In the lay courts, if a witness swore to the innocence of the accused and subsequently changed his testimony, the first statement was held good and the second was rejected, but in cases of heresy the incriminating evidence was always received.—Ponzinibii de Lamiis c. 84.
[390] C. 17 Cod. IX. ii. (Honor. 423).—Pseudo-Julii Epist. II. c. 18 (Gratiani Decret.) P. II. caus. v. Q. 3, c. 5.—Pseudo-Eutychiani Epist. ad Episcopp. Siciliæ.—Gratiani Comment. in Decret. P. II. caus. II. Q. 7, c. 22; caus. VI. Q. 1, c. 19.—Hist. Diplom. Frid. II. T. IV. pp. 299-300.—Guill. Pod. Laur. c. 40.—Alex. PP. IV. Bull. Consuluit, 6 Mai. 1260 (Doat, XXXI. 205); Ejusd. Bull. Quod super non nullis, 9 Dec. 1257; 15 Dec. 1258.—C. 5 Sexto v. 2.—C. 8 § 3 Sexto v. 2.—Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1246 c. 12.—Jacob. Laudun. Orat. in Conc. Constant. (Von der Hardt III. 60).—MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 14930, fol. 221.—Zanchini Tract. de Hæret. c. xi., xiii.—Eymeric. Direct. Inq. pp. 602-6.
Under the contemporary English law, criminals and accomplices were rejected as accusers, even in high-treason (Bracton, Lib. III. Tract. ii. cap. 3, No. 1).
[391] Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquisit. s. v. Testis, No. 14.—Concil Albiens. ann. 1254 c. 18.—Coll. Doat, XXII. 237 sqq.
In the German feudal law of the period no witness was admitted below the age of eighteen.—Sächsisches Lehenrechtbuch, c. 49 (Daniels, Berlin, 1863, p. 113).
[392] Eymeric. Direct. Inq. pp. 611-13.—Concil. Narbonn. ann. 1244 c. 25.—Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1246 c. 14.—Arch, de l’Inq. de Carcass, (Doat, XXXI. 149).
[393] Guid. Fulcod. Quæst. VIII.—Pegnæ Comment. in Eymeric. p. 601.—Zanchini Tract. de Hæret. c. xiii.—Doctrina de modo procedendi (Martene Thesaur. V. 1802).
Heresy, of course, was a “reserved” case for which the ordinary confessor could not give absolution. Thus a man of Realmont in Albigeois who repented of having been present at a Catharan conventicle went to a Franciscan and confessed, accepting the penance imposed of the minor pilgrimages and some other penitential acts. On his return from their performance, however, he was seized by the Inquisition, tried and imprisoned.—Vaissette, IV. 41.
[394] Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquisit. s.v. Probatio, No. 3.—Archidiac. Gloss. sup. c. xi. § 1 Sexto v. 2.—Guill. Pod. Laur. c. 40.—Bern. Guidon. Gravamina (Doat, XXX. 102).—Concil. Narbonn. ann. 1244 c. 22.—Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1246 c. 4, 10.—Arch. de l’Inq. de Carc. (Doat, XXXI. 5).—Innoc. PP. IV. Bull. Cum negotium, 9 Mart. 1254; Ejusd. Bull. Ut commissum, 21 Jun. 1254.—Alex. PP. IV. Bull. Licet vobis, 7 Dec. 1255; Ejusd. Bull. Prœ cunctis, § 6, 9 Nov. 1256; Ejusd. Bull. Super extirpatione, § 9, 1258.—Clem. PP. IV. Bull. Licet ex omnibus, 17 Sep. 1265.—Ejusd. Bull. Prœ, cunctis, 23 Feb. 1266.—Guid. Fulcod. Quæst. xv.—MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 14930, fol. 221.—C. 20 Sexto v. 2.—Bern. Guidon. Practica P. iv. (Doat, XXX.).—Responsa Prudentum (Doat, XXXVII.).—Eymeric. Direct. Inq. pp. 450, 610, 614, 626, 627. Cf. Pegnæ Comment, pp. 627-8.—MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, No. 4270.—Bernardi Comens, Lucerna Inquisit. s.v. Nomina.—Mladenovic Relatio (Palacky Documenta Joannis Hus, pp. 252-3).
[395] Responsa Prudentum (Doat, XXXVII.).—Bernardi Comens. Lucerna Inquis. s. v. Tradere.—Zanchini Tract. de Hæret. c. ix.