Untitled - Shattering Denial

CHAPTER VII
SIXTH PERIOD
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INQUISITION
INNOCENT IV AND THE USE OF TORTURE
THE successors of Gregory IX were not long in perceiv
ing certain defects in the system of the Inquisition. They
tried their best to remedy them, although
their efforts
were not always directed with the view of mitigating its
rigor. We will indicate briefly their various decrees
pertaining to the tribunals, the penalties and the pro
cedure of the Inquisition.
In appointing the Dominicans and the Franciscans to
suppress heresy, Gregory IX did not dream of abolishing
the episcopal Inquisition. This was still occasionally
carried on with its rival, whose procedure it finally
adopted. Indeed no tribunal of the Inquisition could
operate in a diocese without the permission
of the
Bishop, whom it was supposed to aid. 1 But it was
inevitable that the Inquisitors would in time encroach
upon the episcopal authority, and relying upon their
1 Lea, op. cit., vol. i, p. 330 seq.
136