Those who are ignorant that our annals are marked by blood and misery, will be surprised to find that the history of these virtuous and simple Vaudois, worthy of the admiration of mankind, is little else than a series of calamity. Nor will they be able to reconcile the barbarity and ferocity, with which they have been persecuted, with the candour and innocence of these victims. One word is sufficient to explain the horrible enigma; mistaken zeal is blind to the duties of religion and nature. Can we call those reasonable beings, who, while claiming the privileges of the human race, utterly forgetful of humanity, massacre thousands of their fellow-creatures in cold blood. Why is it that the potentates of the earth have constituted themselves judges of an affair which regards God alone? Or who has given them a right to treat as heretics, those who think differently from themselves, or to pour out their blood before the altars of God?

It was at the end of the fifteenth century that these scenes commenced; for previously, though the victims of secret intrigue, the Vaudois had suffered no open persecution. It was reserved to the Inquisition to work their ruin. A Spanish priest named Dominic, came to France to preach against the Vaudois of Albi or Albigenses; and succeeded so well that his order received the title of the preachers. He established himself at Toulouse, and thence dispatched his spies in all directions to make perquisitions for those suspected of heresy, and punish them.*

Gregory IX., then Pope, soon perceived the advantage he might derive from such missionaries, and authorised the Dominicans in France and Spain, and the Franciscans in Italy, to make inquisition (inquirere) after heretics; as well as to try, convict, and punish them. Such is the origin of the Inquisition, a tribunal so execrable, that it threatened to drown the human race in blood. Its principal seat was at Rome, and on the model of that, was established at Turin, that famous council, De Propaganda fide et extirpendis hereticis, which we shall hereafter call the Propaganda. This council began by declaring the Vaudois unworthy of communication with other Christians, ordered the confiscation of their property, the demolition of their houses, even the cutting down of their trees; sent to all princes and sovereign lords, to require them to search for and deliver up such heretics to the Inquisition; inflicted heavy penalties on those who concealed them; and conferred the third of their property on the informers, who pointed out their retreats. But these measures were too weak; the court of Rome aimed at the utter extirpation of this unhappy people, and committed to its ministers, the power of delivering over to the secular arm, that is, of putting to death without mercy, all those they considered heretics. Nay, these ferocious missionaries pronounced sentence against corpses which had been buried twenty and thirty years; dragged them from their tombs to flaming piles, and confiscated the possessions of the families to which they belonged.

A father was forced to give evidence against a son; a sister against a brother; a wife against her husband; the bonds of nature, blood and friendship, were esteemed as nothing, to the objects of the Inquisition; even those suspected of heresy were rigorously punished, if they could not procure witnesses to swear to their innocence. The accused was ignorant of the name of his accuser, nor was he allowed any advocate, except such as might be chosen by the Inquisition. One witness alone was sufficient for condemnation to the torture, and even where the crime could not be proved, the victim was never acquitted, but his name was branded with infamy, and remained inscribed on the registers of this relentless tribunal.

I content myself with referring my readers to l'histoire de la religion des Églises rÉformÉes, by Basnage, 1725, 4to., where they will discover ample proof that the above statement is not overcharged; and find extracts of the acts of the Inquisition of Toulouse, erected against the Vaudois and Albigenses.

I cannot however refrain from transcribing some of the Articles which have served as rules to the inquisitors in the persecutions of our ancestors.

Some of the rules followed by the Inquisitors in their proceedings against the Vaudois:

That no one can be received as a penitent or admitted to absolution, if guilty of directly or indirectly concealing a heretic.

That no one, after having been given over to the secular power, be permitted to justify himself before the people, lest by his explanations it should appear to the simple that injustice had been done him; and if he should escape, the Catholic religion be thereby injured.

That no one condemned before the people shall be pardoned, even should he retract, and promise conversion; for a sufficient number of these heretics could never be burnt, if they were suffered to escape on such pretexts; because these promises being only drawn from them by the fear of torments, would not be observed, and if they should promise conversion before the people, and death be then inflicted, the people might think them unjustly treated. Therefore it is best never to let them speak before the people.

That during examinations, the Inquisitor should always have a book open before him, appearing to have therein registered, a quantity of depositions, and, indeed, the whole life of the heretic.

Inevitable death must be placed before his eyes, if he refuses to confess and renounce his heresy. If he answers—"If I must die, then, I prefer to die in my own faith," his execution must be hurried on as much as possible, and mercy never shewn.

No attempt should ever be made to convince heretics by the Scriptures, for they pervert them with such dexterity, as often to confound the most learned men, who attempt to answer them, and thereby they become more hardened.

A heretic must never be answered categorically; and in an interrogatory several questions should always be given at a time; so that in whatever way he may answer, he may be replied to, to his confusion.

If there are any who protest they never were guilty of the Vaudois heresy, they must be admonished, that there are proofs sufficient to convict them; promising them in ambiguous terms, that they may hope for pardon on a free confession; many will then confess, with the hope of saving their lives.

Such were the Rules of the Inquisition, at the end of the eleventh century.