Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/192

 176 THE SPANISH PENINSULA. by the civil power, and was sequestrated until Gregory ordered his delivery to the inquisitor, who forced him to abjure and im- prisoned him for life. Somewhat earher was a certain Bartolo Janevisio, of Majorca, who indulged in some apocalyptic writing about Antichrist, and was forced, in 1361, by Eymerich to recant, while his book was publicly burned. More practical, from a po- litical point of view, was Eymerich' s doctrine that all who lent assistance to the Saracens were punishable by the Inquisition as fautors of heresy, but this seems to have remained a theoretical assertion which brought no business to the Holy Office. We shall see hereafter how he fared in seeking the condemnation of Ray- mond Lulli's writings, and need only say here that the result was his suspension from office, to be succeeded by his capital enemy Bernardo Ermengaudi, in 1386, and that after the succession to the throne, in 1387, of Juan I., who was bitterly hostile to him, he was: twice proscribed and exiled, and was denounced by the king as an obstinate fool, an enemy of the faith inspired by Satan, anointed with the poison of infidelity, together with other unflattering quali- fications. He did not succeed better when in his rash zeal he as- sailed the holy San Vicente Ferrer for saying in a sermon that Judas Iscariot had a true and salutary repentance ; that, being un- able to reach Christ and obtain forgiveness owing to the crowd, he hanged himself and was pardoned in heaven. When the case was drawing to a conclusion, Pedro de Luna, then Cardinal of Aragon, took Vicente under his protection and made him his con- fessor, and, after his election in 1394 as Avignonese pope, under the name of Benedict XIII., he forced Eymerich to surrender the pa- pers, which he unceremoniously burned. The next inquisitor, Ber- nardo Puig, is said to have been earnest and successful, punishing many heretics and confuting many heresies. In Valencia, about 1390, there was a case in which Pedro de Ceplanes, priest of Cella, read in his church a formal declaration that there were three nat- ures in Christ — divine, spiritual, and human. A merchant of the town loudly contradicted it, and a tumult arose. The inquisitor of Valencia promptly arrested the too ingenious theologian, who only escaped the stake by public recantation and condemnation to perpetual imprisonment ; but he broke jail and fled to the Balearic Isles, interjecting an appeal to the Holy See.*
 * Eymeric. Direct. Inquis. pp. 44, 266, 314-6, 351, 357-8, 652-3.— Mag. Bull.