Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/167

 THE WALDENSES. ^^^ quisition there. Former raids had left the people in an angry mood. Multitudes had been subjected to the humiliation of crosses, and these and their friends vowed revenge on the appearance of the new persecutors. A plot was rapidly formed to assassinate the inquisitors at a viUage where they were to pass the night. For some reason, however, they changed their plans, and passed on to the Priory of Montoison. The conspirators followed them, broke down the doors, and slew them. Strangely enough, the Prior of Montoison was accused of compUcity in the murder, and was ar- rested when the murderers were seized. The bodies of the mar- tyrs were solemnly buried in the Franciscan convent at Valence where they soon began to manifest their sanctity in miracles, and they would have been canonized by John XXII. had not the quarrel which soon afterwards sprang up between him and the Franciscans rendered it impohtic for him to increase the number 01 iranciscan saints.* A few Waldenses appear in the prosecutions of Henri de Cha may of Carcassonne in 1328 and 1329, and, from the occasional notices which have reached us in the succeeding years, we may conclude that persecution, more or less fitful, never whoUy ceased- while, m spite of this, the heresy kept constantly growing After the disappearance of Catharism, indeed, it was the only refuge for ordinary humanity when dissatisfied with Eome. The Beo-^ards were mystics whose speculations were attractive only to ascertain order of mind. The Spirituals and FraticeUi were Franciscan as- cetics. The Waldenses sought only to restore Christianity to its simplicity; their doctrines could be understood by the poor and lUiterate, groaning under the burdens of sacerdotalism, and they found constantly wider acceptance among the people, in spite of all the efforts put forth by the waning power of the inquisition Benedict XII m 1335, summoned Humbert II., Dauphin of Vie^: nois, and Adhemar of Poitou to assist the inquisitors. Humbert obeyed, and from 1336 to 1346 there were expeditions sent a<.aS ttm "oflh °" *'"" '^"" '""'^ ^*^"^^^ ^' ^ -P^-«d some o them. Of these a portion abjured and the rest were burned • their possessions were confiscated and the bones of the dead exh'u ne" The secular and ecclesiastical ofiicials of Embrun joined in these Wadding, ann. 1321, No. 21^.