The archbishop sent the bull to Gil Rodriguez de Valladares, first provincial of the Spanish Dominicans; he also sent it to Don Bertrand, Bishop of Lerida, in whose diocese the first Spanish Inquisition was founded. Pope Innocent VI. conferred many privileges on the Dominican Friars, and in 1254 extended the rights of the Inquisitors, and in the same brief decreed that the depositions of witnesses should be considered valid, although their names were unknown. Urban VI. and Clement VI. also augmented their privileges.
The Kings of Aragon continued to protect the Inquisition, and James II., in 1292, published a decree, commanding the tribunals of justice to assist the Dominicans, to imprison all who might be denounced, to execute the judgments pronounced by the monks, to remove every obstacle which they might meet with, &c. The hatred which the office of an inquisitor everywhere inspired in the first ages of the Inquisition caused the death of a great number of Dominicans and some Cordeliers: the honours of martyrdom were assigned to them, but St. Peter of Verona was the only one canonized by the pope. Nothing certain is known of the state of Portugal during this period: it appears that in the thirteenth century the Inquisition was established only in the dioceses of Taragona, Barcelona, Urgel, Lerida, and Girona.
The convents of Dominicans having multiplied in Spain, a chapter-general of the order decreed, in 1301, that it should be divided into two provinces; that the first in rank should be named the province of Spain, and comprise Castile and Portugal; and that the second should have the title of Aragon, and be composed of Valencia, Catalonia, Rousillon, Cerdagne, Majorca, Minorca, and Iviza.
The provincial of the Dominicans of Castile, designated as the provincial of Spain, possessed the right of naming the apostolical inquisitor in the other provinces. In 1302 Father Bernard was inquisitor of Aragon, and celebrated several autos-da-fé in the same year.
In 1308 Pope Clement V. commanded the King of Aragon and the inquisitors to arrest all the knights templars who had not been prosecuted, and to confiscate their property for the use of the holy see; the templars in Castile and Portugal were also arrested.
In 1314, other heretics were discovered in the kingdom of Aragon; Bernard Puigceros, the inquisitor-general, condemned several to banishment, the others were burnt. Many who abjured were reconciled.
In 1325, F. Arnaldo Burguete, inquisitor-general of the kingdom, arrested Pierre Durand de Baldhac, who had relapsed into heresy, and he was burnt alive in the presence of King James, his sons, and two bishops.
In 1334, F. William da Costa condemned F. Bonato to the flames, and reconciled many persons who had been perverted by that monk.
In 1350, Father Nicholas Roselli discovered a sect of heretics named Begards, whose chief was named Jacobus Justis; they were all reconciled, and Jacobus was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. The bones of three of these heretics who had died impenitent were disinterred and burnt. Roselli being elected Cardinal in 1356, Nicholas Eymerich succeeded him. Eymerich composed a book entitled "The Guide of Inquisitors," in which the most minute details of his judgments, and those of other inquisitors of Aragon, are found.
It is not certain whether the provincial of Castile exercised his privilege of naming inquisitors; perhaps heresy had not penetrated into the states of Castile.