction in inquisitorial records, where writers only record the word notarius.
‘Pre cunctis mentis’, Gregory X, 20 April 1273, Potth. 20720, Percin, II, p. 98; also in Doctrina de modo, col. 1819.
This silence, already noted by Tanon, has been reiterated more recently by L. Albaret, who sees it as a consequence of the fact that justice in matters of faith is not meant to be a commercial affair, and that thus pontifical legislation does not mention this financial aspect of the inquisitions. (Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 56-7).
G. G. Merlo, Inquisizione a Milano : intenti e tecniche, in Milano 1300. I processi inquisitoriali contro le devote e i devoti di santa Guglielma, ed. M. Benedetti, p. 15-28, p. 16. Paolini 1998, p. 451; Parmeggiani 2011, p. xxx; Paolini 1998, p. 456, 460.
« Ut in singulis locis unus sacerdos et tres laici constituatur qui diligenter inquirant hereticos [...] sacerdotem unum et duos vel tres bone opinionis laicos, vel plures si opus fuerit, sacramento constringant, qui diligenter, fideliter et frequenter inquirant hereticos in [...] domos singulas et cameras subterraneas », Mansi, Conc., XXIII, p. 194. This is substantially reiterated as such at the 1246 council of Béziers (see Maisonneuve, Études, p. 294-5).
BOP, I, p. 209, n. 257, see above, n. 27 for other versions.
As pointed out in Paolini 1998, p. 452, 456.
For these specific prescriptions, see chs. 3-8, 10-21, 28, 30, 33, 35.
BF, I, p. 717-8.
13 April 1258, BF, I, p. 362, reiterated and perfected by the Prae cunctis of 26 February 1266 by Clement IV (BF, I, p. 472) and the Prae cunctis of 27 June 1290 by Nicholas IV (BF, II, p. 29). See Tanon 1893, p. 186, n. 1.
My reference study here, together with the « classic » study by A. Dondaine, Le manuel de l'Inquisiteur (1230-1330), Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 17 (1947), p. 85-194, is R. Parmeggiani, Un secolo di manualistica inquisitoriale (1230-1330) : intertestualità e circolazione del diritto, Rivista Internazionale di Diritto Comune 13 (2002), 229-70; and more recently, Parmeggiani 2011. Ordo Processus Narbonensis, ed. K.-V. Selge, in Texte zur Inquisition, Texte zur Kirchen- und Theologie-geschichte 4, Gütersloh, 1967, p. 71-2; Doctrina de modo procedendi, ed. Martène-Durand; Bernard Gui, Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis, ed. C. Douais, Paris, 1886; Nicholaus Eymerich, Directorium inquisitorum, ed. F. Peña, Rome, 1578 [http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx ?c=witch;idno=wit045]; De auctoritate et forma officii inquisitionis, ed. S. Pirli, Tesi di Dottorato di Ricerca, Universita` degli Studi di Bologna, ciclo XX, 2008 (I was able to consult this source thanks to the kindness of the Author, who is currently preparing its publication); De officio inquisitionis, ed. L. Paolini, Bologna, 1976. The aim here is to take into account manuals which have impacted the most upon practice. The criterion for selecting these among all the others is their circulation – as all criteria, possibly limited and misleading, but the one that looked more likely to be applicable in our case.
« Tandem de hiis omnibus et quandoque de pluribus non sine causa rationabili requisitus, scriptis fideliter que de se confessus fuerit vel deposuerit de aliis, coram nobis ambobus vel altero et aliis duobus ad minus viris idoneis ad hec sollicitius exequenda adjunctis, universa que scribi fecerit recognoscet, atque hoc modo acta inquisitionis ad confessiones et depositiones sive per notarium confecta, sive per scriptorem alium, roboramus », Ordo Processus, p. 72.
« Si autem dicit veritatem, diligenter eius confession per notarium publicum scribitur », Doctrina de modo, col. 1795.
« Quando plures sunt confessi qui sufficiunt ad faciendum sermonem, tunc inquisitores ad locum determinatum ab eis vocent iurisperitos, fratres Minores et Predicatores, et ordinarios, sine quorum consilio vel suorum vicariorum numquam aliquem condemnent [...] », Ibid.; see also the repeated formula communicato bonorum virorum consilio in the end-formulary, for instance at cols. 1806, 1808, which is in use mainly in French records, as in C. Douais, La formule communicato bonorum virorum conscilio des sentences inquisitoriales, Le Moyen Âge 11 (1898), p. 157-92
Bellomo, Giuristi e inquisitori, p. 36, 40; Parmeggiani, I consilia, p. xi and note 7, xvii and note 33, xxii. See ibid., p. xxx-i on the makeup of these groups of legal experts, with reference to famous cases - the earliest being a 1276 consilium from Piacenza and a 1280 one from Ferrara. Parmeggiani too reiterates that examples of terminology are inconsistent, and mainly indicate the will of widening participation to the lay world.
Gui, Practica, II, n. 36, « Forma littere pro clerico iurato recepto ad fidelitatem et officium inquisitionis ‘Tenore presentium pateat universis quod nos frater Bernardus Guidonis, ordinis Predicatorum Inquisitor heretice pravitatis in regno Francie per sedem apostolicam deputatus, recepimus in iuratum ac fidelem ministrum officii inquisitionis heretice pravitatis eiusdem dilectum nostrum magistrum talem N. clericum talis diocesis, notarium publicum Tholose, iuramento fidelitatis et secreti recepto a nobis et prestito ab eodem, cum omnibus libertatibus, immunitatibus, graciis et privilegiis tam ab apostolica sede quam etiam a regia maiestate concessis notariis officialibus seu ministries officii inquisitionis, quibus eundem talem N. gaudere volumus et decernimus per presentes.’ »
Ibid., n. 37, « Forma littere pro custode muri instituendo - tenore presentium pateat universis quod nos frater Bernardus Guidonis, ordinis Predicatorum inquisitor heretice pravitatis in regno Francie per sedem apostolicam deputatus posuimus et deputavimus ad custodiam muri et carcerum Tholose ubi homines culpabiles pro crimine heresis detinentur, talem N. clericum, ipsumque custodem dicti muri et immuratorum, seu in carceribus detentum, fecimus et constituimus quamdiu nostre seu successorum nostrorum in officio inquisitionis placuerit voluntati, cum omnibus libertatibus, graciis et privilegiis tam ab apostolica sede quam etiam a regia majestate concessis officialibus et ministris officii inquisitionis, necnon cum vadiis domini nostri Regis Francie dare dicti muri custodibus consuetis, iuramento fidelitatis et secreti prius recepto a nobis et prestito ab eodem : inhibentes premissa monitione canonica, sub excommunicationis aliisque penis canonicis, omnibus et singulis, ne aliquis dictum custodem presumat in officio memorate custodie aliquatenus impedire. In quorum omnium testimonium et munimen eidem tali N. presentes litteras sigillo nostro concessimus sigillatas. »
Ibid., n. 38, « Forma littere pro iuratis officii inquisitionis. Frater Bernardus inquisitor etc. Universis presentes litteras inspecturis, etc. Tenore presentium notum fiat talem N. servientem esse fidelem nostrum pariter et iuratum : quo circa in persequendis et capiendis hereticis manifestis generaliter, necnon in aliis exequendis que per eundem specialiter duxerimus et mandaverimus exequenda, volumus et mandamus ab omnibus Christi fidelibus quos ipse requisierit et quibus inguerit eidem impendi promptum auxilium et consilium opportunum. In cuius rei testimonium sigillum nostrum presentibus duximus apponendum. Datum, etc. (Poterit autem in fine addi, si et quando expediens visum fuerit, sequens clausula ne tales littere sint perpetue : presentibus litteris post unum annum a data presentium minime valituris. »
« Vel si essent pauci numero, et non sufficientes ad executionem officii; quod impedimentum tollitur ex eo quod potestates tenentur tot officiales ponere quot ipsi inquisitores iudicaverint opportunos », De auctoritate.
