Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/345

 CONRAD OF MARBURG. 329 ConVtj7'f' "^'"^ "' " "' '^' '^^' f«^ ^^^<^^ tl^e great wasT. hi . !^r' '""'"'■ ^^«"^ '^^' ti°^« «^ Ws activity took ri L ;r ' ^?"''^ *™*^ '" *^^ -«-rtion that he took part in the occasional persecutions of heresy which are re- er brought him into direct relations with Eome, and his success n inducing thousands to take the cross gave him Ligh remte wTth o^T;:;trr H ^"'T1? «^^^^^edisiLrestednefswhirarkS at^e in Zf, ^ ""^ ''™' *° ^"^ ^"P^^^^d as a represent- ative m matters of importance, and his unwearied energy ren- dered h:m increasingly useful. In 1220 he was intrusted wf h the Sder LrfESrh^' y ; rr °* *'^ ^'^"^^'^' ^^^^ Emperor Jireder c to fulfil his long-delayed vow of leading an expedition to the Holy Land, and he was further made chief of the Ls ness rf aTtZXut r '^ '' 'T '^"^P""^^^*^ *° commissioTa^ist ants throughout Germany. I„ these letters he is addressed as "&to..." or head of the church schools in Mainz hol^ ^vln of t^e CO '«r ^""^" '"^ '' '^^ ^^^*- -^et-a! given of tte confidence reposed in him. In March of that year Gregory XI had mounted the papal throne with full reso ve to crush the rising powers of heresy, and, if possible, to deprhtit of ^s excuse for existence in the corruptions of the church'elb sh men. We have seen how, on June 20, 1227, he tried the exneri men m Florence of creating a kind of inquisition, with a Dom L " can to exercise its functions. In Germany ther^ seems to have" been no one but Conrad on whom to rely."^ June 2 ^Lht da^ before the commission issued to Giovanni di Salerno, GegoS w f tr 1°°""'"''"^ '•^'^ly '"^^ "^'^'Sence with whicK was tracking and pursuing heretics-a diligence of which unfortu nately, aU details are lost to us. In order That his labo^mT/ht be more efficacious, Conrad was directed and empowered to nomtate whomsoever he might see fit as his assistanls, and with them to nqmre enei^^etically after all who were infected with heres o that the extirpation of the tares from the fields of the Lord ni:.M proceed with due authority. Though the Inquisition was scSe as yet even a prospective conception, this was in effect an informal olTZ: :: ^,7'^^^^ ^- Germany, and it is p:^Zly no injustice to Gregory to suggest that one of the motives nromnt mg it was the desire to substitute papal authority for thTepLcopai