Part 60

"In the earlier ages of the Church, the definition of heresy had been committed to episcopal authority. But the cognisance of heretics and the determination of their punishment remained in the hands of secular magistrates. At the end of the 12th century the wide diffusion of the Albigensian heterodoxy through Languedoc and Northern Italy alarmed the chiefs of Christendom, and furnished the Papacy with a good pretext for extending its prerogatives. Innocent III. in 1203 empowered two French Cistercians, Pierre de Castelnau and Raoul, to preach against the heretics of Provence. In the following year he ratified this commission by a Bull, which censured the negligence and coldness of the bishops, appointed the Abbot of Citeaux Papal delegate in matters of heresy, and gave him authority to judge and punish misbelievers. This was the first germ of the Holy Office as a separate Tribunal. … Being a distinct encroachment of the Papacy upon the episcopal jurisdiction and prerogatives, the Inquisition met at first with some opposition from the bishops. The people for whose persecution it was designed, and at whose expense it carried on its work, broke into rebellion; the first years of its annals were rendered illustrious by the murder of one of its founders, Pierre de Castelnau. He was canonised, and became the first Saint of the Inquisition. … In spite of opposition, the Papal institution took root and flourished. Philip Augustus responded to the appeals of Innocent; and a crusade began against the Albigenses, in which Simon de Montfort won his sinister celebrity. During those bloody wars the Inquisition developed itself as a force of formidable expansive energy. Material assistance to the cause was rendered by a Spanish monk of the Augustine order, who settled in Provence on his way back from Rome in 1206. Domenigo de Guzman, known to universal history as S. Dominic, organised a new militia for the service of the orthodox Church between the years 1215 and 1219. His order, called the Order of the Preachers, was originally designed to repress heresy and confirm the faith by diffusing Catholic doctrine and maintaining the creed in its purity. It consisted of three sections: the Preaching Friars; nuns living in conventual retreat; and laymen, entitled the Third Order of Penitence or the Militia of Christ, who in after years were merged with the Congregation of S. Peter Martyr, and corresponded to the familiars of the Inquisition. Since the Dominicans were established in the heat and passion of a crusade against heresy, by a rigid Spaniard who employed his energies in persecuting misbelievers, they assumed at the outset a belligerent and inquisitorial attitude. Yet it is not strictly accurate to represent S. Dominic himself as the first Grand Inquisitor. {1751} The Papacy proceeded with caution in its design of forming a tribunal dependent on the Holy See and independent of the bishops. Papal Legates with plenipotentiary authority were sent to Languedoc, and decrees were issued against the heretics, in which the Inquisition was rather implied than directly named; nor can I find that S. Dominic, though he continued to be the soul of the new institution until his death, in 1221, obtained the title of Inquisitor. Notwithstanding this vagueness, the Holy Office may be said to have been founded by S. Dominic; and it soon became apparent that the order he had formed was destined to monopolise its functions. … This Apostolical Inquisition was at once introduced into Lombardy, Romagna and the Marches of Treviso. The extreme rigour of its proceedings, the extortions of monks, and the violent resistance offered by the communes, led to some relaxation of its original constitution. More authority had to be conceded to the bishops; and the right of the Inquisitors to levy taxes on the people was modified. Yet it retained its true form of a Papal organ, superseding the episcopal prerogatives, and overriding the secular magistrates, who were bound to execute its biddings. As such it was admitted into Tuscany, and established in Aragon. Venice received it in 1289, with certain reservations that placed its proceedings under the control of Doge and Council. In Languedoc, the country of its birth, it remained rooted at Toulouse and Carcassonne; but the Inquisition did not extend its authority over central and northern France. In Paris its functions were performed by the Sorbonne. Nor did it obtain a footing in England, although the statute 'De Haeretico Comburendo,' passed in 1401 at the instance of the higher clergy, sanctioned the principles on which it existed. … The revival of the Holy Office on a new and far more murderous basis, took place in 1484. We have seen that hitherto there had been two types of inquisition into heresy. The first, which remained in force up to the year 1203, may be called the episcopal. The second was the Apostolical or Dominican: it transferred this jurisdiction from the bishops to the Papacy, who employed the order of S. Dominic for the special service of the tribunal instituted by the Imperial Decrees of Frederick II. The third deserves no other name than Spanish, though, after it had taken shape in Spain, it was transferred to Portugal, applied in all the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and communicated with some modifications to Italy and the Netherlands. Both the second and the third types of inquisition into heresy were Spanish inventions, patented by the Roman Pontiffs and monopolised by the Dominican order. But the third and final form of the Holy Office in Spain distinguished itself by emancipation from Papal and Royal control, and by