« ex defectu adiuvantium, forte quia non secum habeant tot qui sufficient ad perficiendum illud quod intendunt [...] ex defectu iurisperitorum, quia forte nolunt eis consulere [...]», Ibid..
L. Paolini, Introduction, in De officio inquisitionis, p. xxxiii.
Ibid., p. 16-7.
Ibid., p. 17-8.
Ibid., p. 18-30.
Ibid., p. 30-5. The phrase « officers of the office of inquisition » is kept on purpose as a molding of the Latin expression officiales officii inquisitionis. The clear distinction between the office and its holder/s seems to be in fact really important. See below, p. 30-3. Equally, the expression officium inquisitionis will be rendered throughout as « office of inquisition » or « inquisitorial office », where « inquisition » is meant to indicate the judicial procedure of inquisitio – inquiry, and where one should imply [of heretical depravity]. We do not subscribe to the idea of an awareness of an « office of the Inquisition », with capital letter. See Kieckhefer 1995, who has suggested this translation.
« Ultimo, officiales officii inquisitionis sunt notarii, officiales et servitores, qui quidem debent sic institui a potestate », De officio, p. 30. This definition is rather telling about the mental categories of the writer.
BOP, I, p. 462-5, n. 32.
« Imprisoned » means here those who are put into jail as a penance, as opposed to those who are temporarily placed into custody to obtain more information.
« Isto modo procedunt inquisitores in partibus Carcassonensibus et Tholosanis », Doctrina, col. 1795.
The connection had been already pointed out by Lea (Lea 1887, I, p. 382-3). More recently, see Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 66, « One of the main questions […] is whether the financial management of the inquisition dictates procedure in the thirteenth and fourteenth century, or is it procedure itself which shapes an appropriate financial management for the institution. »
Paolini 2002, p. 182. The direct link between wealth of a convent and the requisitions is made by the 1322 letter by John XXII to the lay rector of the Marca Anconitana, where the pope forbids him to require the third part of requisitions, since « cum hactenus heretici non fuerint de prelibata provincia oriundi, sed interdum aliqui multa paupertate gravati et in heresi deprehensi, ad eandem provinciam de partibus alienis accesserunt, de quorum facultatibus ob extremam ipsorum inopiam iidem inquisitores modicum aut nihil exigere potuerunt […] » BF, V, n. 468, p. 227 [1322, July 6].
For this area, see E. Vincke, La remuneración de los inquisitores Aragoneses en los siglos XIII y XIV, Annuarios de estudios medievales 13 (1983), p. 291-301; D. J. Smith, Crusade, heresy and inquisition in the lands of the Crown of Aragon (c. 1167-1276), Leiden-Boston, 2010, p. 176, 181-2, 205; Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 62-3.
Douais 1900, p. lxxxvii-lxxxviii, xci; Lea 1887, II, p. 584-6, Guiraud, Histoire, II, p. 259-63.
On Languedoc, see primarily Tanon 1893, p. 523-39, esp. 529-30; Maisonneuve, Études, p. 294-7, 305; Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004.
These experiments being tried in the lands directly subject to papal temporal power – for instance, here Viterbo. See Paolini 1998, p. 450.
Reference work for Italy is Paolini 1998.
Early development of the « financial issue » and its further, medieval outcomes, has been traced exhaustively. Popes did not invent the idea of confiscating heretics’ goods, although the papacy did benefit enormously from this practice. Rooted in Roman juridical tradition – and already well-established in both Theodosian and Justinianic codes -, the underlining principle saw convicted heretics as losing their juridical status, and consequently the right to property, to the advantage of the state revenue. (Cod. Theodos. XVI, V, 3, 4, 8, 12, 30, 33, 58; Cod. Justin. I, V, 15, 19). This was then filtered through civil, canon and conciliar law. For example, in the great councils of the XIII century : (Reims (1157), Clarendon-Oxford (1166), Tours (1163), Arras (1182 – were the first repartition of bona hereticorum between archbishop and count), III Lateran Council (1179), Montpellier (1195), Lèrida (1194). Gerona (1197- establishing that the king confiscates the total of these goods, but leaves 1/3 for those who contributed to the arrest). Confiscation was nevertheless felt as somehow abusive and judicially not pertinent, and the matter animated intellectual debate among both civil (Piacentino, Azzone, Irnerio) and canon glossatores (Graziano, Uguccione of Pisa, Rufino, Rolando Bandinelli, Sicardo of Cremona). Paolini 1998, p. 444-5.
See for instance the sentences from the 1260s inquiry in Orvieto, in da Alatri, Inquisizione francescana, p. 209-338, almost everywhere. For this aspect, see da Alatri, Inquisitori veneti del Duecento, in Eretici e Inquisitori, I, p. 139-217, p. 161, n. 136.
Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 50.
Tanon 1893, p. 188.
For the first, see M. Pegg, The corruption of Angels, Princeton and Oxford, 2001, the records being preserved in Bibliothèque Municipale de Toulouse, ms. 609; for the second, see Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, with the records of expenses being preserved in Paris, Archives Nationales de France, ms. J330b (1255) and partly edited in Cabié 1905, p. 215-7. The account of Percin recites, « Sic enim expresse lego in mss F. Guillelmi Pelhisse anno 1235. Multi in Parasceve sancta venerunt ad confessionem de facto hereticorum, et in tanto occupabantur fratres nostri quod non poterant sufficere ad audiendum. Unde ab ipsis fratribus nostris vocati sunt aliqui fratres minores et capellani parochiales de villa qui presentes essent ad audientias etc. Iterum dixi, vel de inquisitorum consensu, quia in citato mss eodem anno 1235. Sic habetur. » Percin, Monumenta, p. 107.
