Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/67

 THE INQUISITION PERFECTED. 51 the adroitness of tlieii ^pies. The organization of the Inquisition, moreover, was gradually perfected. In 1254 the Council of Albi carefully revised the regulations concerning it. Fixed tribunals were estabhshed, and the limitations of the inquisitorial districts were strictly defined. For Provence and the territories east of the Rhone, Marseilles was the headquarters, eventually confided to the Franciscans. The rest of the infected regions were left to the Dominicans, with tribunals at Toulouse, Carcassonne, and Nar- bonne ; and, from such fragmentary documents as have reached us, at this time the Inquisition at Carcassonne rivalled that of Toulouse in energy and effectiveness. For a while safety was sought by heretics in northern France, but the increasing vigor of the Inquisition estabhshed there drove the unfortunate refugees back, and in 1255 a bull of Alexander TV. authorized the Provin- cial of Paris and his inquisitors to pursue the fugitives in the ter- ritories of the Count of Toulouse. At the same time the special functions of the inquisitors were jealously guarded against all en- croachments. We have seen how, in its early days, it was sub- jected to the control of papal legates, but now that it was firmly estabhshed and thoroughly organized it was held independent; and when the legate Zoen, Bishop of Avignon, in 1257, endeav- ored, in virtue of his legatine authority, which fourteen years be- fore had been so absolute, to perform inquisitorial work, he was rudely reminded by Alexander lY. that he could do so if he pleased in his own diocese, but that outside of it he must not in- terfere with the Inquisition. To this period is also to be ascribed the complete subjection of all secular officials to the behests of the inquisitors. The piety of St. Louis and the greed of Alphonse of Poitiers and Charles of Anjou rivalled each other in placing all the powers of the State at the disposal of the Holy Office, and in providing for its expenses. It was virtually supreme in the land, and, as we have seen, it was a law unto itself.* The last shadow of open resistance was dissipated in the year 1255. After the fall of Montsegur the proscribed and disinher- Ripoll I. 273-4.— Arch. Nat. de France, J. 431, No. 34.— Arch, de ITnq. de Care. (Doat, XXXI. 239, 250, 252).— Vaissette, III. Pr. 528, 536.— Arch, di Kapoli, Re- gestro 6, Lettere D, fol. 180.
 * MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, Nouv. Acquis. 139,— Molinier, op. cit. p. 404.—