a specific organisation which rendered it the most formidable of irresponsible engines in the annals of religious institutions. … Castile had hitherto been free from the pest. But the conditions of that kingdom offered a good occasion for its introduction at the date which I have named. During the Middle Ages the Jews of Castile acquired vast wealth and influence. Few families but felt the burden of their bonds and mortgages. Religious fanaticism, social jealousy, and pecuniary distress exasperated the Christian population; and as early as the year 1391, more than 5,000 Jews were massacred in one popular uprising. The Jews, in fear, adopted Christianity. It is said that in the 15th century the population counted some million of converts—called New Christians, or, in contempt, Marranos: a word which may probably be derived from the Hebrew Maranatha. These converted Jews, by their ability and wealth, crept into high offices of state, obtained titles of aristocracy, and founded noble houses. … It was a Sicilian Inquisitor, Philip Barberis, who suggested to Ferdinand the Catholic the advantage he might secure by extending the Holy Office to Castile. Ferdinand avowed his willingness; and Sixtus IV. gave the project his approval in 1478. But it met with opposition from the gentler-natured Isabella. … Then Isabella yielded; and in 1481 the Holy Office was founded at Seville. It began its work by publishing a comprehensive edict against all New Christians suspected of Judaising, which offence was so constructed as to cover the most innocent observance of national customs. Resting from labour on Saturday; performing ablutions at stated times; refusing to eat pork or puddings made of blood; and abstaining from wine, sufficed to colour accusations of heresy. … Upon the publication of this edict, there was an exodus of Jews by thousands into the fiefs of independent vassals of the crown—the Duke of Medina Sidonia, the Marquis of Cadiz, and the Count of Arcos. All emigrants were 'ipso facto' declared heretics by the Holy Office. During the first year after its foundation, Seville beheld 298 persons burned alive, and 79 condemned to perpetual imprisonment. A large square stage of stone, called the Quemadero, was erected for the execution of those multitudes who were destined to suffer death by hanging or by flame. In the same year, 2,000 were burned and 17,000 condemned to public penitence, while even a larger number were burned in effigy, in other parts of the kingdom. … In 1483 Thomas of Torquemada was nominated Inquisitor General for Castile and Aragon. Under his rule a Supreme Council was established, over which he presided for life. … In 1484 a General Council was held, and the constitution of the Inquisition was established by articles. … The two most formidable features of the Inquisition as thus constituted were the exclusion of the bishops from its tribunal and the secrecy of its procedure. … In the autumn of 1484 the Inquisition was introduced into Aragon; and Saragossa became its headquarters in that State. … The Spanish Inquisition was now firmly grounded. Directed by Torquemada, it began to encroach upon the crown, to insult the episcopacy, to defy the Papacy, to grind the Commons, and to outrage by its insolence the aristocracy. … The Holy Office grew every year in pride, pretensions and exactions. It arrogated to its tribunal crimes of usury, bigamy, blasphemous swearing, and unnatural vice, which appertained by right to the secular courts. It depopulated Spain by the extermination and banishment of at least three million industrious subjects during the first 139 years of its existence. … Torquemada was the genius of evil who created and presided over this foul instrument of human crime and folly. {1752} During his eighteen years of administration, reckoning from 1480 to 1498, he sacrificed, according to Llorente's calculation, above 114,000 victims, of whom 10,220 were burned alive, 6,860 burned in effigy, and 97,000 condemned to perpetual imprisonment or public penitence. He, too, it was who in 1492 compelled Ferdinand to drive the Jews from his dominions. … The edict of expulsion was issued on the last of March. Before the last of July all Jews were sentenced to depart, carrying no gold or silver with them. They disposed of their lands, houses, and goods for next to nothing, and went forth to die by thousands on the shores of Africa and Italy. … The exodus of the Jews was followed in 1502 by a similar exodus of Moors from Castile, and in 1524 by an exodus of Mauresques from Aragon. To compute the loss of wealth and population inflicted upon Spain by these mad edicts would be impossible. … After Torquemada, Diego Deza reigned as second Inquisitor General from 1498 to 1507. In these years, according to the same calculation, 2,592 were burned alive, 896 burned in effigy, 34,952 condemned to prison or public penitence. Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros followed between 1507 and 1517. The victims of this decade were 3,564 burned alive. … Adrian, Bishop of Tortosa, tutor to Charles V., and afterwards Pope, was Inquisitor General between 1516 and 1525. Castile, Aragon, and Catalonia, at this epoch, simultaneously demanded a reform of the Holy Office from their youthful sovereign. But Charles refused, and the tale of Adrian's administration was 1,620 burned alive, 560 burned in effigy, 21,845 condemned to prison or public penitence. The total, during 43 years, between 1481 and 1525, amounted to 234,526, including all descriptions of condemned heretics. These figures are of necessity vague, for the Holy Office left but meagre records of its proceedings.".

