Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/114

 98 GUGLIELMA AND DOLCINO. Bellacara de' Carentani, Giacobba dei Bassani, and possibly some others. They readily abjured and were treated with exceptional mildness, for Fra Manfredo absolved them by striking them over the shoulders with a stick, as a symbol of the scourging which as penitents they had incurred. He seems to have attached little importance to the matter, and not to have compelled them to reveal their accomplices. Again, in 1295 and 1296, there was an investigation made by the Inquisitor Fra Tommaso di Como, of which no details have reached us, but which evidently left the leaders unharmed.* We do not know what called the attention of the Inquisition to the sect in the spring of 1300, but we may conjecture that the ex- pected resurrection of Guglielma at the coming Pentecost, and the preparations made for that event, caused an agitation among the disciples leading possibly to incautious revelations. About Easter (April 10) the inquisitors summoned and examined Maifreda, Gia- cobba dei Bassani, and possibly some others, but without result. Apparently, however, they were watched, secret information was gathered, and in July the Holy Office was ready to strike effec- tively. On July 18 a certain Fra Ghirardo presented himself to Lanfranco de' Amizzoni and revealed the whole affair, with the names of the principal disciples. Andrea sought him out and en- deavored to learn what he had said, but was merely told to look to himself, for the inquisitors were making many threats. On the 20th Andrea was summoned ; his assurances that he had never heard that Guglielma was regarded -as more than an ordinary saint were apparently accepted, and he was dismissed with or- ders to return the next day and meanwhile to preserve absolute secrecy, f Andrea and Maifreda were thoroughly frightened ; they begged the disciples, if called before the inquisitors, to preserve silence with regard to them, as otherwise they could not escape death. It is a peculiar illustration of the recognized hostility between the two Mendicant Orders that the first impulse was to seek assist- ance from the Franciscans. Xo sooner were the citations issued than Andrea, with the Doctor Beltramo da Ferno, one of the ear- t Ibid. pp. 13,30-33,39.
 * Ogniben, pp. 14, 23, 33, 36, 39, 60, 72, 101, 110, 114.