Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/73

 CLEMENT GIVES THEM A HEARING. 57 assured him that he had paid no attention to Arnaldo's discourse ; the king wrote to the pope and cardinals and to his brother deny- ing the story of his dream and treating Arnaldo as an impostor. Frederic was less susceptible : he wrote to Jayme that the story could do them no harm, and that the real infamy would lie in abandoning Arnaldo in his hour of peril. Arnaldo took refuge with him, and not long afterwards was sent by him again to Avi- gnon on a mission, but perished during the voyage. The exact date of his death is unknown, but it was prior to February, 1311. For selfish reasons Clement mourned his loss, and issued a bull an- nouncing that Arnaldo had been his physician and had promised him a most useful book which he had written ; he had died with- out doing so, and now Clement summoned any one possessing the precious volume to deliver it to him."* The interposition of Arnaldo offered to the Spirituals an un- expected prospect of deliverance. From Languedoc to Venice and Florence they were enduring the bitterest persecution from their superiors ; they were cast into dungeons where they starved to death, and were exposed to the infinite trials for which monastic life afforded such abundant opportunities, when Arnaldo persuaded Clement to make an energetic effort to heal the schism in the Or- der and to silence the accusations which the Conventuals brought against their brethren. An occasion was found in an appeal from the citizens of Narbonne setting forth that the books of Olivi had been unjustly condemned, that the Rule of the Order was disre- garded, and those who observed it were persecuted, and further praying that a special cult of Olivi's remains might be permitted. A commission of important personages was formed to investigate the faith of Angelo da Clarino and his disciples, who still dwelt in the neighborhood of Rome, and who were pronounced good Catho- lics. Such leading Spirituals as Raymond Gaufridi, the former general, Ubertino da Casale, the intellectual leader of the sect, Raymond de Giniac, former Provincial of Aragon, Gui de Mire- poix, Bartolommeo Sicardi, and others were summoned to Avignon, 3. 773, 776.— Wadding, aim. 1312, No. 7.— Cf. Trithem. Chron. Hirsaug. ami. 1310; P e Langii Chron. Citicens. ann. 1320.
 * Hist. Tribulationum (Archiv fur Litt.- u. K. 1386, 1. 129).— Pelayo, I. 481-