_J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy: The Catholic Reaction, chapter 3 (part 1)._

ALSO IN: _H. C. Lea, History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages._

_J. A. Llorente, History of the Inquisition, chapters 1-12._

_W. H. Rule, History of the Inquisition, chapters 1-14._

_W. H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, part 1, chapters 7 and 17._

See, also, JEWS: 8TH-15TH CENTURIES; and MOORS: A. D. 1492-1609.

INQUISITION: A. D. 1521-1568. Introduction and work in the Netherlands.

See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1521-1555; 1559-1562; and 1568.

INQUISITION: A. D. 1546. Successful revolt against the Holy Office at Naples.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1528-1570.

INQUISITION: A. D. 1550-1816. Establishment in Peru.

See PERU: A. D. 1550-1816.

INQUISITION: A. D. 1814-1820. Restoration and abolition in Spain.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1814-1827.

INQUISITION: End----------

INSTITUTES OF JUSTINIAN.

See CORPUS JURIS CIVILIS.

INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1653 (DECEMBER).

INSUBRIANS AND CENOMANIANS, The.

"North of the Po, in the country about Milan, dwelt [3d century, B. C.] the great people of the Insubrians, while to the east of these on the Mincio and the Adige lay the Cenomanians; but these tribes, little inclined, seemingly, to make common cause with their countrymen [the Boian and Senonian Gauls] remained neutral in all the hostilities against Rome." But the Insubrians were attacked and subdued, B. C. 223.

_W. Ihne, History of Rome, book 4, chapter 5 (volume 2)._

See, also, ROME: B. C. 295-191.

INTERDICTS.

See EXCOMMUNICATIONS.

INTERIM OF CHARLES V., The.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1546-1552.

"INTERNATIONAL," The.

"The year of the London Exhibition, and under the auspices of the Emperor Napoleon III., a number of Paris working-men visited the English capital. They were welcomed by a London Committee of artisans, and on this occasion the wish for a closer union between the labourers of different countries was expressed on both sides. Then the Polish insurrection broke out, and masses of London and Paris working-men took steps simultaneously to manifest sympathy with the insurgents. A deputation was again sent over from Paris, and the result of this measure was a resolution to delay preparations for co-operation no longer. For some time the international idea was carefully given prominence in labour circles in various countries, and on September 28th, 1864, a congress of many nations was held in St. Martin's Hall, London, under the presidency of Professor Beesly. A committee was appointed, representing England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland, for the drawing up of statutes for an International Working Men's Association, whose seat should be London. … It was not long before the International Association became a power which caused alarm to not a few European Governments."

_W. H. Dawson, German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle, chapter 13._

INTERREGNUM, The Great.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1250-1272.

INTERREX.

A temporary king, in ancient Rome.

See ROME: B. C. 509; also, SENATE, ROMAN.

INTRANSIGENTISTS.

In European politics, the extreme radicals—the uncompromising and irreconcilable factions—are frequently so called.

INVERLOCHY, Battle of (1645).

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1644-1645.

INVESTITURES, The War of.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1056-1122; and GERMANY: A. D. 973-1122.

INVISIBLE EMPIRE, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1866-1871.

IONA, Monastery and Schools of.

See COLUMBAN CHURCH; and EDUCATION, MEDIÆVAL: IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.

IONIA.

The Ionian cities on the coast of Asia Minor bore collectively the name Ionia, though no national union was signified by the designation.

See ASIA MINOR: THE GREEK COLONIES, and after.

IONIAN (DELIAN) CONFEDERACY, The.

