434 Epilogue
inquisitor formally condemned Bompietro di Giovanni, a pursemaker from
the parish of San Martino dell’Aposa, and Giuliano di Salimbene, another
pursemaker from the same parish, as relapsed heretics.^107 In the presence of
his vicar, Fra Omobono of Bologna, his assistants, the prior of the Carmelite
friars Fra Pietro de’ Ricolfi, and the archpriest of the cathedral Don Arpi-
nello, he excommunicated the two prisoners and released them to the secular
authorities. Among the ‘‘many others’’ witnessing this act were a judge, a
notary, a jurist, and four knights, representatives from the secular govern-
ment of the commune of Bologna. The knights included members of the
powerful Caccianemici and Ramponi clans. The notary of the tribunal, Al-
berto de’ Carboni, was instructed to publicize this judgment by announcing
it in the church of San Martino dell’Aposa after the reading of the Gospel at
the solemn Mass on the following Sunday, 17 May.
Since the rest of the day would be taken up by the prisoners’ condemna-
tion before the podesta of Bologna at the Palazzo Comunale, Fra Guido’s
only other formal act that morning was to remove the excommunication
that Giuliano’s proctor, the archdeacon of Pievenda, Don Manfredo Ma-
schara, had incurred when he suggested that his client flee the city if he were
indeed guilty of the Cathar heresy.^108 While Don Manfredo was free to give
Giuliano legal advice, in this suggestion he had overstepped the bounds of
his office. If a suspect’s counsel learned that he was guilty, the counsel was
expected to urge him to confess his guilt and beg for mercy. To do otherwise
would amount to concealing the crime and becoming afautor,that is, an
abetter of heresy. Because Manfredo had merely given advice imprudently
and had confessed his error to Fra Omobono, he was let out on £ 100 bon.
bail, which could be returned at the inquisitor’s discretion.^109 We know of no
other business conducted at the tribunal that day.
The releasing of a relapsed heretic, much less of two, to the secular au-
thorities was not an everyday event in late-thirteenth-century Bologna. Be-
tween 1297 and 1310 at least ten executions of heretics were considered by
the court. Of these, six are known to have been carried out, three for Catha-
rism, three for association in the heresy of Fra Dolcino.^110 If we assume that
107 .ASOB,no. 125 , 1 : 151 – 52. See sentences of Giuliano, ibid., no. 566 , 1 : 302 – 6 , and Bompietro, ibid.,
no. 567 , 1 : 306 – 9. On Giuliano, see Paolini,Eresia, 126 – 35 ; on Bompietro, see ibid., 110 – 26.
108 .ASOB,no. 124 , 1 : 151. See also Paolini,Eresia, 44 – 45. On this heresy, see Malcolm D. Lambert,
Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from Bogomil to Hus(London: Arnold, 1977 ), 108 – 50. On inquisition
procedure and witnesses, see A. Shannon, ‘‘The Secrecy of Witnesses in Inquisitorial Tribunals and in
Contemporary Secular Criminal Trials,’’Essays in Medieval Life and Thought in Honor of A. P. Evans(New
York: Columbia University Press, 1955 ), and, more broadly, T. Buehler-Reimann, ‘‘Enqueˆte-Inquesta-
Inquisitio,’’Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung fu ̈r Rechtsgeschichte: Kanonistische Abteilung 91 ( 1975 ): 53 – 62.
109. Innocent III provided for fining fautors; see Bologna, Biblioteca dell’Archiginnasio,msB. 3695 ,
doc. 13 (BOP 1 : 223 ).
110. Extant condemnations for Catharism name Bonigrino (ASOB,no. 10 , 1 : 20 – 25 ) and the previously
mentioned Giuliano and Bompietro; for Dolcinism, Rolandino (no. 585 , 2 : 347 ), Pietro Dal Pra (no. 586 ,
2 : 350 ), and Giovanni (no. 917 , 2 : 704 ). Legal advisors recommended release to the secular authorities of
four others (see ibid., no. 809 , 2 : 599 – 600 ; no. 868 , 2 : 624 – 25 ; no. 819 , 2 : 606 ; no. 865 , 2 : 623 – 24 ). Since