Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/258

 212 ^TALY. confiscated to the Inquisition, any sales or conveyances made of them during the thirty-two years which had elapsed since his death being void. Fra Guidons triumph was complete, and on the death of the Bishop of Ferrara, in 1303, he was rewarded with the epis- copate. Extraordinary as this case may seem, it was not unique. At Brescia a heresiarch named Guido Lacha was long adored as a saint by the people until the imposture was detected by the In- quisition, which caused his bones to be dug up and burned.* This was the period of the greatest power and activity of the Inquisition, and the extent of its perfected organization is shown in a document of 1302, wherein Fra Guido da Tusis, Inquisitor of Komagnola, publishes in the communal council of Eimini the names of thirty-nine oiRcials whom he has selected as his assistants. The expenses of such a body could not have been light, and to defray th-m there must have been a constant stream of fines and confis- cations pouring into the inquisitorial treasury, showing an abun- dant harvest of heresy and active work in its suppression.f It was probablv between 1320 and 1330 that was produced the treatise of Zanghino Ugolini, so often quoted above. Fra Donato da Sant' Agata had been appointed Inquisitor of Romagnola, and the learned jurisconsult of Bimini drew up for his instruction a sum- mary of the rules governing inquisitorial procedure, which is one of the clearest and best manuals of practice that we possess. A singular episode of lenity occurred not long before, which is not to be passed over, although inexplicable in itself and unproduc- tive of consequences. Its importance, indeed, lies in the evidence which it affords that the extreme severity of the laws against her- esy was recognized as reaUy unnecessary, since its relaxation in favor of a single community as a matter of favor would otherwise have been a crime against the faith. In February, 1286, Honorms lY., in consideration of the fidelity manifested by the people of III. 671-2).-Barbarano de' Mironi, Hist. Eccles. di Vicenza II. 153.-Salimbene Chron. ann. 1279, p. 276.— Paramo, p. 299. The wide attention attracted by the case of Armanno is shown by the allu- sion to it in the German chronicles.-Trithem Chron. Hirsaug. ann. 1299.-Chron. Cornel. Zanfliet (Martene Ampl. Coll. V. 142-3). t Introductio ad Zanchini Tract, de Ilceres. ed. Campegn, Romae, lo68. (I owe a copy of this document to the kindness of Prof. Felice Tocco, of Florence.)
 * Muratori Antiq. Ital. XII. 508-55.-Bern. Guidon. Vit. Bonif. VIII. (S. R. I.