Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/169

 DISSENSIONS WITHIN THE ORDER. 153 Franciscans, for it seemed to them that his whole business was to afflict them. It was generally believed among them that their gen- eral, Michele, had been unjustly deposed and excommunicated. In a large assembly of friars he had said, " I wish that antipope was a Dominican, or of some other Order," when another rejoined, " I rejoice still more that the antipope is of our Order, for if he was of another we should have no friend, and now at least we have the Italian," whereat all present applauded. For a while Frore Bar- thelemi held out, but imprisonment with threats of chains and fasting broke down his resolution, and he threw himself upon the mercy of the inquisitor, Henri de Chamay. That mercy consisted in a sentence of harsh prison for life, with chains on hands and feet and bread and water for food. Possibly the Dominican in- quisitor may have felt pleasure in exhibiting a Franciscan pris- oner, for he allowed Barthelemi to retain his habit ; and it shows the minute care of John's vindictiveness that a year later he wrote expressly to Henri de Chamay reciting that, as the delinquent had been expelled from the Order, the habit must be stripped from him and be delivered to the Franciscan authorities.* In Germany the Franciscans for the most part remained faith- ful to Michele and Louis, and were of the utmost assistance to the latter in the struggle. The test was the observance of the inter- dict which for so many years suspended divine service throughout the empire, and was a sore trial to the faithful. To a great ex- tent this was disregarded by the Franciscans. It was to little purpose that, in January, 1331, John issued a special bull directed against them, deprived of all privileges and immunities those who recognized Louis as emperor and celebrated services in interdicted places, and ordered all prelates and inquisitors to prosecute them. On the other hand, Louis was not behindhand in enforcing obedi- ence by persecution wherever he had the power. An imperial brief of June, 1330, addressed to the magistrates of Aix, directs them to assist and protect those teachers of the truth, the Fran- ciscans Siegelbert of Landsberg and John of Eoyda, and to im- prison all their brethren whom they may designate as rebels to the empire and to the Order until the general, Michele, shall de- cide what is to be done with them. This shows that even in Ger-
 * Doat, XXVII. 202-3, 229 ; XXXV. 87.