Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/321

 THE TEMPLARS. 305 in 1310 to obtain evidence against the Order as a whole and against the Grand Preceptor of Apulia, Oddo de Yaldric, show that no ob- stacle was thrown in the way of the inquisitors in obtaining by the customary methods the kind of testimony desired. The same may be said of Sicily, where, as we have seen, Frederic of Aragon had admitted the Inquisition in 1304.* In the States of the Church we have somewhat fuller accounts of the later proceedings. Although we know nothing of what was done at the time of arrest, there can be no doubt that in a territory subjected directly to Clement his bull of November 22, 1307, was strictly obeyed; that all members of the Order w^ere seized and that appropriate means were employed to secure con- fessions. When the papal commission was sent to Paris to afford the Order an opportunity to prepare its defence at the Council of Yienne, similar commissions, armed with inquisitorial powers, were despatched elsewhere, and the report of Giacomo, Bishop of Sutri, and Master Pandolfo di Sabello, who were commissioned in that capacity in the Patrimony of St. Peter, although unfortu- nately not complete, gives us an insight into the real object which underlay the ostensible purpose of these commissions. In October, 1309, the inquisitors commenced at Pome, where no one appeared before them, although they summoned not only members of the Order, but every one who had anything to say about it. In De- cember they w r ent to Yiterbo, where five Templars lay in prison, who declined to appear and defend the Order. In January, 1310, they proceeded to Spoleto without finding either Templars or other witnesses. In February they moved to Assisi, where they adopted the form of ordering all Templars and their fautors to be brought before them, and this they repeated in March at Gubbio, but in both places without result. In April, at Aquila, they sum- moned witnesses to ascertain whether the Templars had any churches in the Abruzzi, but not even the preceptor of the Hos- pitallers could give them any information. All the Franciscans of the place were then assembled, but they knew nothing to the dis- credit of the Order. A few da} T s later, at Penna, they adopted a VIII.— Du Puy, pp. 63-4, 87, 222-6.— Raynouard, pp. 200, 279-84.— Schottmul- ler, II. 108 sqq. III.— 20
 * Mag. Bull. Rom. IX. 131-2. — Archivio di Napoli, MSS. Chioccarello, T.