ied on in the name of both the
canon and the civil law: _secundum canonicas et legitimas
sanctiones_, as a Council of Avignon puts it.[2]

[1] The Decree of Gratian was written about 1140.

[2] This council was held in 1209, d'Achery, _Spicilegium_, in-fol.,
vol. i, p. 704, col. 1.

In Germany and France, especially in northern France, the usual
punishment was the stake. We need not say much of England, for heresy
seems to have made but one visit there in 1166. In 1160, a German
prince, whose name is unknown, had several Cathari beheaded. Others
were burned at Cologne in 1163. The execution of the heretics
condemned at Vezelai by the Abbot of Vezelai and several bishops,
forms quite a dramatic picture.

When the heretics had been condemned, the Abbot, addressing the
crowd, said "My brethren, what punishment should be inflicted upon
those who refuse to be converted?" All replied: "Burn them." "Burn
them." Their wishes were carried out. Two abjured their heresy, and
were pardoned, the other seven perished at the stake.[1]

[1] _Hugo Pictav., _Historia Vezeliacensis monasterii, lib. iv, ad.
finem, _Hist. des Gaules_, vol. xii, pp. 343-344.

Philip, Count of Flanders, was particularly cruel in prosecuting
heretics.[1] He had an able auxiliary also in the Archbishop of
Rheims, Guillaume aux Blanches-Mains. The chronicle of Anchin tells
us that they sent to the stake a great many nobles and people,
clerics, knights, peasants, young girls, married women, and widows,
whose property they confiscated and shared between them.[2] This
occurred in 1183. Some years before, Archbishop Guillaume and his
council had sent two heretical women to the stake.[3]

[1] Raoul de Coggeshall, in _Rerum Britann. medii aevi Scriptores_,
ed. Stevenson, p. 122.

[2] Sigeberti, _Continuatio Aquicinctina_, ad. ann. 1183, in the
_Mon. Germ. SS_., vol. vi, p. 421.

[3] Raoul de Coggeshall, loc. cit.; _Hist. des Gaules_, vol. xviii,
p. 92.

Hugh, Bishop of Auxerre (1183-1206), prosecuted the neo-Manicheans
with equal severity; he confiscated the property of some, banished
others, and sent several to the stake.

The reign of Philip Augustus was marked by many executions. Eight
Cathari were sent to the stake at Troyes in 1200, one at Nevers in
1201, and several others at Braisne-sur-Vesle in 1204. A most famous
case was the condemnation of the followers of the heretic, Amaury de
Beynes. "Priests, clerics, men and women belonging to the sect,