Cathedral of the Sea

“The members of this tribunal are impartial,” said Eimerich, interrupting him.

“I trust they are.” Arnau looked directly at the inquisitor.

“Anyone else?”

“As you well know, I have been a moneylender for many years, and perhaps—”

“It’s not for you,” Eimerich interrupted him again, “to speculate on who might or might not be your enemy, or for what reason. If you have enemies, you are to name them; if not, say nothing. Do you have enemies?”

“I do not think so.”

“WHAT THEN?” ALEDlS wanted to know.

“Then the inquisition proper begins.” Joan thought back to all the village squares, the chambers in rich houses, the sleepless nights ... but a heavy blow on the table in front of him brought him back to reality.

“What do you mean, Friar?” Mar shouted at him.

Joan sighed and looked her in the eye.

“The word ‘inquisition’ means a search. The inquisitor has to search out heresy and sin. Even when there have been accusations, the trial is not based on them or restricted to them. If the person on trial refuses to confess, they will search for the hidden truth.”

“How will they do that?” asked Mar.

Before he replied, Joan closed his eyes. “If you’re asking about torture, yes, that is one of the ways.”

“What will they do to him?”

“They might decide torture is not necessary.”

“What will they do to him?” insisted Mar.

“Why do you want to know?” said Aledis, taking her by the hand. “It will only torment you ... still further.”

“The law forbids death or the loss of any limb under torture,” Joan explained, “and suspected heretics may be tortured only once.”

Joan could see how the two women, their faces streaming with tears, sought some comfort in that. Yet he knew that Eimerich had found a way to make a mockery of this legal requirement. “Non ad modum iterationis sed continuationis,” he used to say, with a strange gleam in his eye; “Not repeatedly but continuously,” he translated for the novices who did not yet have a good grasp of Latin.

“What happens if they torture him and he still doesn’t confess?” asked Mar, after taking a deep breath.

“His attitude will be taken into account at the moment of handing down a sentence,” Joan said, without further explanation.

“Will it be Eimerich who sentences him?” asked Aledis.

“Yes, unless the sentence is life imprisonment or burning at the stake; in that case, he will need the bishop’s approval. And yet,” the friar went on, anticipating the women’s next question, “if the Inquisition considers that it is a complex matter, it has been known for them to consult the boni viri, between thirty and eighty people, not members of the Church, so that they can give their opinion as to the guilt of the accused, and the appropriate sentence. That means the trial drags on for months and months.”

“During which time Arnau would remain in jail,” said Aledis.

Joan nodded. The three of them sat in silence. The women were trying to take in everything they had heard; Joan was remembering another of Eimerich’s maxims: “The jail is to be forbidding, placed underground so that no light, and especially no sun or moonlight, may enter. It has to be harsh and tough, in order to shorten the prisoner’s life to the point that he faces death.”

FILTHY, IN RAGS, Arnau stood in the center of the chamber while the inquisitor and the bishop put their heads together and started whispering. The clerk took advantage of the interruption to tidy his papers. The four Dominicans continued to stare at the prisoner.

“How are you going to conduct the interrogation?” Berenguer d’Eril asked.

“We’ll start as usual, and as we progress, we’ll inform him what the charges are.”

“You’re going to tell him?”

“Yes. I think he is the sort of person who will react more to dialectic pressure than to a physical threat, although if necessary ...”

Arnau tried to withstand the looks from the black friars. One, two, three, four ... He shifted his weight onto his other foot and glanced again at the inquisitor and the bishop. They were still whispering to each other. The Dominicans, on the other hand, were observing him closely. The chamber was absolutely quiet apart from the inaudible whispering.

“He’s growing nervous,” said the bishop, glancing up at Arnau before turning back to the inquisitor.

“He is someone who is used to giving commands and being obeyed,” said Eimerich. “He needs to understand what the situation is; he has to accept the tribunal and its authority, and submit to it. Only then will he respond to interrogation. Humiliation is the first step.”