IN 1203, Pope Innocent III. commissioned Peter de Castelnau and Ralph, two monks of the order of Cistercians, in the monastery of Fontfroide, in Narbonnese Gaul, to preach against the Albigenses. Their exhortations were not in vain, and the success of their mission was a favourable introduction to a plan which Pope Innocent had formed of instituting inquisitors independent of the bishops, with the privilege of prosecuting heretics, as delegates of the holy see.
On the 4th of June, in the seventh year of his pontificate, he named the abbot of the Cistercians, with Peter and Ralph, apostolical legates. He gave them full powers to prosecute all heretics; and to facilitate the execution of the orders of the holy see, they were to engage in the name of the pope, Philip II., King of France, his son, and all his nobles, to pursue the heretics, and to promise them full indulgences as a recompense for their zeal. The pope invested these monks with the necessary powers to enable them to destroy or establish whatever they might judge to be favourable to their design, in the ecclesiastical provinces of Aix, Arles, Narbonne, and other bishoprics where heretics might be found, only recommending that they should apply to the holy see in all difficult cases; at the same time he wrote to Philip, requesting him to assist his commissioners, and even, if it was necessary, to send the presumptive heir to his throne with an army against the heretics.
The legates encountered many difficulties, because their mission was displeasing to the bishops. The King of France took no part in the affair, but the Counts of Toulouse, Foix, Beziers, Cominges, and Carcassone, and the other nobles of these provinces, seeing that the Albigenses had singularly increased, and persuaded that a very small number would be converted, refused to banish them from their states, as it would lessen the population, and, consequently, be against their interests: an additional motive for this refusal was, that these heretics were all peaceful and submissive subjects.
Peter and Ralph commenced preaching against the heretics; they held conferences with these fanatics, but the number of the converted was very small. Arnauld, Abbot of the Cistercians, called upon twelve abbots of his order to assist him; and (during their sojourn at Montpellier) they admitted two Spaniards to share their labours, who were known under the names of Diego Acebes, a bishop of Osma, who was returning to his diocese, and St. Dominic de Guzman, a regular canon of the order of St. Augustine. They both converted several Albigenses, and when the Spanish bishop returned to his diocese, he permitted St. Dominic to remain in France.
The great feudal chiefs of Provence and Narbonne refused to execute the orders of the legates, to pursue the heretics in their states, alleging that they were always at war with each other; but the legates threatened to excommunicate them, and to release their subjects from their oaths of fidelity. These menaces alarmed the nobles, and they consented to sign a peace.
The most powerful of these princes was Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse. His conduct towards Peter de Castelnau, who had threatened him several times for not performing his promises, induced the Albigenses who were his subjects to assassinate the legate, who was beatified in 1208. The pope wrote to all the nobles of the provinces of Narbonne, Arles, Embrun, Aix, and Vienne in Dauphiny, pressing them to unite and march against the heretics, and promising them the same indulgences which had been granted to the crusaders.
The assassination of Peter de Castelnau had excited among the Catholics the greatest indignation against his murderers. Arnauld took advantage of this moment to execute the orders which he had received from the pope. He commissioned the twelve monks, and others whom he had associated, to preach a crusade against the heretics, to grant indulgences, to note those who refused to engage in the war, to inform themselves of their creed, to reconcile the converted, and place all obstinate heretics at the disposal of Simon de Montfort, commander of the crusaders. This was the beginning of the Inquisition in 1208.
Pope Innocent III. died on the 16th of July, 1216, before he had succeeded in giving a permanent form to the delegated inquisition: the continuation of the war against the Albigenses, and the opposition which he met with from the bishops in the Council of Lateran, were perhaps the causes of his failure. Honorius III., who succeeded him, prepared to finish his undertaking.
Innocent had sent St. Dominic de Guzman to Toulouse, that he might choose one of the religious orders approved by the church, for the institution which he intended to form. He preferred that of St. Augustine; and on his return to Rome with his companions, Honorius approved his choice on the 22nd of December, 1216.
St. Dominic also established an order for laymen. This order has been designated as the Third Order of Penitence, but most commonly as the Militia of Christ, because those who were members of it fought against heretics, and assisted the Inquisitors in the exercise of their functions; they were considered as part of the inquisitorial family, and on that account bore the name of Familiars. This association afterwards gave rise to that which was called the Congregation of St. Peter Martyr; it was approved by Honorius, and confirmed by his successor, Gregory IX. Another association was formed in Narbonne, which also bore the name of Militia of Christ; it was soon after blended with the third order of St. Dominic. Honorius having formed a constitution against heretics, the Emperor Frederic II. gave it the sanction of civil law at his coronation. In 1224 the Inquisition already existed in Italy under the ministry of the Dominican friars, which is proved by an edict of the Emperor Frederic against heretics at Padua. The efforts of the Inquisition in Narbonne had not succeeded according to the expectation of the pope, who imputed its failure to the negligence of Cardinal Conrad, whom he recalled, and sent Cardinal Roman in his place. The importunity of this legate induced Louis VIII., King of France, to place himself at the head of an army to march against the nobles who protected the Albigenses. But Louis died in the same year, and the pope followed him, without having succeeded in giving a permanent form to the new tribunal which had been introduced into France.
Gregory IX., who ascended the pontifical throne in 1227, finally established the Inquisition: he had been the zealous protector of St. Dominic, and the intimate friend of St. Francis d’Assiz. Cardinal Roman was more fortunate than the legates who preceded him: the nobles, weary of a war which had lasted twenty years, wished for peace. The Count of Toulouse, Raymond VII., after the death of his father, who had begun the war, reconciled himself to St. Louis and the church in a Council of Narbonne, and promised to drive the heretics from his domains.
In 1229 another council was held at Toulouse. The decrees were nearly the same as those made at the Councils of Lateran and Verona, except that laymen were then first prohibited from reading the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue. In the succeeding year, many other edicts were published, increasing in severity; but it appears that these rigorous measures failed in effect, as the heresy of the Albigenses penetrated even to the capital of Christendom.