A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume III

Disputes over Franciscan poverty open this third volume of Henry Charles Lea's history of the medieval Inquisition. The account follows the strain between an order's founding ideals and its growing wealth, showing how arguments about obedience and religious authority could become charges of heresy. Its contents extend to the Templars, Joan of Arc, political uses of religious courts, witchcraft, and the relations between intellect and faith.

Lea also examines the beliefs and legal assumptions that gave accusations of sorcery their force. A discussion of the University of Paris in 1398 shows theologians defining forbidden practices while insisting that magic had real power. The volume brings together religious disputes, institutional decisions, and individual cases, with an appendix of documents. Readers interested in medieval history can use it to consider how church authority, political interests, and claims about supernatural forces became entangled.