Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/214

 19S "^^LY- Ingheramo da Macerata, the late podest-i of Eimim, was perse- cuted by the citizens because he had delivered for burning as heretics some of their daughters and sisters, and because he had wished to inscribe on their statute-books the constitutions of Fred- eric, it was not to the emperor that he apphed for protection, but to Honorius III.* Something more than imperial edicts was plainly necessary, and Honorius, in casting around for methods to check the spread of heresy, appointed, in 1224, the Bishops of Brescia and Modena as commissioners with special powers to exterminate the heretics of Lombardy— as inquisitors, in fact, this being one of the steps which gradually led to the establishment of the Inquisition, the usefulness of the Dominicans in this respect not having yet been divined The Bishop of Modena, however, undertook a mission to convert the pagans of Prussia, and the Bishop of Kimini was substituted in his place. The prelates commenced with Brescia itself, whose prelate doubtless knew where to strike. They or- dered the tearing down of certain houses where heretical preach- ers had been accustomed to hold forth. At once an armed insur- rection broke out. The perennial factions of the city took sides. Several churches were burned, and the heretics parodied from them the anathema by casting lighted torches from the windoxN^ and solemnly excommunicating all members of the Church of Rome. It was not until after a severe and prolonged conflict that the Catholics obtained the upper hand, and then the terms prescribed bv Honorius were so mild as to indicate that it was not deemed politic to drive the defeated party to despair. All excommum. cates were required to apply personally for absolution to the Holy See The fortified houses of the lords of Gambara, of Ugona, ot the Oriani, of the sons of Botatio, who had been the leadei-s in the troubles, were ordered to be razed to the ground, never to be re- built while other strongholds, which had been defended against the Catholics, were to be cut down one-third or one-halt. Bem- flced clerks who were children of heretics or of fautors were to be ' suspended for three years or more as their individual participation in the troubles might indicate. A levy of three hundred and thirty lire was ordered on the clergy of Lombardy and the Trivigiana • Epistt. S»cul. XIII. T. I. No. 451 (Mon. Hist. GcrnU.-Potthast No. 7672.