See Le registre d’inquisition de Jacques Fournier, évêque de Pamiers (1318-1325), ed. J. Duvernoy, 3 vols., Toulouse, 1965; on the data, Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 50.
Compte d’Arnaud Assalit, procureur du Roi sur les encours des hérétiques de la sénechaussée de Carcassonne et Béziers, pour l’année 24 Juin 1322 – 24 Juin 1323, in Comptes Royaux, ed. Maillard, p. 499-525; also discussed in Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 50.
See Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 57, 86, 106.
C250, f. 139r. The amount of people questioned in this enquiry is unknown, as full records of interrogations are not available.
Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 115.
C250, f. 35v-36r.
C133, f. 13r expensator dicti fratris Aiulfi; C250, f. 37r; f. 40r-v; f. 75r; f. 83v; C251, in variis locis, discussed by da Alatri, Archivio, officio, titolari, p. 285.
Responsio sanctissimo patri domino nostro domino Clementi divina providentia pape quinto tradenda (Sanctitas vestra), in Archiv für Literatur- und Kirchengeschichte des Mittelalters, eds. H. Denifle, F. Ehrle, III, Graz 1956 (repr. Berlin 1887), p. 51-89, p. 71.
Biscaro, Inquisitori ed eretici Lombardi, p. 494.
Although the word dominus does not always indicate a nobleman tout court, and certainly not consistently in the North of Italy, the mention of Mascara in this group clearly suggests a high social status of the paduan group. Mascara will be then involved in a long suit against inquisitor Benigno da Milano and other inquisitors of the Veneto, in 1304, see below, p. 39-40.
C133, f. 106r-v in diversis temporibus (end of XIII-beginning of XIV c.). Among them two of the da Montebello family, and two of the Campexanis (one is a notary).
Sanctitas vestra, p. 81.
« [...] occasione inquisitionis vobis commisse contra hereticam pravitatem superfluos scriptores, aliosque familiares habetis pro vestre libito voluntatis, et graves exactiones fuint ( !) a conversis ab eadem ad fidem, et conversi volentibus pravitate in infamiam apostolice sedis, et scandalum plurimorum presentium vobis auctoritate precipiendo mandamus quatinus scriptorum, et aliorum familiarium multitudinem onerosam ad necessarium numerum protinus reducentes a gravibus exactionibus, per quas infamia potest et scandalum generari, vos et familiam vestram taliter compescatis, quod honestatis vestre titulus conservetur illesus, et nos discretionis vestre prudentiam / merito commendare possimus. Datum Lugduni secundo Idus Maii Pontificatus nostri anno sexto », D31, f. 116-7.
« ordinamus quod inquisitor florentinus qui est, vel pro tempore fuerit, possit dumtaxat quatuor consiliarios seu assessores, duos notarios, et duos custodes carcerum, et duodecim alios, inter officiales et familiares, sibi eligere, et non ultra », Tanon 1893, p. 199, referring to a Doat « Appendix I », p. 572, which I have been unable to locate.
da Alatri 1987, p. 55-7; Lea 1887, I, 383; Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 50.
See Marangon, Il pensiero ereticale, p. 64; P. Sambin, Aspetti dell’organizzazione e della politica comunale nel territorio e nella citta` di Padova tra XII e XIII secolo, Archivio Veneto, 58-9 (1956), p. 9, 14-6.
Exigit ordinis vestri, 2 May 1321, « accepimus siquidem acceptione fideli, quod vos nonnullis pravis et perversis hominibus, qui frequenter ad edes et alia nephanda facinora laxant nequiter manus suas arma per civitatem et districtum bononiesem portandi, non sine multorum scandalo, licentiam concessistis [...] », « qui vobiscum habetis continue », Bronzino 1980-3, p. 308-9, n. 41; Paolini 2002, p. 185.
ASFi, Tratte, 294, f. 137r.
Lea 1887, p. 382.
To recall only the earlier ones, Piacenza (1233), Orvieto (1239), Florence (1245), Prato (1270s), Parma (1279) – more in Paolini 2002, p. 185. In 1316-7, following the arson attack on the inquisition buildings in Bergamo under inquisitor John of Fontana, fourteen responsible are captured, twelve of which will be burned on the stake. In this occasion, twenty armed men are necessary to « greatly and diligently » detain the suspects, « day and night » (C133, f. 187v-188r).
Acta sancti officii Bononie, n. 7 (1299, 7 September).
Plures et plures familiares, multi nuncii et familiares, C421-A, f. 30-32r
« potestates tenentur tot officiales ponere quot ipsi inquisitores iudicaverint oportunos », De auctoritate, see above, p. 12, n. 39, and below, pp. 28-9.
Marangon, Il pensiero ereticale, p. 64.
Giovanni Villani, Nuova Chronica, ed. Porta, Parma, 1991, XIII, 58; Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Chronica fiorentina, ed. N. Rodolico, in Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, XXX, I, Bologna 1903, p. 226, rubr. 629°, where the Florentine government restricts the licenses from 500 to six.
The 1346 source is a trial against friar Pietro de l’Aquila, accused of insolvence against the Apostolic Chamber (C421-A, f. 1-45r), however, the reliability of data within this kind of source has been recently re-assessed taking into consideration wider issues of circulation/creation of stereotypes and public fama (C. Bruschi, Falsembiante-inquisitor ? Images and stereotypes of the Franciscan inquisitor between literature and judicial texts, forthcoming). Marchionne is member of the mercantile elite of Florence, and openly speaking against the « parte guelfa », supporters of the papacy (See A. de Vincentiis, Scrittura storica e politica cittadina. La Cronaca fiorentina di Marchionne di Coppo Stefani, Rivista Storica Italiana 108 (1996), p. 230-97 [now available online http://eprints.unifi.it/archive/00002246/01/134-DeVincentiis.pdf, from where page numbers are taken here], esp. p. 24, 28-41. His information are generally scrupulously checked and cautiously narrated. Moreover, in the case of the local tribunal, Marchionne, could also benefit from insider knowledge, since his father Coppo appears in the expenses of inquisitors Michele da Arezzo and Accursio Bonfantini as provider of wool-cloth to the inquisitors (C250, f. 45r, 106r); and among the main buyers from the tribunal of the patrimony of bankrupt merchant Scaglia Tifi, in the 1330s (D. Corsi, Firenze 1300-1350 : « non conformismo » religioso e organizzazione inquisitoriale, Annali dell'Istituto di Storia [Università di Firenze, Facoltà di Magistero], I, 1979, p. 29-66, p. 45, n. 56).
