100 GUGLIELMA AND DOLCINO. The Inquisition was well manned, for, besides Fra Guidone, whose age and experience seem to have rendered him the leading actor in the tragedy, and Lanfranco, who took little part in it, we meet with a third inquisitor, Rainerio di Pirovano, and in their absence they are replaced with deputies, Niccold di Como, Niccolo di Yarenna, and Leonardo da Bergamo. They pushed the matter with relentless energy. That torture was freely used there can be nc doubt. Xo conclusion to the contrary can be drawn from the absence of allusion to it in the depositions of the accused, for this is customary. Xot only do the historians of the affair speak without reserve of its employment, but the character of the suc- cessive examinations of the leading culprits indicates it unerring- ly — the confident asseverations at first of ignorance and innocence, followed, after a greater or less interval, with unreserved confes- sion. This is especially notable in the cases of those who had abjured in 1284, such as Andrea, Maifreda, and Giacobba, who, as relapsed, knew that by admitting their persistent heresy they were condemning themselves to the flames without hope of mercy, and who therefore had nothing to gain by confession, except ex- emption from repetition of torment." The documents are too imperfect for us to reconstruct the proc- ess and ascertain the fate of all of those implicated. In Langue- doc, after all the evidence had been taken, there would have been an assembly held in which their sentences would have been deter- mined, and at a solemn Sermo these would have been promul- gated, and the stake would have received its victims. Much less formal were the proceedings at Milan. The only sentence of which we have a record was rendered August 23 in an assembly where the archbishop sat with the inquisitors and Matteo Yisconti ap- pears among the assessors ; and in this the only judgment was on Suor Giacobba dei Bassani, who, as a relapsed, was necessarily handed over to the secular arm for burning. It would seem that
- Compare Andrea's first examination, July 20 (Ogniben, op. cit. pp. 8-13),
and his second, Aug. 10 (pp. 56-7), with his defiant assertion of his belief, Aug. 13 (pp. 68-72). So, Maifreda's first interrogatory, July 31 (pp. 2£-6), with her confession, Aug. 6, and revelation of the names of her worshippers (pp. 33-5). Also, Giacobba dei Bassani's denial, Aug. 3, and confession, Aug. 11 (p. 39). It is the same with those not relapsed. See Suor Agnese dei Montanari's flat de- nial, Aug. 3, and her confession, Aug. 11 (pp. 37-8).
