Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/386

 g/j^Q GERMANY. were to be delivered up for burning within fifteen days. The fact that among them were many clerks in holy orders, monks, married folks, and others, shows that their opinions were widely held among those who were not mere wandering beggars— the latter probably being merely the missionaries who made converts and administered to the spiritual needs of the faithful. John of Zurich was not content with merely threatening. He made a vis- itation of his diocese, in which he found many of the sectaries. He organized an Inquisition of learned theologians, by whom they were tried ; those who recanted were sentenced to wear crosses— the first authentic record in Germany of the use of this penance, so long since estabhshed elsewhere— and those who were obstinate he handed over to the secular arm to be burned. These active proceedings may be regarded as the first regular exercise of the episcopal Inquisition on German soil. Multitudes of Beghards fled from the diocese, and in June, 1318, the bishop had the satis- faction of reporting his success to his fellow-suffragans and urg- ing them to follow his example. Yet this persecution, if sharp, was transitory, for in 1319 we find him again issuing letters to his clergy, saying that the Clementines had been enforced elsewhere, but not in the diocese of Strassburg. All incumbents are ordered, under pain of suspension, to require the Beguines to lay aside their vestments within fifteen days and to conform to the usages of the Church. If any refuse, the inquisitors will be instructed to inqmre into their faith.* 1885, pp. 561-4. • Many of the decrees of the Council of Vienne were circulated at the time, but Clement desiring a revision, ordered them to be destroyed or surrendered. Af- ter recasting them, they were adopted by a consistory held March 21, 1314, and copies were sent to some of the universities; but Clement's death, on April 20, caused new delay. John XXII. subjected them to another revision, and they were finally published October 25, I317.-Franz Ehrle, Archiv fiir Litteratur- u. Kirchengeschichte, 1885, pp. 541-2. The contradictory character of the provisions concerning the Begumes is doubtless attributable to these repeated revisions. The manner in which John of Zurich obtained the bishopric of Strassburg is highly illustrative of the methods of the papal curia. On the death of Bishop Frederic, the chapter divided and elected four aspirants, among whom was John of Ochsenstein, a favorite of the Emperor Albert, who, to secure his confirmation,
 * Mosheim de Beghardis, pp. 255-61, 268-9.-Haupt, Zeitschrift fiir K. G.