Tocco, p. 67, n. 23 (9 September 1297).
Douais 1900, p. 326-9.
See L. Paolini, Le origini della societas Crucis, Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, 15 (1979), p. 190-3; G. G. Merlo, Militare per Cristo contro gli eretici, in Contro gli eretici. La coercizione all’ortodossia prima dell’Inquisizione, Bologna, 1996, p. 36-42.
« Verum, quia persensimus tam paucos fratres non sufficere ad huiusmodi inquisitoris officium, sicut expedit exequendum », BOP, I, p. 300, Bronzino 1980-3, p. 60-1.
Licet olim unus (1304, 16 Feb.), Bronzino 1980-3, n. 40.
BOP, I, p. 433, then reiterated by Clement IV (16 December 1266) BOP, I, p. 478; also in Bronzino 1980-3, n. 33. Both were directed to the Dominican prior of Lombardia and the Genoese Marca.
« Quoties […] ab eisdem fratribus fueritis requisitis, et dicto negotio fuerit opportunum […] ita quod prefatum negotium nullam ex negligentia vestra dilationem capiat, set potius ex diligentia continuum suscipiat incrementum », Ibid..
« Porro inquisitoribus ipsis districtius inhibemus, ut nec abutantur quomodolibet concessione portationis armorum, nec officiales nisi sibi necessarios habeant tales, qui se conferant ad sua cum inquisitoribus ipsis officia exsequenda », Clem. I.5.3, c. II Nolentes, in Corpus iuris canonici, ed. E. Friedberg, II, Graz, 1959, col. 1183, [http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_6029936_002/index.html].
« Vel si essent pauci numero, et non sufficientes ad executionem officii : quod impedimentum tollitur ex eo quod potestates tenentur tot officiales ponere quot ipsi inquisitores iudicaverint oportunos, quod patet ex constitutionibus, capitulo Idem quoque potestas, etc. », De auctoritate, ed. S. Pirli, referring to the Ad extirpanda.
« Possunt inquisitores Lombardie eligere officiales et sindicatores, si illi quibus committitur ex constitutione Innocentii pape IIII non possint vel nolint interesse, vel aliquis eorum, ut patet ex privilegio Alexandri pape IIII inquisitoribus in Lombardia [...] », Gui, Practica, IV, p. 204. As usual, Gui is very precise : the nominatio and the electio are two separate juridical actions. Even when it comes to inquisitors’ succession the nominatio is in fact an inquisitor’s responsibility, while the electio is down to the Dominican or Franciscan provincials, who effectively « free » the successor from other duties within the order. In the case of officers, they are elected by the bishop, or the Order.
« Secundum quod continetur in constitutionibus papalibus et secundum quod consuetum est fieri per inquisitores precedentes in inquisitione Pedemontis », C133, f. 149r.
With the letter Devotionis vestre by Innocent IV, where famulos et familiares can be absolved from excommunication which hit them « propter iniectionem manuuum occasione officii ». See the comments in De officio inquisitionis, p. 14.
Already discussed extensively in C.Bruschi, The wandering heretics of Languedoc, Cambridge, 2009, ch. 1.
Inquisitor in southern Lombardia (Lombardia inferior) 1316-8, « in officio inquisitionis steti per annum et parum plus, quia assumptus fui ad officium provincialatus », C133, f. 144r.
« Officium inquisitoris de Senis debebat dare officio inquisitoris Florentie », C250, f. 2r.
« […] officialibus inquisitionis qui negotia ipsa peragebant, et erant notarii, familiares et servitores eiusdem inquisitoris et officii », C250, f. 5v.
« Item, officialibus missis ad diversa loca ad inquirendum et capiendum hereticos et citandos delatores de heresi », C133, f. 186r. This quote is indicative as the roles ascribed to officiales here are the typical duties of a messenger (nuncius).
« Servitores, nuncii et officiales », C133, f. 42r.
« […] notario, servitoribus, et nunciis et officialibus », C133, f. 36r.
C251, f. 9v.
C133, f. 18v.
C249, f. 47r-v, 48r, 57v; or in « cum notario, familiare et duobus famulis » (C250, f. 107v).
C249, f. 57v. We cannot in fact think that notary Benvenuto was either a member of the army or a servant of the inquisitor.
The earliest examples (although about the inquisitor/inquisition binomial) are in Liber inquisitionis of Orvieto, ed. Da Alatri, p. 219, [1268], « Orbetanus Nichole, auctoritate Sacrosancte Romane ecclesie notarius constitutus, et nunc notarius dictorum inquisitorum et inquisitionis », p. 267 « Iannutium nuntium dictorum inquisitorum et inquisitionis », Another document from Florence witnesses to a slight variation « Ego Acconcius quondam Ricoveri, iudex ordinarius atque notarius prolationi huius sententie interfui et ea omnia de mandato dicti inquisitoris tunc scriba et officialis dicti inquisitoris scripsi et publicavi » (Tocco, Quel che non c’e`, p. 60 [1276]. Earlier, inquisitors or the tribunal do not claim « possession » of the notaries, as evident in 1240s documents (Tocco, Quel che non c’e`, where they are publicus auctoritate notarius, or iudex ordinarius et notarius publicus, or imperiali auctoritate iudex/notarius, and act by orders [de mandato] of the inquisitors, the podesta`, etc.)
Paolini 2002, p. 191.
E.g. « iudices et consultores/consiliatores officii et inquisitoris » « dicti inquisitoris et officii inquisitionis » in C250, f. 39r, 125r
C133, in diversis locis, discussed also by Benedetti 2008, p. 127, who points out only the « personal link » between Lanfranc and his employees.
See Paolini 1975, p. 11; Acta sancti Officii, n. 672 « suum et dicti officii inquisitionis vicarium specialem […] », [a case in Florence is recorded in C250, f. 6r].
« pro pluribus servitiis factis inquisitori et officio », C250, f. 115v; « pro carceribus et carceratis inquisitoris et officii inquisitionis », C250, f. 139r.
There is a hint at a strict co-operation between individual notaries and inquisition in the 1245 accusations made by Pace and Barone to the notaries writing for the tribunal (Tocco, Quel che non c’e`, n. 15, 17, p. 53-5), but there are not such definitions as notarius inquisitionis/inquisitoris until the last two decades of the thirteenth century (see Tocco, p. 61, n. 20; 67, n. 23; 69, n. 24 for examples of terminology and definitions).
See for example Lomastro, L’eresia a Vicenza, docs, n. 2, 8, 9, 11, 14, and n. 16 for a notarius officii.
