Some of the rules followed by the Inquisitors in their proceedings against the Vaudois:
That no one can be received as a penitent or admitted to absolution, if guilty of directly or indirectly concealing a heretic.
That no one, after having been given over to the secular power, be permitted to justify himself before the people, lest by his explanations it should appear to the simple that injustice had been done him; and if he should escape, the Catholic religion be thereby injured.
That no one condemned before the people shall be pardoned, even should he retract, and promise conversion; for a sufficient number of these heretics could never be burnt, if they were suffered to escape on such pretexts; because these promises being only drawn from them by the fear of torments, would not be observed, and if they should promise conversion before the people, and death be then inflicted, the people might think them unjustly treated. Therefore it is best never to let them speak before the people.
That during examinations, the Inquisitor should always have a book open before him, appearing to have therein registered, a quantity of depositions, and, indeed, the whole life of the heretic.
Inevitable death must be placed before his eyes, if he refuses to confess and renounce his heresy. If he answers—"If I must die, then, I prefer to die in my own faith," his execution must be hurried on as much as possible, and mercy never shewn.
No attempt should ever be made to convince heretics by the Scriptures, for they pervert them with such dexterity, as often to confound the most learned men, who attempt to answer them, and thereby they become more hardened.
A heretic must never be answered categorically; and in an interrogatory several questions should always be given at a time; so that in whatever way he may answer, he may be replied to, to his confusion.
If there are any who protest they never were guilty of the Vaudois heresy, they must be admonished, that there are proofs sufficient to convict them; promising them in ambiguous terms, that they may hope for pardon on a free confession; many will then confess, with the hope of saving their lives.
Such were the Rules of the Inquisition, at the end of the eleventh century.