Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/241

 EZZELINO DA ROMANO. 225 twice moved to tears by the eloquence of Fra Giovanni Schio in- dicates a degree of sensibility impossible in one utterly depraved In fact the anecdote related by Benvenuto da Imola, that he car- ried on his back his sister's lover Sordello to and from the place of assignation, and then gave the frightened troubadour a friendly warning, presupposes a character wholly at variance with that currently attributed to him. Some of the stories circulated to excite odium against him are so absurdly exaggerated a. to cast doubt upon all the accusations of the papahst writers * Gregory's letters of September 1, 1231, were simply a ruse bo tar was he from awaiting the two months' delay for Ezzelin to present himself, that three days later, on September 4, he executed his threat by ordering the Bishops of Reggio, Modena, Brescia and Mantua to offer Ezzehn's lands to the spoiler, and to preach the cross against him, with the same indulgences as for the Holy Land. This proved a failure, and when Fvk Giovanni Schio was sent on his mission of peace, in 1233, Ezzehn's absolution was in- cluded m the general pacification, though he had not abandoned the protection of heresy, which had been the ostensible reason for assaihng him. While Frederic was at peace with the Church Ezzehn appears to have been let alone ; and when the quarrel broke out afresh, after the emperor's subjugation of Lombardy Ezzehn was again attacked. Frederic's excommunication of April 7 1239, was followed, November 20, by that of Ezzelin. This time there IS no mention of fautorship of heresy, but only of his en croachments on the church of Treviso and of his remaining under excommunication for more than three years. A month is given to him to submit, after which he is to be proceeded against as a heretic, for the Church had already discovered the confenienrof treating disobedience as heresy. Nothing came of this, and in 1244^Innocent lY. resolved to see whether the Inquisitic^n lid not be used to better effect. Fr4 Rolando da Cremona, whose dauntless energy we have witnessed, was commissioned to make inquest on him as on one suspected and pubhcly defamed for her- rato.i, S. R. I. VIII. 707-9). -Frederic II. is similarly described by the naDal ^cnbes as a monster delighting in objectless cruelty. See Vit Greeor PP IX (Muratori, S. R. I. HI. 583-4) wegor. PP. IX. 11—15