Peter Vital « notary of the inquisitor », but B. Bonet indifferently « public notary of Toulouse and of the inquisitors » and « public notary of the inquisition », Inquisitors and heretics, p. 87-9
« iuratis et consiliariis officii inquisitionis », Comptes d’Arnaud Assalit, p. 519, n. 8689; GGG, f. 113r, 117r; Comptes d’Arnaud Assalit, p. 516-7, 519, n. 8639, 8647, 8689.
In France, a salary or reimbursement of expenses is provided to inquisitors ever since 1246, and up to the 1330s. See Albaret – Lanoix-Christen 2004, p. 48.
« tenebat suos exploratores secretos et premissa faciebat ut dominus Pontius non posset scire veritatem de receptis et gestis per dictum inquisitorem », C251, f. 59v.
Tanon 1893, p. 198.
For instance, C133, f. 32r-60r, several entries per page (registers of Lanfranc of Bergamo); f. 108r, 109r, 151r, 164r-v, 174v.
See some discussion of this theme in my The wandering heretics, p. 88-97.
« ‘Item in spiis, exploratoribus, iudicibus, sapientibus, notariis’, ‘in querendo, explorando, arestando, capiendo, deducendo, carcerando, detinendo, custodiendo, pascendo, vestigiando hereticos et de heresi suspectos’ » C133, f. 172r, 173v.
A rare explanation of what this role entails in a 1292 document from Vicenza, « dictos denarios dare, salvare et custodire ab incendio, ruina, naufragio, lactronibus, et fluctibus aquarum, casu fortuito et ab omnibus aliis periculis que dici seu excogitari possunt », Liber contractuum, n. 56.
See for instance, C133, ff . 28r-v, 30v, 49r.
It would be interesting to enquire whether such differences are to be attributed to different « inquisitorial styles », depending on the Order in charge of the « business of peace and faith », since Preachers operate in the first area – Lombardia superior and Genoese Marca; while Minors are in charge in Tuscany and central Italy). Jill Moore is currently tackling this issue in her forthcoming PhD dissertation on the organisation of the early Inquisition in Italy.
« Benincasa Martini, nuncius capelle Sancti Thome de mercato civitatis Bononie, et nuncius iuratus fratris Guidoni Vicentini », Acta Sancti Officii, p. 34, n. 21-2.
« Raynerolo qui predicabat et docebat, et custodiebat eum [the conversus ab heresi] in Papia » « per mensem unum et plus », C133, f. 38r.
Notary Andrea de Valle receives his investiture as syndic of the Franciscan convent of Padua by the inquisition officials, Liber contractuum, n. 32, p. 58, (ab officialibus eiusdem officii constitutus).
8 July 1297 : « Qui vero dominus Bovatinus, visis constitutionibus et aliis que potuerunt motum ipsius animi informare, consuluit quod dictus inquisitor possit et debeat solus officiales eligere et potestas Padue teneatur ellectos per inquisitorem instituere et admittere », in Parmeggiani 2011, p. 173, n. 41.
Wakefield, Inquisitors’ assistants, p. 62.
Acta sancti Officii, n. 575, 578, 579, 583 and passim. See also the discussion of witnesses and their relevance to a specific inquest highlighted by Biller, in Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 106-16, esp. p. 110-1.
Benedetti sees this as blackmail : luring heretics who live in poverty into co-operation, means cashing in on their indigence to obtain the most from their insider knowledge (Benedetti 2008, p. 149-51).
Given, Inquisition and medieval society, p. 141-66; Bruschi, The wandering heretics, p. 23-4, 142-89.
C133, f. 32-4, 37, on several occasions.
« Onda que fuit heretica, que iuravit in manibus meis, et quam conversatur bene, pro uno vestito 32.5 solidi », « Item Ondam que scripsit in libello uno multa privilegia officii et consilia et plura alia, solidi 20 », C133, f. 35v. There is evidence in Florence, at Le Stinche communal prison, of literate inmates who could slightly improve their detentive condition by helping copy manuscripts, and earning some extra money in Geltner 2008, p. 68.
« Item : 20 l. domino Geraldus Unaudi, milite, converso ab heresi, pro pensione seu elemosina a domino nostro rege sibi concessa, ad vitam suam, pro presenti anno », Comptes Royaux, 784, ed. Fawtier, n. 9688; see also Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 450, 466, 470, 474, 784, 892, 904; others in Cabié 1905, p. 130-3, 216-8, esp. in relationship with section J of ms J330b, and mentioning other collaborators of excellence, Sicard Lunel, Vigouroux, Raymond Rigaud.
C133, f. 54r.
« Maria servitiale pro pluribus serviciis factis inquisitori », C250 114v; « Pace et Dade, servitialibus, pro pluribus requisitionibus secrete factis de certis dominabus », Ibid., 115v.
« famulo qui stat parti pro exploratore officii et citat et requirit delatos curie », C251, 20v.
What is relevant in the case of Trintinelli, who had been guilty solely of rebellious attitude against the inquisitors’ sentence for Giuliano and Bompietro, is his employment as a witness to a case of religious non-conformity – which equals a positive relationship with the tribunal -, and the consequent breakdown of this relationship, following an act of open defiance. On him, Paolini 1975, p. 56; A. Thompson, Cities of God : the religion of the Italian communes, 1125-1325, University Park PA, 2005, p. 450.
For instance at C249, f. 48v (nuncius). Elsewhere only familiaris (ibid., f. 51r, 54r).
C250, f. 37r, and passim.
C250, f. 95r.
C250, f. 80v, 139r. Here « ad custodiam carceris dicti officii ». The custos carcerum is different from the carcerarius. This is strengthened by knowing that, for instance, in Carcassonne in 1321 « magister Iacobus de Poloniacho » is custos muri (Compte d’Arnaud Assalit, p. 521), which suggests James – a magister - is more than a mere jailer. C250 tells us of a « minister custodis carceris », ser Cambio Bandinelli, « who stayed and must stay continuously to look after the jail (qui stetit et stare debet continue ad custodiam dicti carceris »), C250, f. 79r, 81r.
The confiscated money is left with a depositarius, is then handed to the notaries on their request for payments and other financial transactions, then finally to Manovello for the provision of one-off reimbursements, supplies, prisoners’ living expenses and maintenance work. (C250, f. 40v-42v).
« Familiaris, servitor et officialis officii inquisitionis tempore officii fratris Ayulfi de Vincentia […] et etiam fuit expensator dicti fratris Ayulfi et cotidie secum ibat occasione dicti officii », C133, f. 12r.
C251, f. 55-57 [or 67-69 new folio numbers]. He has served under inquisitors Michele da Arezzo, Tedicio del Fabbro Tolosini, Accursio Bonfantini, Pietro of Prato and Mino Daddi of San Quirico. Under Antonio of Arezzo and Accursio Bonfantini he has to produce records for financial inspections.
C133, f. 125r.
