But burning was an admission of defeat by the inquisitors.
One source which is of use in tackling these issues is the penances imposed by the early inquisitors.
The inquisitors were able to operate with new security and for the first time were able to make widespread use of imprisonment as a penance.
On the other hand it would be easy to see how the penance could be turned into a form of extortion by an unscrupulous inquisitor.
At first inquisitors offered a simple choice between penance as proof of conversion or death by burning.
The penance as used by inquisitors was extended predominantly to followers of heretics (credentes) rather than heresiarchs themselves.
The originality of the inquisitors was that they took an institution primarily regarded as for the religious and applied it to the laity.
Circulation and eclecticism are the dominant themes, although obviously the dialogue between priest and inquisitor does uncover differing and conflicting assumptions on what was acceptable.
