Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/128

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112 LANGUEDOC. The rich bourgeoisie of the cities were ruined in the same way. Some inventories have been preserved of the goods and chattels sequestrated when the arrests were made at Albi in 1299 and 1300, which show how thoroughly everi:liing was swept into the maelstrom. That of Eaymond Calverie, a notary, gives us every detail of the plenishing of a well-to-do burgher's house— every pil- low, sheet, and coverlet is enumerated, every article of kitchen gear, the salted provisions and grain, even his wife's little trin- kets. His farm or bastide was subjected to the same minuteness of seizure. Then we have a similar insight into the stock and goods of Jean Baudier, a rich merchant. Every fragment of stuff is duly measured— cloths of Ghent, Ypres, Amiens, Cambray, St. Omer, Eouen, Montcornet, etc., with their valuation— pieces of miniver, and other articles of trade. His town house and farm were inventoried with the same conscientious care. It is easy to see how prosperous cities were reduced to poverty, how industry languished, and how the independence of the municipalities was broken into subjection in the awful uncertainty which hung over the head of every man.* In this respect the Inquisition was building better than it knew. In thus aiding to estabUsh the royal power over the new- ly-acquired provinces, it was contributing to erect an authority which was destined in the end to reduce it to comparative insig- nificance. With the disappearance of Catharism, Languedoc be- came as much a part of the monarchy as I'lsle de France, and the career of its Inquisition merges into that of the rest of the king- dom. It need not, therefore, be pursued separately further. was burned at Lavaur, while in other cases the mother, or the father, or both were heretics (Boat, XXXII. 258-63). Many examples of donations and sales are preserved in the Doat collection. I may instance T. XXXI. fol. 171, 237, 255 ; T, XXXII. fol. 46, 53, 55, 57, 64, 67, 69 244 etc. ' In the possessions of the English crown in Aquitaine the same process was going on, though in a minor degree (Rymer, Foedera, III. 408).

  • Coll. Doat, XXXII. 309, 316.