Inquisitorial Procedure

La stanza di Andrea Trevisan is inspired by a dramatic event which took place at first in an isolated village in the Padua countryside, but then unfolded in Venice by involving some important judicial institutions of the Serenissima. Love, anger and enmities seem to unescapably push the protagonists toward a violent and tragic destiny. The emotional and sentimental background brings to light an enveloping narrative that outlines the main political and cultural features marking a republican power deeply rooted in the conflicts between the lagoon noble houses. However, from within the Ducal palace, the Council of Ten emerged  from the final decades of the Sixteenth century to enforce a new political course and flat-out affirm the obligation for peace between noble houses, as it assumed the exclusive domain to regulate any form of violence arising within the Venetian ruling class. La stanza di Andrea Trevisan discloses therefore how the elaborate and contested emotional level, especially if analysed in light of the interpersonal relations put forward by such case-study, is inestricably bound to the political and cultural context which gave life to it and made its peculiar imprint on the evidence that passed on its memory.

This article provides an outline for a new interpretation of the trial of the Templars, with special attention to the texts written by the instigators of the case, namely, Philip the Fair and his ministers. The trial had everything to do with the growth of the French monarchy. With the “discovery” and repression of the “Templars' heresy,” the Capetian monarchy claimed for itself the mystic foundations of the papal theocracy. The Temple case was the last step of a process of appropriating these foundations, which had begun with the Franco-papal rift at the time of Boniface VIII. Being the ultimate defender of the Catholic faith, the Capetian king was now fully invested with a Christlike function that put him above the pope. What was at stake in the Templars' trial was the establishment of a royal theocracy.

The trial was instructed by the provincial court of Vicenza in the years  1831-1833, after the murder of Giovanni Rama, a young peasant of Durlo, a small village of Lessini mountains. The main defendants were Lucia Graizzaro, Giovanni Rama's wife, and her presumed lover. Bernardo Marchesini, a south tyrolese judge, managed the trial, together his colleagues until the severe sentence against the presumed murderer, but Lucia Graizzaro was released for the inadequacy of the proofs alleged against her. Lucia's character is very interesting and provided of some modern traits.

Trois papes successifs, Alexandre IV, Urbain IV et Clément IV, ont fait mener six années durant une « affaire d’enquête » ("inquisitionis negocium") contre l'évêque de Rodez Vézian. Ce dernier était accusé devant leur justice, sans qu’il soit jamais dit par qui, de « méfaits énormes » ("enormia sinistra") : profanation de l’office divin, simonie, sodomie et « autres nombreux crimes qui offensent Dieu et scandalisent les hommes ». Des auditions de témoins furent menées à Rodez et l'évêque dut se défendre vigoureusement à la Curie romaine avant d’échapper en définitive, semble-t-il, à toute condamnation. On propose ici une première analyse de cette affaire assez bien documentée, qu’il faut replacer dans la longue série, méconnue, des procédures inquisitoires lancées par la papauté contre des prélats accusés d’« excès » aux XIIIe et XIVe siècles. Au vu de l’histoire agitée de l’épiscopat (1247-1274) et des relations conflictuelles entretenues par Vézian avec la nouvelle administration comtale d’Alphonse de Poitiers, dans un contexte de co-gouvernement du Languedoc par l’Église et les Capétiens après l’éviction récente de la maison de Saint-Gilles, on suggère que les poursuites ont été lancées sous l’influence du comte. La désignation comme enquêteur, au début de l’affaire, de l'archevêque de Narbonne Gui Foucois, un personnage emblématique de la symbiose entre Église romaine et royauté française dans la région, constitue un élément important à l’appui de cette interprétation. L’« affaire d’enquête » mettait l'évêque en difficultés, mais elle était destinée à traîner en longueur, comme presque toutes les procédures de ce genre, sans d’ailleurs qu’une conclusion précise doive nécessairement intervenir un jour. En acceptant de faire mener ces poursuites, les papes contenaient l’irritation de leur puissant allié capétien en lui donnant partiellement satisfaction, tout en évitant de désavouer clairement un prélat fidèle aux principes de la théocratie. La justice inquisitoire est ici mise en œuvre à des fins de médiation qui ne sont jamais explicites, sans que les formes juridiques soient prises à la légère, bien au contraire. Elle apparaît bien comme un instrument politique d’usage subtil au service du gouvernement pontifical.

The two inquisitors (inquisitores malefactorum, public prosecutors) of Cluj ("civitas primaria" of the Principality of Transylvania) are mentioned for the first time in the judicial protocols of the town in 1584, but the first regulation of their duties dates from March 1587. The establishment of the institution was marked by a series of circumstances: the growing efforts of the town officials to tighten the control over the community of the town, the introduction of the inquisitorial procedure, and the judicial activity of a town-advocate called György Igyártó. The inquisitors were charged to take action against criminals in cases that did not involve private accusation, and gained an important role in the management of the town’s revenues as well. The two inquisitors were annually elected among the centumviri. Their activity focused on the crimes that endangered the security and public order of the town’s society – mainly the security of the human life, the family and public morality – and to a lesser extent on trials concerning the material belongings of the citizens. The data presented shows that the appearance of the institution stimulated greatly the development of the judicial practice of the town. They were charged to take up the efforts of the town’s magistrate to provide an institutional frame for the persecution and punishment of the criminals. The growth in number of both the type of the crimes prosecuted and the number of criminal trials started through private or public initiation at the court of the town proves a more effective impeachment of the criminals; furthermore, it clearly indicates the growing role of the justice in the disciplining process of the society. These changes can be listed among other political, social and religious changes of the second half of the 16th century, that are closely linked to the town’s endeavour to gain full independence in every aspect of the town-life.