y for the death sentence;[1] the Inquisition merely
decided upon the question of doctrine, leaving the rest to the
secular Court. It is this legislation that the above-named apologists
have in mind, and the text of these laws is on their side.

[1] Decretals, cap. xv, _De Haereticis_, lib. v, tit. vii. _Mon.
Germ., Leges_, sect. iv, vol. ii, p. 196.

But when we consider how these laws were carried out in practice, we
must admit that the Church did have some share in the death sentence.
We have already seen that the Church excommunicated those princes who
refused to burn the heretics which the Inquisition handed over to
them. The princes were not really judges in this case; the right to
consider questions of heresy was formally denied them.[1] It was
their duty simply to register the decree of the Church, and to
enforce it it according to the civil law. In every execution,
therefore, a twofold authority came into play: the civil power which
carried out its own laws, and the spiritual power which forced the
State to carry them out. That is why Peter Cantor declared that the
Cathari ought not to be put to death after an ecclesiastical trial,
lest the Church be compromised: "_Illud ab eo fit, cujus auctoritate
fit_," he said, to justify his recommendation.[2]

[1] Cf. Sexto, v. ii, cap. xi, and xviii. _De Haereticis_, in Eymeric,
_Directorium_, p. 110.

[2] _Verbum abbreviatum_, cap. lxxvii, P.L., vol. ccv, col. 231.

It is therefore erroneous to pretend that the Church had absolutely
no part in the condemnation of heretics to death. It is true that
this participation of hers was not direct and immediate; but, even
through indirect, it was none the less real and efficacious.[1]

[1] In Spain, the manner in which the Inquisition abandoned heretics
to the secular arm denoted a real participation of the State in the
execution of heretics. The evening before the execution the
Inquisitors brought the King a small fagot tied with ribbons. The
King as once requested "that this fagot be the first thrown upon the
fire in his name." Cf. Baudrillart, _A propos de l'Inquisition_, in
the _Revue Pratique d'Apologetique_, July 15, 1906, p. 354, note.

The judges of the Inquisition realized this, and did their best to
free themselves of this responsibility which weighed rather heavily
upon them. Some maintained that in compelling the civil authority to
enforce the existing laws, they were not going outside their
spiritual office,