Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/109

 INVESTIGATION BY THE CARDINALS. 93 any one except in conjunction with the diocesan, and in the place of the Bishop of Albi the Abbot of Fontfroide was subro- gated. On April 16, 1306, the cardinals held a pubHc session at Car- cassonne in presence of all the notables of the place. The consuls of Carcassonne and the delegates of Albi preferred their com- plaints and were supported by the two Dominicans, Blanc and Aimeric, who had appeared before the pope. On the other hand, Geoffroi d'Abhs and the deputy of the Bishop of Albi defended themselves and complained of the popular riots and the ill-treatment to which they had been exposed. After hearing both sides the cardinals adjourned further proceedings until January 25, at Bor- deaux, where Carcassonne, Albi, and Cordes were each to send four procurators to conduct the matter. As this office was a most dan- gerous one, the cardinals gave security to them against the Inqui- sition during the performance of their duty. This was no idle pre- caution, and Aimeric Castel, one of the representatives of Carcas- sonne, found himself in such danger that in September, 1308, he was obhged to procure from Clement a special bull forbidding the inquisitors to assail him until the termination of the affair. Even greater danger impended over any witnesses called upon to prove the falsification of records, as they were bound to silence under oaths which exposed them to the stake as relapsed heretics in case they revealed their evidence, and the cardinals were asked to absolve them from these oaths.* If there were any further formal proceedings in this matter, which thus assumed the shape of a htigation between the people and the Inquisition, they have not reached us. Yet the cardinals, before continuing their journey, took some steps which showed that they were convinced of the truth of the accusations. They visited the prison of Carcassonne, and caused the prisoners, forty in num- ber, of whom three were women, to be brought before them. Some of these were sick, others worn with age, and all tearfully com- plaining of the horrors ^ their lot, the insufficiency of food and bedding, and the cruelty of their keepers. The cardinals were moved to dismiss all th^e jailers and attendants except the chief, -d'Albi (Doat, XXXIV. 45).— Arch, de I'Inq. de Care. (Doat, XXXIII. 48).
 * MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 4270, fol 254.— Arch, de I'hotel-de-ville