s, that they may be more easily borne. We have
therefore determined to send preaching friars against the heretics of
France and the adjoining provinces, and we beg, warn, and exhort you,
ordering you, as you reverence the Holy See, to receive them kindly,
and to treat them well, giving them in this as in all else, favor,
counsel, and aid, that they may fulfill their office."

[1] Raynaldi, _Annales_, ad ann. 1231, sect. 16, 17.

[2] Cap. iii, in the _Mon. Germ., Leges_, sect. iv, vol. ii, p. 196.

[3] Potthast, _Regesta Roman. Pontif_., no. 904, 1.

Their duties are outlined in a letter of Gregory IX to Conrad of
Marburg, October 11, 1231: "When you arrive in a city, summon the
bishops, clergy and people, and preach a solemn sermon on faith; then
select certain men of good repute to help you in trying the heretics
and suspects denounced before your tribunal. All who on examination
are found guilty or suspected of heresy must promise to absolutely
obey the commands of the Church; if they refuse, you must prosecute
them, according to the statutes which we have recently promulgated."
We have in these instructions all the procedure of the Inquisition:
the time of grace; the call for witnesses and their testimony; the
Interrogation of the Accused; the reconciliation of repentant
heretics; the condemnation of obdurate heretics.

Each detail of this procedure calls for a few words of explanation.

The Inquisitor first summoned every heretic of the city to appear
before him within a certain fixed time, which as a rule did not
exceed thirty days. This period was called "the time of grace"
(tempus gratiae). The heretics who abjured during this period were
treated with leniency. If secret heretics, they were dismissed with
only a slight secret penance; if public heretics, they were exempted
from the penalties of death and life imprisonment, and sentenced
either to make a short pilgrimage, or to undergo one of the ordinary
canonical penances.

If the heretics failed to come forward of their own accord, they were
to be denounced by the Catholic people. At first the number of
witnesses required to make an accusation valid was not determined;
later on two were declared necessary. In the beginning, the
Inquisition could only accept the testimony of men and women of good
repute; and the Church for a long time maintained that no one should
be admitted as an accuser who was a heretic, was excommunicated, a
homicide, a thief, a sor