Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/156

 j^ FRANCE. ment, in 1431, by Eugenius IV, of Frere Jean Graveran to be In- quisitor of Rouen, where he was already exercising the functions of the office, and where he was succeeded in 1433 by Frere Sebastien I'Abbe, who had been papal penitentiary and chaplain— another evidence of the partition of France during the disastrous English war People were growing more careless about excommunication than ever. About 1415, a number of ecclesiastics of Limoges were prosecuted by the inquisitor, Jean du Puy, as suspect of heresy for this cause ; they appealed to the Council of Constance, and m 1418 the matter was referred back to the archbishop. StiU the indif- ference to excommunication grew, and in 1435 Eugemus R. in- structed the Inquisitor of Carcassonne to prosecute all who re- mained under the censure of the Church for several years without seeking absolution.* With the pacification of France and the final expulsion of the English, Nicholas V. seems to have thought the occasion oppor- tune for reviving and establishing the Inquisition on a firmer and broader basis. A bull of August 1, 1451, to Ungues le Noir, In- quisitor of France, defines his jurisdiction as extending not only over the Kingdom of France, but also over the Duchy of Aquitaine and all Gascony and Languedoc. Thus, with the exception of the eastern provinces, the whole was consolidated into one district with its principal seat probably in Toulouse. The jurisdiction of the inquisitor was likewise extended over all offences that had hitherto been considered doubtful — blasphemy, sacrilege, divina- tion even when not savoring of heresy, and unnatural crimes. He was further released from the necessity of episcopal co-opera- tion, and was empowered to carry on all proceedings and render iud-ment without caUing the bishops into consultation. Iwo centuries earlier these enormous powers would have rendered Hugues almost omnipotent, but now it was too late. The Inqui- sition had sunk beyond resuscitation. In 1458 the Franciscan Minister of Burgundy represented to Pius II. the deplorable con- dition of the institution in the extensive territories confided to his Order, comprising the great archiepiscopates of Lyons, Vienne, Aries, Aix, Embrun, and Tarantaise, and covering both sides or • Baluz. et Mansi 1. 288-93.-Arch. G6d. de Belgique, Papicrs d'feat T. 405.- MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds Moreau, 444, fol. lO.-Ripoll II. 533 ; III. 6, 8, 21, 196.