See GREECE: B. C. 478-477; and ATHENS: B. C. 466-454, and after.

IONIAN ISLANDS: Start--------

IONIAN ISLANDS: To 1814. Under Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and French rule.

"Acarnania, as a glance at the map will show, is the most western part of continental Greece. But in close proximity to the mainland there stretch along the west coast a number of islands, some of them of considerable area, the history and traditions of which are inseparably intertwined with those of Hellas. They have long been known as the Ionian Islands, deriving the name, in all likelihood, from the sea in which they are situated; for their ancient inhabitants were not, so far as is known, of Ionic descent. {1753} They are very numerous, but only six of them are of any historic importance. The most northerly is Corcyra (Corfu), a long, narrow island, which extends like a lofty breakwater in front of the coast of Epirus." The other five are Paxos (Paxo), Leucadia (Santa Maura), Cephallenia (Cephalonia), Ithaca (Thiaki), Zacynthus (Zante), and Cythera (Cerigo). "Though not the largest, Corcyra is the most populous and important of the islands. It has a place in the mythic tradition, and a still greater one in the ascertained history, of ancient Hellas.

See KORKYRA; also, GREECE: B. C. 435-432, and 432.

… With the other islands in the Ionian Sea, Corcyra passed under the dominion of Rome, and subsequently became part of the Eastern Empire. In 540 A. D. the fleet of the Gothic leader Totila ravaged the coasts of the island, but did not capture the city, the fortifications of which had been greatly strengthened by the Romans. Five centuries later the island and its capital fell into the hands of a more formidable invader—the Norman Robert Guiscard, who captured them on his way from Italy to prosecute that invasion of the Byzantine Empire which was at one time so nearly attended with success. The first Norman supremacy did not last long; but in 1144 A. D., Roger, the Norman king of Sicily, took occasion of a rising of the Corcyreans (or, as they now began to be called, the Corfiotes) against the Byzantine Emperor Manuel to introduce a garrison into the city. Four years later Manuel, who was an energetic and warlike prince, laid siege to Corfu, and was assisted by the Venetians. The Norman garrison offered a most determined resistance, but were ultimately obliged to surrender on honourable terms. After the overthrow of the Byzantine emperors, in the early part of the 13th century, Corfu, with the other Ionian Islands, became part of the dominions of the Venetian republic, and so continued, with brief intervals, for nearly 500 years. The Venetian rule was on the whole favourable to the material prosperity of the island: it was admirably cultivated, and became the centre of a large commerce. Unlike most of the other possessions of Venice in the eastern Mediterranean, Corfu never fell into the hands of the Turks. They overran and ravaged the island in 1537, carrying off, according to their custom, many of the young women and children as slaves; and they besieged the capital, but its fortifications had been much strengthened by the Venetians, and the garrison was able to offer a successful resistance. In 1716 another memorable siege [see TURKS: A. D. 1714-1718] took place, during the war in which Sultan Achmet III. engaged with Austria and the Venetian republic. A large Ottoman army under Kara Mustapha beleaguered Corfu; but the garrison was commanded by a distinguished soldier, Count Schulemburg, who baffled an the efforts of the Turks, and at last compelled them to withdraw to their ships after they had lost 15,000 men. By the Treaty of Campo Formio, dictated in 1797 to Austria by Napoleon after his marvellous Italian campaign, the Ionian Islands were transferred to France [see FRANCE: A. D. 1797 (MAY-OCTOBER)], the rest of the Venetian territories falling to the share of Austria. The French garrisons were, however, expelled in 1799 by a Russo-Turkish expedition, and the islands constituted a republic [called the Republic of the Seven Islands]. But in 1807, when the course of events had changed Russia into an ally of the French emperor, the latter again obtained possession of the islands under the Treaty of Tilsit. The English, being masters of the Mediterranean, soon drove the French out of all the islands except Corfu. This was under French rule till 1814; and it is only fair to say that they did much for the improvement of the island, constructing some substantial roads in the interior. In 1814, during the general cataclysm of the gigantic empire of Napoleon, the French garrison was driven out of the island after a gallant resistance, and in the following year the Ionian Islands were reconstituted a republic under British protection and supremacy."

_C. H. Hanson, The Land of Greece, chapter 4._

IONIAN ISLANDS: A. D. 1815-1862. The British protectorate. Its relinquishment. Annexation to the kingdom of Greece.