C249, f. 42r, 43r-v, C250, f. 2v, 13v.
C259, f. 48r, 51r, 52r, 54r, 56r; C250, f. 37r and in many other places throughout.
ASVat, Instrumenta Miscellanea, c. 370.
Given, Inquisition and medieval society, pp. 144-7.
Ubertino of Casale’s words point out this as a problem, with particular reference to Tuscan convents, « item pecunia nomine oblationis in pluribus locis provincie sancti Francisci et aliquibus Tuscie recipitur et diverse fraudes fiunt in missis novis, in oblacionibus pecuniarum et in aliis modis pecuniam procurandi, in quibus preceptum regule de non recipienda pecunia maculatur. Maxime abusus quidam intravit, quod fratres vadunt per plateas et forum cincumeuntes terras et earum vicos pecuniam pro elemosina postulantes et ducentes secum unum famulum, qui eos comittatur et recipit pecuniam postulatam ab eis » , Sanctitas vestra, p. 68. We find this applied in the practice, when we read that « quod pretium Gerardinus ser Iacobi de Ficecchio, familiaris dicti fratris Philippi inquisitoris, habuit et recepit mandato ipsius inquisitoris, ibid. presentis, a dicto fratre Guidone » (da Alatri, Archivio, officio, titolari, p. 292) [Italics mine]; « recepit ser Franciscus magistri Tucci notarius ipsius inquisitoris, ipso inquisitore presente, et presentibus domino Thomaso Corsini et domino Michaele domini Falconis » C421-A, f. 19r.
« [...] quidam officiales dicti officii inquisitionis sub pretextu officii predicti de nocte post horam prohybitam, non iminente necessitate officii per civitatem Tarvisii [...] discurrant », C133, f. 12v.
« Item tenuit et nunc tenet Çaninus tabernarius de Romano qui popul[ariter] vocatur Çaninus patharinus pro officiali in dicto officio contra constitutiones, cum dictus Çaninus fuit publicus fenerator, et frater patris dicti Zanini patharini qui vocabatur Duradinus de Romano exhumatus fuit et combusta fuerunt ossa eius, pro crimine labis heretice » C133, f. 12r.
« Quedam transvestita nomine Lazarina de Plumatio », Acta sancti Officii, n. 797.
Douais 1900, p. lxxxiv-vii (the letter of Peter Rodier recites, « Cum dudum Bartholomeus Adalberti, notarius inquisitionis heretice pravitatis, pro quibusdam defectibus et delictis in officium suum, uti aliquorum delatio asserebat, commissis, captus fuerit et in muri carcere positus et detentus »); Comptes d’Arnaud Assalit, n. 8559, 8570, 8637, 8639, 8640, 8737; sentence in D27, f. 112-8, (24 Nov. 1328) : Bartholomew is released in the end, due to health concerns, « per duos annos et amplius in dicto muro iam detentum, gravi infirmitate et diuturna maceratum ab ipso muro ».
Da Alatri, Due inchieste, p. 229; Lomastro L’eresia a Vicenza, p. 52, and n. 3, 7, 8, 13; his audition at C133, 125r.
« Michaelem de Ciglano ad testificandum seu accusandum seu deponendum falso et contra Deum quod quidam fratres sui ordinis quos nominavit ipsi Michaeli et etiam fecit nominari per alios, fuissent auctores illius querimonie facte per Commune Tervisii et alios officiales officii inquisitionis », « non timeas eos accusare aut contra eos testificari, quia ea que dices contra eos non ponentur in actis officii, ita quod numquam poterunt scire quod tu accusaveris eos », otherwise « ego non dimittam te in pace » C133, f. 13v.
C421-A, f. 1r.
« [...] licet loquatur in persona domini Vitaliani, eam re vera emit de peccunia fratris Zuliani ordinis fratrum Minorum, tunc inquisitoris et de peccunia officii prout credit, et ipsam peccuniam et precium habuit a dicto fratre Zuliano tunc inquisitori occasione solvendi precium predicte emptionis », Liber Contractuum, n. 24 p. 32.
« […] tamen ad ipsam rei veritatem spectat et pertinet ad dominum Petumbonum de Broseminis, de ordine Fratrum Minorum, et nomine ipsius fratris Petriboni factum fuit dictum depositum, et ipsum depositum et denarios habuit et recepit dictus dominus frater Petrusbonus, ut credit », Liber Contractuum, n. 58-60.
D25, f. 186r, 191v.
Acta sancti Officii, n. 621-37, 645, 680.
« socios nostros et familiam nostram, cum transitum fecerimus occasione officii nostri », Ibid., n. 118.
Lea 1887, II, p. 273; L. Wadding, Annales Minorum, ad an. 1356, n. 12-9, quoting ASVe, Misti, cons. Vol. 6, p. 26.
« quod predictus Baro et frater notarium accusaverunt quod astabat mihi et quod scribebat acta contra hereticos », Tocco, Quel che non c’e`, p. 53, n. 15 (1245, 11 August).
« [Pace of Pesamigola] notarios perpetuo privaret officio secundum quod imperator Fredericus suis litteris hoc precepit. Item quod unus ex eis scilicet Gerardum posuit in banno centum librarum et notarium similiter in centum libris condempnavit et quod sibi precepit quod sententiam latam contra Pacem de Barone et Baronem fratres filios olim Baronis revocet et casset, quod dicebat eam latam contra mandatum imperatoris, de quo mandato ego idem notarius de mandato dicti fratris publicum condidit instrumentum, quia presens eram in capitulo fratrum Predicatorum cum nuntii potestatis predictum faceret preceptum », Ibid., p. 55, n. 17.
« […] illi predicatores qui nepotes et consanguineos, quamvis indignos, promovent ad proventus et honores ecclesiasticos, contra Dei voluntatem », De periculis novissimorum temporum, ed. G. Geltner, Paris-Leuven-Dudley MA, 2008, (‘Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations, 8’), p. 138, n. xli.
Inter celestium insignia (1302), in Chronica fratris Nicholai Glassberger ordinis minorum observantium, Quaracchi, 1887, p. 109-111.
See above, p. 24.
For example, see the comments made by the Master General Humbert of Romans, in B.M. Reichert (ed.), Litterae Encyclicae Magistrorum Generalium ordinis Praedicatorum ab anno 1233 usque ad annum 1376 (Rome, 1900), p. 15-63. I have commented on this aspect in connection to the problem of heretical itinerancy, in The wandering heretics, p. 123-8.
Examples, in great numbers, can be found in Biscaro, Inquisitori ed eretici lombardi; da Alatri, Inquisitori veneti; Lomastro, L’eresia a Vicenza, p. 87-143.
