chains and all in narrow, dark cells. His order for their immediate trial was disobeyed, and in a subsequent letter he speaks of several of them having died before his previous epistle, and reiterated his command for the prompt disposal of the survivors. The Inquisition was a law unto itself, however, and again his mandate was disregarded. In 1319, besides Guillem Salavert, two others, Guillem Calverie and Isarn Colli, were brought from their dungeon and retracted their confessions which had been extorted from them by torture. Calverie figured with Salavert in the auto of Toulouse in the same year. When Colli was sentenced we do not know, but in the accounts of Arnaud Assalit, royal steward of confiscations, for 1322-3, there appears the property of "Isarnus Colli Condemnatus," showing his ultimate fate. In the auto of 1319, moreover, occur the names of two citizens of Cordes, Durand Boissa and Bernard Ouvrier (then deceased), whose confessions date respectively from 1301 and 1300, doubtless belonging to the same unfortunate group, who had eaten their hearts in despair and misery for a score of years.[1]
When it was desired to hasten his slow torture, the object was easily accomplished by rendering the imprisonment unendurably harsh. As we shall see hereafter, the dungeons of the Inquisition at best were abodes of fearful misery, but when there was reason for increasing their terrors there was no difficulty in increasing the hardships. The "durus carcer et arcta vita" - chains and starvation in a stifling hole - was a favorite device for extracting confession from unwilling lips. We shall meet hereafter an atrocious instance of this inflicted on a witness, as early as 1263, when the ruin of the great house of Foix was sought. It was pointed out that judicious restriction of diet not only reduced the body but weakened the will, and rendered the prisoner less able
- ↑ Eymeric. Direct. Inquis. 514, 521.-Concil. Biterrens. ann. 1240, Append. c 17.-Iunoc, PP. IV. Bull, Illius vicis, 12 Nov. 1247.-Lib. Confess. Inq. Albiens ISS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, 11847).-Bernard. Cuidon. Practica P. v. (Doat, XXX.)-Doctrina de modo procedendi (Martene Thesaur. V. 1795).-Molinier, l'nq. dans le midi de la France, p. 330.-Archives de l'Inq. de Carcass. (Doat, XXVII, 7 sqq.).-Lib, Sententt. Inq. Tolosan. pp. 22, 76, 102, 118-50, 158-02, 184, 210-18, 220-1, 228, 244-8, 266-7, 282-5.Archives de l'Inq. de Carcassonue (Doat, XXXIV. 80)-Archives de l'hôtel-de-ville d'Albi (Doai, XXXIV. 45) Coll. Doat, XXXIV. 189
