Dungeon of the Inquisition.
At the massacre of Levaur four hundred persons were piled together and burned. The embassador, in making up his dispatches to the pope, said that "they made a wonderful blaze, and then went to burn everlastingly in hell."
It was hoped that these horrors would so terrify men that they would never again dare to use the God-given power of reason. The soil had been steeped with the blood of men and the air polluted by their burnings; yet all this did not stifle the truth, nor prevent its growth. Hoping still to effect this, that infernal institution, the Inquisition, was established. Its projectors intended it not only to put an end to public teaching, but also to private thought. When once the Inquisition seized its victim, no person, not even the nearest relative, could converse with him, write to him or intercede for him. He was lost to public view until the hour for his torture or execution had arrived. In Spain alone more than three hundred and forty thousand passed through its terrible ordeal. But this fearful tribunal did not fail to draw upon itself the indignation of men. Such outrages against humanity cannot be perpetrated without bringing retribution in the end.
The great forces which were then at work in society, were well illustrated in the characters of the two leading actors. On one side stands Innocent III., his hands red with the blood of his fellow-men, and hesitating at no atrocity in order to accomplish his purposes.
On the other, was Frederick II., emperor of Germany and Italy. Frederick's early life had been spent in familiar intercourse with Jews and Arabs. In a Saracen university he had received his education; and to his many other accomplishments, he added the speaking of the Arabic as fluently as a Saracen. Jewish and Saracen philosophers had taught him to sneer at the pretensions of the church of Rome: as might be expected he soon came in conflict with her authority.
Between Innocent and Frederick was perpetual enmity; but for a time the conflict was deferred. During this interval the greatness of Frederick was manifested in the internal improvements of his kingdom. He instituted a representative assembly or parliament, which by his sanction framed a code of wise and useful laws. This code asserted the principle of equal rights to all, the peasants, the nobles and the church, and an equal proportion of taxation. It also provided for the toleration of all religions, Catholic, Jewish and Mahometan. Frederick emancipated all the serfs and slaves of his dominions, established cheap courts of justice for the poor, and regulated trade and commerce. He even laid down some of those commercial and political maxims recently discussed by Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, and only in our own times finally received as true. He also established fairs and markets, for the exchange of products, and offered prizes for mechanical improvements and the best breeds of domestic animals. In Naples he founded a great university with liberal provision for worthy but indigent youths. Under him sculpture, painting, poetry and music were liberally patronized, and the Italian tongue first rose to the dignity of a language.
All this was an abomination in the sight of Rome. Gregory IX., succeeded to the pontifical chair in A. D. 1228. Frederick and his parliaments, his laws and universities, his libraries and his toleration were all denounced, and Frederick himself was delivered over to Satan for the good of his soul. For thirty years Frederick combated the power of the church, but he sank in the conflict at last. But the fate of men is by no means an indication of the fate of principles.
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again,
The eternal years of God are hers."
Though denounced then, Frederick is now considered one of the benefactors of his race.