C251 f. 26r; C249, f. 53r, 56r; C250, f. 145r
As pointed out by Rigon, Introduzione, in Liber contractuum, p. xxxii; C133, f. 15r
See for example C251, f. 58/70 (accusation to brother Mino of St Quirico of having kept aside 400 florins for his nephews, to buy a holding; he received this money as a help to marry his own niece’; C133, f. 8v, 9r, 13r, 16v.
Cabié 1905, p. 129-30 (clothing for the inquisitor’s nephew).
For instance, notary John Bongia and his son Paniccia in Florence, (C249, f. 45r, 46r, 48r; ASFi, Diplomatico, n. 00038930 – 1327, 18 Nov.). Beltramo Salvagno, active in Milan 1295-1309 and his father Henry (Benedetti 2008, p. 130, n. 117); in Vicenza, Federico of Montebello judge and then condemned, James of Montebello judge and brother Albert of Montebello of the Minors in 1289 (Lomastro, Eresia a Vicenza, doc. n. 11); in Padua, around 1302, Vincenzo and Benvenuto of the Campexanis (C133, f. 18r). The phenomenon is also common to the familia of a bishop, see Sambin, p. 243).
For instance, the Trisanti family, who counts a notary (Benvenuto), a « banker » (depositarius) – Bartolo[meo], and a friar Minor (James), C50, f. 40r-41v, and throughout; or Benvenuto of Montecchio, servant and familiaris of the inquisitor in Vicenza, and brother of local friar Manfredino (da Alatri, Inquisitori veneti del Duecento, p. 251, n. 140).
Tedicio entrusts his relative Guido of Fabbro with great part of the office’s money, while Nastagio of Bonaguida of Fabbro Tolosini is among the main buyers of the goods confiscated to Scaglia Tifi. Tegghia of Guido of Fabbro, and his father lend 160 golden florins to inquisitor Pace of Castelfiorentino. Friar Lapo of Fabbro Tolosini is custos of the main Florentine church of St Croce and nominates and invests Accursio Bonfantini (D. Corsi, Firenze 1300-1350 : « non conformismo » religioso e organizzazione inquisitoriale, Annali dell'Istituto di Storia I, 1979, p. 29-66, at p. 41, 45, n. 56, 57-8; Biscaro, Inquisitori ed eretici a Firenze, p. 266-7). Brother Mino of St Quirico employs Guido of Tegghia Tolosini as his depositarius. In this capacity Guido gives deposition on 8th January 1334 during the trial against Mino (C251, f. 32/42). Picchino Bonfantini is syndic of the Florentine commune pro officio (= for what concerns the [inquisitorial] office), but also acts as a depositarius for the greatest part of the office’s money. At C250, f. 141r receives a salary; f. 144v again, depositarius of 420 golden florins; C250, f. 113v, 116r, Pietro Bonfantini is a familiaris of the inquisitor and receives a salary. The Tolosini family is repeatedly quoted in C249, f. 37r (Tegghia of Guido lends money to the tribunal), 22r, 37v, 38r, 47r, 58r, 61r.
See the letter written by Benedict IX to the bishop of Ostia, where there is a complaint that the goods of heretic Luterio Bonamici of Pisa had been sold for a little price or donated to third parties, de quibus quidem bonis aliqua per eundem inquisitorem donata et alia pro modico pretio vendita certis personis, quedam vero penes aliquos mercatores et nonnulla penes personas alias [deposita] fore dicuntur, BF, V, p. 10-1, n. 19 [1304, Feb 13]. On the case, see also BF, IV, p. 437 [1297, May 11].
Liber contractuum, n. 3 ( ?), 9, 16, 17.
Examples from the Upper Lombardy area in C133, where buyers include (f. 504-7) brother Guido [a Minor], Ymilia widow of Donasio judge of Mortara, dominus Drutto Cane from Pavia; brothers Bertramo of Crema, and Bergondio Vaca from the monastery of St Salvatore. A well-known Languedocian example is that of jurist Guillaume Garric, whose possessions are purchased by Carcassonne notary Roger de Mora, who gets a good deal, C. Douais, ‘Guillaume Garric de Carcassonne professeur de droit et le tribunal de l’Inquisition (1285-1320)’, Annales du Midi X, Toulouse 1898, p. 3-43, p. 27. In Florence, there are examples of moneylenders who also buy from the bona hereticorum (Lapo Strozzi, C249 f. 38v, 39r); other buyers include inquisitor’s notary Cettino da Benricevuti of Prato C249, f. 41v; the office itself, via commune officials C249, f. 46v; Giotto Peruzzi C249, f. 39v, 54v. This link did not prevent another Peruzzi, Commo/Comino, from a fine ‘for his excesses’, C249, 40v. The case of Florence appears to be extremely interesting on account of the local connections and political infiltrations within the business of inquisition/requisition. See S. Piron, ‘Un couvent sous influence. Santa Croce autour de 1300’, in Économie et Religion. L’expérience des ordres mendiants (XIIIe-XVe siècle), ed. N. Bériou, J Chiffoleau, (Lyon, Presses Universitaires de Lyon, 2009), p. 331-55, esp. p. 341, 345, 353, where the connections with families of the commercial and financial elite (Mozzi, Bardi), and lesser nobility (Agli, Adimari), pointed to groups effectively excluded by the 1293 Ordinances of Justice. By 1300 ‘St Croce has become a florentine institution, rather than a branch of the Franciscan order’ (p. 353); see also G. W. Dameron, Florence and its church in the age of Dante, Philadelphia, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2005, p. 131-2, who already sees these local implication as ripe in the 1280s, at the time of the creation of the priorato (1282), and the campaigns against the magnates (1282, 1286). Not by chance this decade marks the beginning of a policy of requisitions, post-mortem trials, attacks against the ghibellines and the wealthy. This makes Dameron say that inquisitors act within Florentine dynamics, and not papal ones.
Rigon, Introduzione, in Liber contractuum, p. xvi, e.g. docs. n. 63, 65 (1292), 67-ff, 99.
ASFi, Diplomatico, n. 00041681 (14 Nov. 1332) where the named ‘poor of Christ’ are Neri Ugolini of Radicofani and Bettino Ristori. We have a Neri and Bettino/Bertino acting as messengers in C250, f. 20r, 26r, 115v, 249-50v, 58v. Prior to this testament, in 1316, Neri of Ugolino is among the procurators, administrators and treasurers of the convent of St Croce, nominated due to the financial need of Florentine Franciscan houses. They have to check and supervise all financial transactions and management, so that the friars are not defrauded of their possessions. Bettino Ristori acts as a witness, together with inquisitor Andrew of Perugia in a further negotiation (ASFi, Diplomatico, n. 00046024 – 24 Sep. 1340).
