Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 2.djvu/47

SENTENCES OF PIERRE CELLA. 31 Of these penitents four hundred and twenty-seven were ordered to make the distant pilgrimage to Compostella, in the northwest- ern corner of Spain — some four hundred or five hundred miles of mountainous roads. One hundred and eight were sent to Canter- bury, this pilgrimage, in all but three or four cases, being super- imposed on that to Compostella. Only two penitents were re- quired to visit Kome, but seventy-nine were ordered to serve in the crusades for terms varying from one to eight years. The first thing that impresses one in considering this record is the extraordinary 'speed with which the work was done. The whole was despatched in six months, and there is no evidence that the labor was continuous — in fact, it could not have been so, for the inquisitor had to move from place to place, to grant the neces- sary delays, and must have been frequently interrupted to gather in the results of testimony which implicated recusants. With what reckless lack of consideration the penances were imposed is shown by the two hundred and nineteen penitents of Gourdon, whose confessions were taken down and whose sentences were pronounced within the four weeks of Advent; and even this is outstripped by the two hundred and fifty-two of Montauban, de- spatched in the week before Ascension, at the rate of forty -two for each working-day. In several cases two culprits are included in the same sentence. Even more significant than this, however, are the enormous numbers — two hundred and nineteen for a small town like Gour- don and eighty-four for Montcucq. The number of these who were really heretics, both Catharan and Waldensian, is large, and shows how thoroughly the population was interpenetrated with heresy. Even more, however, were good Catholics whose cases prove how amicably the various sects associated together, and how impossible it was for the most orthodox to avoid the as- sociation with heretics which rendered him liable to punishment. This friendly intercourse is peculiarly notable in the case of a priest who confessed to having gone to some heretics in a vineyard, where he read in their books and ate pears with them. He Avas rudely reminded of his indiscretion by being suspended from his functions, sent to Compostella and thence to Rome, with letters from the inquisitors which doubtless were not for his benefit, for apparently they felt unable to decide what ought to be done for