Philip's subsequent legislation, it will be
well to recite its chief provisions.

By this edict, or "placard," as it was called, it was ordained that all
who were convicted of heresy should suffer death "by fire, by the pit,
or by the sword;"[388] in other words, should be burned alive, be buried
alive, or be beheaded. These terrible penalties were incurred by all who
dealt in heretical books, or copied or bought them, by all who held or
attended conventicles, by all who disputed on the Scriptures in public
or private, by all who preached or defended the doctrines of reform.
Informers were encouraged by the promise of one half of the confiscated
estate of the heretic. No suspected person was allowed to make any
donation, or sell any of his effects, or dispose of them by will.
Finally, the courts were instructed to grant no remission or mitigation
of punishment under the fallacious idea of mercy to the convicted party,
and it was made penal for the friends of the accused to solicit such
indulgence on his behalf.[389]

The more thoroughly to enforce these edicts, Charles took a hint from
the terrible tribunal with which he was familiar in Spain,--the
Inquisition. He obtained a bull from his old preceptor, Adrian the
Sixth, appointing an inquisitor-general, who had authority to examine
persons suspected of heresy, to imprison and torture them, to confiscate
their property, and finally sentence them to banishment or death. These
formidable powers were intrusted to a layman,--a lawyer of eminence, and
one of the council of Brabant. But this zealous functionary employed his
authority with so good effect, that it speedily roused the general
indignation of his countrymen, who compelled him to fly for his life.

By another bull from Rome, four inquisitors were appointed in the place
of the fugitive. These inquisitors were ecclesiastics, not of the fierce
Dominican order, as in Spain, but members of the secular clergy. All
public officers were enjoined to aid them in detecting and securing
suspected persons, and the common prisons were allotted for the
confinement of their victims.

[Sidenote: PERSECUTION BY CHARLES THE FIFTH.]

The people would seem to have gained little by the substitution of four
inquisitors for one. But in fact they gained a great deal. The sturdy
resistance made to the exercise of the unconstitutional powers of the
inquisitor-general compelled Charles to bring those of the new
functionaries more within