C249, f. 47v. Balduccio cashes in on this business too, as noted by the notary, (« plus exigerat quam officium habere debuerat »); he is paid a salary regularly (58r, 61v); and buys ex-heretical possessions (38v).
ASFi, Tratte, 294, f. 137r; 995, f. 99r. I owe this second reference to Paolo Pirillo, with thanks. C133, 106r-v.
For a reconstruction of this handover in relationship with the management of the inquisitions, see Biller, Introduction, ch. 2, in Biller, Bruschi, Sneddon 2011, p. 41-3.
See for instance Correspondence administrative d’Alphonse of Poitiers, ed. Molinier n. 300 (16 July 1267), n. 932 (16 Dec 1268).
Ibid., n., 300, 303, 415, 428, 493, 504, 779, 911, 932, 1105, 1237, 1257, 1262, 1268, 1269, 1280, 1305, 1309, 1385, 1400, 1488, 1495, 1511, 1515, 1559, 1947, 1948. Discussion on this matter in A.P. Evans, Hunting subversion in the Middle Ages, Speculum, XXXIII (1958), p. 9-10.
Dossat, Les crises, p. 316-8.
Compte d’Arnaud Assalit, p. 500, 505.
« Ad audientiam nostram fama referente pervenit quod vos in occupatione bonorum dampnatorumn de heresi plurimum excedentes bona huiusmodi, que in dominicaturis et feudis ecclesiarum consistunt at ipsas ecclesias devolvenda de iure spretis ipsarum iuribus usurpatis violenter pro vestre libito voluntatis hereticorum bona quandoque non spectata (sic) inquisitorum sententia occupantes murandis hereticis, quorum bona devoluuntur ad vos nec reclusorum facere, nec eis curatis prout statutum in Tholosano concilio extitit in necessariis providere sententias contra plures magnates dampnatos de heresi distulistis actenus, et adhuc differtis executioni mandare. Dotes quoque mulierum catholicarum quorum mariti de heresi condempnantur, et credita deposita commodata eisdem a viris catholicis pignora etiam fructibus non computatis infortem, que de iure ad viros catholicos pertinent per iniustitiam contenditis detinere census, possessionem dampnatorum dominis catholicis, a quibus ipsas tenent reddere renuitis inpacis et fidei detrimentum. Ceterum prelatos, et alias personas ecclesiasticas, nec non homines ecclesiarum et monasteriorum coram vobis in seculari examine ipsorum capitis prgboribus vel personis proponere, ac excipere quaslibet actiones pro voluntate vestra compellitis in detrimentum ecclesiarum, et subversionem ecclesiastice libertatis, quo circa devotionem vestram movemus, et hortamur attente per apostolica vobis scripta mandantes, quatinus a predictorum excessuum presumptione destituatis omnino, alioquin venerabilibus fratribus nostris archiepiscopo Narbonensi, et Magalonensi, et Elenensi episcopis nostris damus litteris in mandatis, ut vos ab huiusmodi presumptione cessare monitione premissa per censuram ecclesiasticam appellatione remota compellant », Ad audientiam nostram (17 Apr. 1238), D31, c. 35r-37r.
1253, 26 May, Devic-Vaissete, Histoire générale de Languedoc, VIII, 122-4; Douais 1900, p. lv.
See Acta sancti Officii, n. 331.
The most updated and acute work on late medieval prisons is currently Geltner 2008.
« Anno domini millesimo ducentesimo octuagesimo secundo sexta feria sabbato infra octavo apostolorum Petri et Pauli fuit iniunctum, et districte mandatum, et per iuramentum Radulpho custodi immuratorum, et Bernarde uxori sue per fratrem Ioannem Galandi inquisitorem, in presentia fratris P Regis prioris, fratris Iohannis de Falgosio, et fratris Archembaudi quod de cetero non teneat scriptorem aliquem in muro nec, equos, nec ab aliquo immuratorum mutuum recipiant, nec donum aliquod. Item nec peccuniam illorum qui in muro decedunt retineant, nec aliquid aliud, sed statim inquisitoribus denuncient, et reportent. Item quod nullum incarceratum, et inclusum estrahat de carcere. Item quod inmuratos pro aliqua causa extra prima portam muri nullo modo extrahat, nec domum intrent, nec cum eo comedant. Item nec servitores qui deputati sunt ad serviendum aliis occupent in operibus suis, nec eos, nec alios mittant ad aliquem locum sine speciali licentia inquisitorum. Item quod dictus Radulphus non ludat cum eis ad aliquem ludum, nec sustineat quod ipsi inter se ludant, et si in aliquo de predictis inveniantur culpabiles ipso facto incontinenti de custodia muri perpetuo sint expulsi. Actum coram predicto inquisitore in testimonio predictorum, et mei Pontii prepositi notarii qui hec scripsi », D32, f. 125r-126r.
This example mirrors a similar pattern discussed in Geltner 2008, p. 67-71.
Douais 1900, p. 52. Other documents confirm this for instance, Comptes Royaux ed Fawtier, III, n. 9683 « Guillelmus Martini, custos immuratorum et incarceratorum Tholose [...] Mathelda [...] olim custode immuratarum »; n. 9684 « Elissendi matri subvicarii Tholose filieque dicte Mateldis quondam, cui fratres inquisitores concesserunt locum que tenebat dicta Matelda. » At n. 11748-11752 there is a new woman-keeper for women-prisoners, Astruga. C133, f. 42v « domine Honeste que stat in domo officii et custodit hereticas et credentes. » See Geltner 2008, p. 21-22, 63-66, who locates this practice, at least in Italian case-studies, around the midst of the thirteenth century.
See for instance Cabié 1905, pp. 215-7, where it is possible to follow the increase in the number of children in prison at Saint-Sernin and Saint-Etienne (from two – May 9; to three – June 6; four – June 20; eight – July 25; nine – Aug 1; thirteen – Oct 15-31; fourteen – Nov 14; seventeen – Nov 28).
C249, f. 43v, 44r.
C421-A, f. 33r, 34r, 35v, 44v.
Geltner 2008, p. 71-74.
Acta sancti Officii, n. 367, 377. Similar cases are recorded, always for Bologna, in Geltner 2008, p. 65, and Venice, p. 23.
« uni qui custodivit quemdam qui fuit detentus », « quem feci detineri », C133, 66r. The practice of distributing detainees through « local custodial places » prior to the foundation of proper prison compounds is recorded elsewhere in Italy : in Bologna, Venice and in Siena (first half of the 13th century), Geltner 2008, p. 1, 12, 21.
C250 in variis locis. In general, as a common practice, ill inmates were kept separate from the others, in the attempt of preserving the overall security and welfare, Geltner 2008, p. 67, xvii.
C249, f. 46v.
Compte d’Arnaud Assalit, n. 8640-5, 8689, 8736.
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