ymeric himself grants
one (_Directorium_, pp. 451-453). But this lawyer was merely to
persuade his client to confess his heresy; he was rather the lawyer
of the court than of the accused. Vidal, op. cit., pp. 302, 303.
Pegna, however, says (in Eymeric _Directorium_, 2a pars, ch. xi,
Comm. 10) that in his time the accused was allowed counsel, if he
were only suspected of heresy. Cf. Tanon, op. cit., pp. 400, 401.

Heretics or suspects, therefore, denounced to the Inquisition
generally found themselves without counsel before their judges.

They personally had to answer the various charges of the indictment
(_capitula_) made against them. It certainly would have been a great
help to them, to have known 'the names of their accusers. But the
fear--well-founded it was true[1]--that the accused or their friends
would revenge themselves on their accusers, induced the Inquisitors
to withhold the names of the witnesses.[2] The only way in which the
prisoner could invalidate the testimony against him was to name all
his mortal enemies. If his accusers happened to be among them, their
testimony was thrown out of court.[3] But otherwise, he was obliged
to prove the falsity of the accusations against him--a practically
impossible undertaking. For if two witnesses, considered of good
repute by the Inquisitor, agreed in accusing the prisoner, his fate
was at once settled; whether he confessed or not, he was declared a
heretic.

[1] Guillem Pelhisse tells us that the Cathari sometimes killed those
who had denounced their brethren. _Chronique_, ed. Douai, p. 90. A
certain Arnold Dominici, who had denounced seven heretics, was killed
at night in his bed by "the Believers." _Ibid._, pp. 98, 99.

[2] Eymeric, _Directorium_, 3a pars, q. 72. The law on this point
varied from time to time. When Boniface VIII incorporated into the
canon law the rule of withholding the names of witnesses, he
expressly said that they might be produced, if there was no danger in
doing so. Cap. 20, Sexto v, 2.

[3] Eymeric, _Directorium_, 3a pars, _De defensionibus reorum_, p.
446 and seq.

After the prisoner had been found guilty, he could choose one of two
things; he could abjure his heresy and manifest his repentance by
accepting the penance imposed by his judge, or he could obstinately
persist either in his denial or profession of heresy, accepting
resolutely all the consequences of such an attitude.

If the heretic abjured he knelt before the Inquisit