Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/302

 286 ITALY. intrigues, he was driven from the island, and in 1397 we find him acting as papal legate and provincial in Germany. In 1400 he obtained his pardon from King Martin, and was allowed to reside in Syracuse, but was strictly forbidden from exercising the ofiice of inquisitor. Meanwhile, in 1395, we hear of Guglielmo di Gir- genti as inquisitor, and in 1397, of Matteo di Catania, a sentence by whom in that year, fining a Jew and his wife in forty ounces, was confirmed by the king, showing that the Inquisition con- tinued to be subordinated to the civil power. Era Matteo was inquisitor on both sides of the Faro, for a royal letter of 1399 de- scribes him as such, and orders obedience rendered to his vicar, while another of 1403 shows that he still retained the position. A royal decree of 1402 specially provides for Jews an appeal to the king from all inquisitorial sentences, thus continuing what had long been the practice. In 1415 royal letters confirming the appointment of Fra Antonio de Pontecorona, others of 1427 in favor of Fra Benedetto da Perino, and of 1446, in favor of Fra Andrea de la Pascena, show that the organization was maintained, but all sentences were required to be transmitted to the viceroy, who submitted them to a royal judge before they were valid. Thus, in 1451, King Alfonso confirmed a fine of ten thousand florins, levied upon the Jews as a punishment for their usuries and other offences.* On the mainland we have seen proof of the decay of the In- quisition in the undisturbed growth of the Waldensian communi- ties, and the complete breaking-down of its machinery is fairly illustrated in 1427, when Joanna II. undertook to enforce certain measures against the Jews of her kingdom. Had there been an effective and organized Inquisition she would have required no better instrument for her purpose ; and it could only have been the absence of this that led her to call in the indefatigable perse- cutor, Fra Giovanni da Capistrano, to whom she issued a commis- sion to coerce the Jews to abandon usury and to wear the sign Tau^ as provided by law. He was empowered to decree such pun- ann. 1373, No. 36; ann. 1375, No. 26.— Tocco, Arcliivio Storico Napolitan. Ann. XII. (1887), Fasc. 1. — Ripoll 11. 311, 324, 364. — Guiseppe Cosentino, Archivio Storico Siciliano, 1885, pp. 74-5, 87. — La Mantia, Dell' Inquisizione in Sicilia, Torino, 1886, pp. 13-15.
 * MSS. Chioccarello, T. viii.— Raynald. ann. 1344, No. 9; ann. 1368, No. 16;