Canon law served the church just as civil law supported a secular government. It defined the rights, duties and powers of all people and priests within the church. It was the law administered in all ecclesiastical courts, from those of the bishop up to that of the pope.
Sometime around 1140 Gratian, a monk of the monastery of St. Felix at Bologna, published a Harmony of Discordant Canons which tried to coordinate all previous collections of church law. Since he arranged his quotations of authorities subject by subject, his Harmony soon emerged as the sole manual for teachers and for judges in the church. But it also directed man's most intimate relationships. By virtue of its concern with baptism it established standards for all births — and all that led to births. The first inviting smile between man and woman brought the couple under its watchful shadow. It directed penance
In 1377 the aged Pope Gregory XI re-entered Rome, and shortly passed away. In haste the College of Cardinals elected a new pope, Pope Urban VI. In August the cardinals suddenly informed all Europe that the people of Rome had forced the election of an apostate to the chair of Peter and that the proceedings were invalid. A new College of Cardinals then elected another pope a month later, Pope Clement VII. Clement moved about Italy and eventually sailed for France and Avignon. Thus, with Urban ruling from Rome and Clement from Avignon the Great Schism began, lasting for 39 years. Each pope had his own College of Cardinals, and each pope claimed to be the true Vicar of Christ with the power to excommunicate those who did not acknowledge him. France went with Clement; Italy with Urban. The empire went with Urban; so did England. Scotland went with Clement.
In dealing with heretics the church had two objectives: first, the conversion of the heretic and, second, the protection of Christian society. Heresy eventually drove the Roman Catholic church to her most serious internal conflict: How can the church employ violence to safeguard a peaceful society? The church deliberately accepted a line of action impossible to reconcile with the eternal kingdom toward which she aspired. She created the Inquisition, not only to execute heretics, but to subject them to deliberate, prolonged torture.
The earliest form of the Inquisition appeared in 1184 when Pope Lucius III required bishops to "inquire" into the beliefs of their subjects. In short, they held an "inquiry" or inquest. Heresy or harboring a heretic brought immediate excommunication. The spread of the Waldenses and Albigenses, however, called for stricter measures. In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council, under Innocent III's leadership, provided for the state's punishment of
