The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians / who baptized only upon confession of faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their savior, from the time of Christ to the year A.D. 1660

by Thieleman J. van Braght

“But if any temporal lord, having been requested and admonished thereto by the church, shall be found negligent in purging his land from heretical wickedness, let him be warned that, one year after the admonition, we shall give his land for a prey to all Catholics, who, after they shall have driven out the heretics, shall possess the same without molestation, and preserve it in the purity of the (Catholic) faith.

“We also banish those who believe (the Waldenses and Albigenses), or receive them into their cities or houses, protect or favor them, ordaining: That if any one having been noted as being in communion with these believers, does not satisfy the church within a year, he shall be considered infamous from that time on.

“We add here that one heretic may convict another, and that the houses of . . ., or of their harborers, protectors, and favorers, or where they have taught or imposed hands upon other, shall be demolished, never to be rebuilt. Given.”

OF THE SECOND DECREE.

By the chancellor of this Emperor, A. D., 1230. (Same place, Epist. 25, Petri. de Veneis).

In another letter of Peter de Veneis, we find another decree of Frederic II., which reads as follows:

“We therefore decree and ordain that heretics, of whatever name, shall receive condign punishment, throughout the empire, wherever the church shall condemn them as heretics, and deliver or indicate them to the secular judge.

“But if any of the aforesaid, after their apprehension, deterred by the fear of death, shall desire to return to the unity of the Catholic faith, they shall according to the requirement of the church ordinances, be imprisoned for life, to do penance.

“Moreover, all heretics, in whatever city, village or place, of the realm they may be found by the inquisition sent by the Apostolic see, or by other zealous adherents of the Catholic faith, shall receive like punishment.

“All those, then, who shall have jurisdiction there, shall be bound, on the denunciation or intimation of the inquisitors, or of other Catholics, to apprehend and closely keep them, until they, after their being condemned by the censure of the church, shall punish them with death.