394 sketches of the Inq 



that such should be obliged to carry ori 

 their clothing two yellow crosses, one 

 on the breast, and tlic other on the 

 back, so as to be ever distinguished 

 from other Catholics; and, iaally, that 

 110 laic should be allowed to read the 

 Holy Scripture in the vulgar tongue. 



Not content with llicse rigorous mea- 

 sures decreed by the councils. Gregory 

 IX. in 1231, fulminaled a bull against 

 heretics, wherein he involved them in a 

 common sentence of excommunication, 

 and directed their being turned over to 

 the secular arm, to receive the chastise- 

 ment due to their crimes. 



All these dispositions, executed un- 

 der the special protection of St. Louis, 

 and the emperor Frederick II. invested 

 the Inquisition with a form and charac- 

 ter that surpassed the hopes of the 

 church, and conduced to extend, im- 

 mensely, the temporal sovereignty of 

 tlie popes. 



France and Italy were, at that time, 

 crouching under the frightful yoke of 

 the Inquisition, the King of Naples 

 having also admitted it into his states. 

 Pope Gregory IX. was bent on intro- 

 ducing it into Spain ; and, from the ig- 

 norance and fanaticism of the age, suc- 

 ceeded in his intention. 



At the period when Gregory IV. 

 fulminated his bull against heretics, the 

 Peninsula was divided into four Chris- 

 tian slates: Castile, to wiiich soon after 

 were nnited the Mahometan kingdoms 

 of Seville, Cordova, and Jaen; that of 

 Arragon, whose sovereign soon after 

 made himself master of the kingdoms 

 of Valencia and Majorca ; and the king- 

 doms of Navarre and Portugal. Some 

 convents of Dominicans bad already 

 been fixed, several years, in these four 

 Catholic kingdoms, but tliere is no au- 

 tbentic document to prove the exist- 

 ence of the Inquisition in Spain, till the 

 ai)pearance of the pope's brief, ad- 

 dressed to the Archbishop of Tarra- 

 gona, in the year 1232. The pope 

 therein announces that, heresy having 

 penetrated into several Spanish pro- 

 vinces, it becomes th: duty of the 

 archbishop, and his suffragan bishops, 

 to check its progress, agreeably to the 

 tenor of his bull of 1231. 



The Bishop of Tarragona communi- 

 cated this brief to Rodrigues de Villa- 

 dares, Provincial of the Dominicans, 

 whose functions extended over all the 

 four Christian kingdoms ; and he di- 

 rected him to select such religious of 

 Iiis order as he considered most j)roper 

 to discharge the office of inquisitors. 

 The bull was then forwarded to the 



uiaition, No. III. [June f, 



Bishop of Lerida, who immediately en- 

 forced it in his diocese, so that the first 

 Spanish Inquisition was establislied 

 there. The Bishop of Urgel soon fol- 

 lowed bis example ; but the monk 

 Pierre de Planedis, tiie Dominican 

 Inquisitor, lost his life in the attempt. 

 Several bloody afi'rays took place, ere 

 the Inquisition could secure firm hold 

 in all the provinces of Spain. In these, 

 a number of Dominican monks, and 

 some Cordeliers, perished. 



No sooner bad the Inquisition been 

 fixed in Arragon, than the Archbishop 

 of Tarragona held a Provincial Coun- 

 cil, wherein the m;inner of proceeding 

 against heretics was agreed upon, 

 together with the forms of canonical 

 penance that the persons reconciled 

 were to observe. Persons impenitent 

 were to be transferred to secular jus- 

 tice, and to suffer death. Those recon- 

 ciled, were to stand, every Sunday in 

 Lent, for ten years successively, at the 

 church-door, in the costume garb of a 

 penitent, with two crosses, of a different 

 colour from that of the apparel, attached 

 to it. 



Pope Innocent IV. extended still 

 further the rights of inquisitors, so as to 

 deprive not only heretics, but their 

 accomplices, factors, and concealers, of 

 all honours, dignities, and employments. 

 Encouraged by this pope, protected 

 also and sanctioned by the King of 

 Arragon, and by Louis IX. King of 

 France, the inquisitors proceeded to 

 make the most minute researches, and 

 disturbing even the ashes of the dead. 

 The tombs were violated, and the bones 

 of Arnaud, Count of Forcalquier, and 

 of Urgel, and those of several other 

 lords, were exhumated, to be consigned 

 to the flames. 



This conduct, thereby consigning to 

 infamy a number of great families, was 

 the means of occasioning theassassination 

 of the Inquisitor Pierre deCaderete; 

 this Dominican, like St. Stephen, was 

 literally stoned to death by the people. 

 But, notwithstanding these frequent as- 

 sassinations, the employment was ea- 

 gerly sought after, from the considera- 

 tion and privileges attached to it ; 

 bishops, magistrates, and princes, pay- 

 ing asort of homage to their commission. 

 (To be continued.) 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



THE frequency of that dreadful dis- 

 ease, hydrocephalus, or dropsy of 

 the head, has engaged the attention of 

 some of the most eminent writers on 

 medical 



