^Q LANGUEDOC. appointed a commission of cardinals to investigate the matter, but there is no trace of their labors, which were probably cut short by his death, July 7, 1304. ^o commissioners of his selection would have been likely to report adversely to the Inquisition, for he manifested his prejudgment by ordering the Minister of Aqui- taine, under pain of forfeiture of office and future disability, to arrest Frere Bernard without warning and send him under suffi- cient guard to the papal court, as a fautor of heretics and presum- ably a heretic. The leading citizens of Albi, including G. de Pesenches the viguier and Gaillard Etienne the royal judge, who had sought to aid Pequigny, were also involved in the papal con- demnation. The Minister of Aquitaine intrusted to Frere Jean Rigaud the execution of the arrest, which he duly performed, June, 1304, in the convent of Carcassonne, adding an excommunication when Bernard, encouraged by the active sympathy of the people, delayed in obeying the papal summons. He never went, and it is a curious illustration of Franciscan tendencies to see that the minister absolved him from the excommunication, and that the provincial chapter of his Order at Albi decided that he had done all that was requisite, though perhaps Benedict's death in July had reheved them from fears as to the immediate consequences of their contumacy.^ Meanwhile Phihppe le Bel had at last fulfilled his promise to visit in person his southern provinces and rectify on the spot the wrongs of which his subjects had so long complained. He was expecting a favorable termination to his negotiation with Benedict for the removal of the excommunications launched by Boniface YIII. against himself and his subjects and chief agents, a result which he obtained May 13, 1304, with exception of the censure inflicted on Guillaume de Xogaret and Sciarra Colonna. When, therefore, he reached Toulouse on Christmas Day, 1303, he was not disposed to excite unnecessarily Benedict's prejudices. From Albi and Carcassonne multitudes flocked to him with cries for redress and protection, and Pequigny spoke eloquently in their behalf. The inquisitors were represented by Guillem Pierre, the
- Arch, de rhotel-cle-ville d'Albi (Doat, XXXIV. 45). — Arch, de Tlnq. de
Care. (Doat, XXXIV. 14).— MSS. Bib. Nat., fonds latin, 4270, fol. 23, 25, 31, 86, 132, 137, 140-1, 152, 153.
