CASE OF CASTEL FABRI. ^3 About this time occurred a case which confirms the popular belief in inquisitorial iniquity, and which had results of vastly greater importance than its promoters anticipated. When the disappointed Boniface YIII. swore that he would cause the burn- ing of Aimeric Castel's father, he uttered no idle threat. Nicholas d' Abbeville, a fitting instrument, was at hand, and to him he pri- vately gave the necessary verbal instructions. Castel Fabri, the father, had been a citizen of Carcassonne distinguished for piety and benevolence no less than for wealth. A friend of the Fran- ciscan Order, after duly receiving the sacraments, he had died, in 1278, in the hands of its friars, six of whom kept watch in the sick-room until his death, and he had been buried in the Francis- can cemetery. We have seen in the case of the Count of Foix how easily all these precautions could be brushed aside, and Nich- olas found no difliculty in discovering or making the evidence he required.^ Suddenly, in 1300, the people of Carcassonne were startled by a notice, read in all the parish churches, summoning those wishing to defend the memory of Castel Fabri to appear be- fore the Inquisition on a day named, as the deceased was proved to have been hereticated on his death-bed. The moment was weU chosen, as Aimeric Castel, the son, was absent. The Franciscans, for whom the accused had doubtless provided liberaUy in his will' felt themselves called upon to assume his defence. Hastily con- sulting, they determined to send their lector, Bernard de Licgossi, or DeHcieux, to the General Chapter then assembling at Marseilles,' for instructions, as, in the chronic antagonism between the Mendi- cants, the matter seemed to be regarded as an assault on the Or- der. The wife of Aimeric Castel provided for the expenses of the journey, and Bernard returned with instructions from the pro- vincial to defend the memory of the deceased, while Eleazar de
- In a series of confessions extracted from Master Arnaud Matha, a clerk of
Carcassonne, in 1285, there are two, of October 4 and 10, in which he de- scribes all the details of the heretication of Castel Fabri on his death-bed in 1278 (Doat, XXVI. 258-60). While these cannot be positively said to be inter- polations, they have the appearance of being so, and it may safely be assumed as impossible that such a matter would have been allowed to lie dormant for fifteen years with so rich a prize within reach. The case is doubtless one of the foroed records which, as we have seen, were popularly believed to be customary in°the Inquisition.
