The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1561-62 | Page 4

years which are immediately to occupy us in the present and
succeeding chapter, present the country in a daily increasing ferment
from the action of causes which had existed long before, but which

received an additional stimulus as the policy of the new reign
developed itself.
Previously to the accession of Charles V., it can not be said that an
inquisition had ever been established in the provinces. Isolated
instances to the contrary, adduced by the canonists who gave their
advice to Margaret of Parma, rather proved the absence than the
existence of the system. In the reign of Philip the Good, the vicar of the
inquisitor- general gave sentence against some heretics, who were
burned in Lille (1448). In 1459, Pierre Troussart, a Jacobin monk,
condemned many Waldenses, together with some leading citizens of
Artois, accused of sorcery and heresy. He did this, however, as
inquisitor for the Bishop of Arras, so that it was an act of episcopal, and
not papal inquisition. In general, when inquisitors were wanted in the
provinces, it was necessary to borrow them from France or Germany.
The exigencies of persecution making a domestic staff desirable,
Charles the Fifth, in the year 1522, applied to his ancient tutor, whom
he had placed on the papal throne.
Charles had, however, already, in the previous year appointed Francis
Van der Hulst to be inquisitor-general for the Netherlands. This man,
whom Erasmus called a "wonderful enemy to learning," was also
provided with a coadjutor, Nicholas of Egmond by name, a Carmelite
monk, who was characterized by the same authority as "a madman
armed with a sword." The inquisitor-general received full powers to
cite, arrest, imprison, torture heretics without observing the ordinary
forms of law, and to cause his sentences to be executed without appeal.
He was, however, in pronouncing definite judgments, to take the advice
of Laurens, president of the grand council of Mechlin, a coarse, cruel
and ignorant man, who "hated learning with a more than deadly
hatred," and who might certainly be relied upon to sustain the severest
judgments which the inquisitor might fulminate. Adrian; accordingly,
commissioned Van der Hulst to be universal and general inquisitor for
all the Netherlands. At the same time it was expressly stated that his
functions were not to supersede those exercised by the bishops as
inquisitors in their own sees. Thus the papal inquisition was established
in the provinces. Van der Hulst, a person of infamous character, was
not the man to render the institution less odious than it was by its nature.
Before he had fulfilled his duties two years, however, he was degraded

from his office by the Emperor for having forged a document. In 1525,
Buedens, Houseau and Coppin were confirmed by Clement the Seventh
as inquisitors in the room of Van der Hulst. In 1531, Ruard Tapper and
Michael Drutius were appointed by Paul the Third, on the decease of
Coppin, the other two remaining in office. The powers of the papal
inquisitors had been gradually extended, and they were, by 1545, not
only entirely independent of the episcopal inquisition, but had acquired
right of jurisdiction over bishops and archbishops, whom they were
empowered to arrest and imprison. They had also received and
exercised the privilege of appointing delegates, or sub-inquisitors, on
their own authority. Much of the work was, indeed, performed by these
officials, the most notorious of whom were Barbier, De Monte,
Titelmann, Fabry, Campo de Zon, and Stryen. In 1545, and again in
1550, a stringent set of instructions were drawn up by the Emperor for
the guidance of these papal inquisitors. A glance at their context shows
that the establishment was not intended to be an empty form.
They were empowered to inquire, proceed against, and chastise all
heretics, all persons suspected of heresy, and their protectors.
Accompanied by a notary, they were to collect written information
concerning every person in the provinces, "infected or vehemently
suspected." They were authorized to summon all subjects of his
Majesty, whatever their rank, quality, or station, and to compel them to
give evidence, or to communicate suspicions. They were to punish all
who pertinaciously refused such depositions with death. The Emperor
commanded his presidents, judges, sheriffs, and all other judicial and
executive officers to render all "assistance to the inquisitors and their
familiars in their holy and pious inquisition, whenever required so to
do," on pain of being punished as encouragers of heresy, that is to say,
with death. Whenever the inquisitors should be satisfied as to the
heresy of any individual, they were to order his arrest and detention by
the judge of the place, or by others arbitrarily to be selected by them.
The judges or persons thus chosen, were enjoined to fulfil the order, on
pain of being punished as protectors of heresy,