THE CHURCH UNDER INNOCENT III 447 itor believed to be false, torture was employed to force the truth from him. He was then brought back into the court- room and asked to sign, as a freely made confession, the
- words which had been wrung from him on the rack. But if
I he refused to sign, he often was put to the torture again. jEven witnesses who were not themselves on trial were some- ! times tortured. Ordinarily in cases in the ecclesiastical [courts the testimony of criminals, heretics, and excommuni- cated persons was not admitted ; but the inquisition accepted isuch evidence and also that of young children. Assertions jagainst the accused made by a deadly enemy were not, however, given credence. The penalties varied according as the accused was an offender for the first time or a relapsed heretic, according |to the magnitude of the offense, and according to whether !his guilt seemed proved beyond question or still remained iopen to some doubt. The extreme penalties were life im- [prisonment on bread and water, and death, generally by [burning at the stake. In the latter case the State inflicted the punishment and the heretic after his conviction by the inquisition, which in this case had to be approved by the bishop of his diocese, was handed over to " the secular arm" Ifor the punishment decreed by its laws against heretics. The inquisition must be estimated in the light of those times, when it was common to punish criminals with great icruelty and when torture was often used in secular tribu- nals. It was better to convict men on the basis of evidence, even if this was somewhat unfairly used against them, than ito determine their guilt or innocence by recourse to ordeals, as had sometimes been done before even in the case of per- sons suspected of heresy. The use of ordeals by the clergy was forbidden by Innocent in 1215. But to say that there were other courts as bad as the inquisition is no sufficient justification of it. The Church had constantly proclaimed its superiority to the State and must live up to its claim. Hitherto the ecclesiastical courts had been distinguished by their leniency and equity. Now the Church of the Prince of Peace and Love was, basing its power upon brute force
