Regarding this most wicked and unjust inquisition, I have found the following account:
“In the year 1251, the Pope appointed, or sent, inquisitors to Toulouse, from the orders of the Dominicans and Franciscans, who exercised an inhuman tyranny over the Christians there. The same thing was done at Worms, by Conrad Dorfo and his disciple John, also Dominicans and inquisitors; who, condemning there many innocent men to the fire, were therefore themselves, ultimately, as by the hand of God brought to a very lamentable, though just death.” Bal. Cent. 4, in Append., ad Richard. Wich., p. 301, compared with A. Mell., fol. 470, col. 1.
CONTINUATION OF THE PRECEDING INQUISITION IN THE YEAR 1252.
That the aforesaid inquisition or examination of the faith did not end with the close of the previous year, but continued also in the succeeding time, is so manifest that proof is almost unnecessary; still, it experienced a brief cessation, caused through the sudden and unexpected death of Peter of Verona, who administered at that time the office of inquisitor.
Concerning this, the abovementioned author relates the following: “In the year 1252, Peter of Verona, inquisitor in Lombardy, justly perished near the city of Milan, on account of his tyranny against the Waldenses, and, twenty-four days after, was canonized, that is, placed on the register of the saints of the Roman church, by the antichrist, the Pope of Rome, Innocent IV.”
Note.—In the following year, namely, A. D. 1253, Robert, bishop of Lincoln, was deposed from his bishopric, by said Pope Innocent IV., because he frequently in his preaching, though with discretion, had openly reproved the avarice, ambition, arrogance, and tyranny of the Pope, yea, had expressly written him severe letters, in which he accused him of exhausting almost all England, by unusual taxes, in order to enrich his illegitimate children, nieces and nephews. When the Pope cited him to Rome, he appealed from the papal tyranny to the judgment and tribunal of Jesus Christ, whereupon the Pope soon died. Bal. Cent. 4, cap. 18, in Roberta Grossoreste ex Annalis. Johan. Buriens. Ranulpho, Mattheo and Fabiano, compared with A. Mell., Hist., p. 470, col. 1.
In the year 1258, the Jacobines and Dominicans, in the bishopric of Cambray, caused a great number of Christians, whom they had condemned as heretics, to be burned alive. Balens Cent. 4, cap. 26, ad Matt. Paris. Append., p. 315, ex Th. Cantiprat., lib. 2, cap. 56. Also, A. Mell., Hist., lib. 2, p. 470, col. 2.
In the year 1260, Pope Alexander IV. wrote letters to the inquisitors from the order of the Dominicans, in Lombardy and the margravate of Genoa, to persecute the heretics (as they were called) there. Moreover, he decreed that the inquisitors might compel, by excommunication, the secular authorities, whoever they might be, to execute, without delay, the sentence of the inquisitors against those suspected of heresy. Compare the last-mentioned author, in the place cited, with Bzov., A. D. 1260, Art. 4, ex Decret. Epist. Alexand. 4.
OF THE MANDATE OF POPE URBAN IV. AGAINST THE WALDENSES AND ALBIGENSES IN LOMBARDY AND AROUND GENOA, A. D. 1262.
The aforesaid distress among the believers, continued on, through the severe inquisition commenced eleven years before, namely, A. D. 1251; for, although the first inquisitors had departed this life, as by the vengeance of God, it did not remain so, since Pope Urban IV. took up the pen to issue bloody edicts against the orthodox Waldenses and Albigenses who were scattered abroad in all parts. These decrees he caused to be proclaimed to his minions, who bore the name of ecclesiastics. This is stated in the following words by an ancient papist: “In the year 1262, Pope Urban IV. made an ordinance against the heretics in Lombardy and in the margravate of Genoa, and sent a copy of it to the order of the Dominicans in said parts, to persecute the Waldenses and Albigenses, who were mostly scattered there.” Bzov., A. D. 1262, Art. 3, ex Decr. Epist. Alex. 4. Also, A. M., Hist., fol. 470, col. 2.