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120-400: The bayou is so named because of the legendary pirate Jean Lafitte , who built a slave barracks on the bayou in the early 1800s and reputedly hid his contraband somewhere along the shores of the bayou. The bayou is moderately saline, with low flow, and receives Lake Charles municipal waste discharge. Over the years, it has been dredged and channelized along part of its length. While the bayou

240-404: A British hermaphrodite brig loaded with 77 slaves. Sale of the slaves and additional cargo generated $ 18,000 in profits. The brothers adapted the captured ship for use in piracy and named it Dorada . Within weeks, Dorada captured a schooner loaded with goods valued at more than $ 9,000. The captured schooner was not considered useful for piracy and so after they had unloaded its cargo,

360-650: A competitive court to the Bishop's courts. Historians use the term "Medieval Inquisition" to describe the various inquisitions that started around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisitions (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisitions (1230s). These inquisitions responded to large popular movements throughout Europe considered apostate or heretical to Christianity , in particular the Cathars in southern France and

480-412: A forced baptism was not a valid sacrament, but confined this to cases where it was literally administered by physical force. A person who had consented to baptism under threat of death or serious injury was still regarded as a voluntary convert, and accordingly forbidden to revert to Judaism. After the public violence, many of the converted "felt it safer to remain in their new religion". Thus, after 1391,

600-404: A full pardon on February 6. Inquisition The Inquisition was a medieval Catholic judicial procedure where the ecclesiastical judges could initiate, investigate and try cases, and later a name for various State-organized tribunals whose aim was to combat heresy , apostasy , blasphemy , witchcraft , and other dangers, using this procedure. Studies of the records have found that

720-505: A judicial technique known as inquisitio , which could be translated as "inquiry" or "inquest".' In this process, which was already widely used by secular rulers ( Henry II used it extensively in England in the 12th century), an official inquirer called for information on a specific subject from anyone who felt he or she had something to offer." "The Inquisition" usually refers to specific regional tribunals authorized to concern themselves with

840-406: A new social group appeared and were referred to as conversos or New Christians . Over the centuries that it lasted, several procedure manuals for inquisitors were produced for dealing with different types of heresy. The primordial text was Pope Innocent IV's bull, Ad Extirpanda , from 1252, which in its thirty-eight laws details in detail what must be done and authorizes the use of torture. Of

960-521: A note denying the charges of piracy. Given the success of his auctions at the Temple, in January 1814 Lafitte set up a similar auction at a site just outside New Orleans. Many of the city's merchants were unhappy with this auction, because it allowed their customers to buy goods directly from Lafitte at a lower price than the merchants could charge in the city. Officials tried to break up this auction by force. In

1080-569: A pardon for the Baratarians, saying that for generations, smugglers were "esteemed honest ... [and] sympathy for these offenders is certainly more or less felt by many of the Louisianans". According to Ramsay, Claiborne next wrote to General Andrew Jackson , "implying Patterson had destroyed a potential first line of defense for Louisiana" by his capture of Lafitte and his ships. Jackson responded, "I ask you, Louisianans, can we place any confidence in

1200-558: A soldier, sailor, diplomat, merchant, and much more, demonstrating natural gifts for leadership. The United States made the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. In January 1808, the government began to enforce the Embargo Act of 1807 , which barred American ships from docking at any foreign port and imposed an embargo on goods imported into the US. It was specifically intended to prohibit trade with

1320-458: A special socio-political basis as well as more fundamental religious motives. In some parts of Spain towards the end of the 14th century, there was a wave of violent anti-Judaism , encouraged by the preaching of Ferrand Martínez , Archdeacon of Écija . In the pogroms of June 1391 in Seville , hundreds of Jews were killed, and the synagogue was completely destroyed. The number of people killed

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1440-509: A statement praising his troops, especially the cannoneers and "Captains Dominique and Beluche, lately commanding privateers of Barataria, with part of their former crews and many brave citizens of New Orleans, were stationed at Nos. 3 and 4." Jackson praised Jean and Pierre Lafitte for having "exhibited the same courage and fidelity". He formally requested clemency for the Lafittes and the men who had served under them. The government granted them all

1560-465: A total of four people in various Baltic cities in 1402–1403. In the last decade of the 14th century, episcopal inquisitors carried out large-scale operations against heretics in eastern Germany, Pomerania, Austria, and Hungary. In Pomerania, of 443 sentenced in the years 1392–1394 by the inquisitor Peter Zwicker, the provincial of the Celestinians, none went to the stake, because they all submitted to

1680-686: Is at stake. Between 1237 and 1279, at least 507 convictions were passed in Toulouse (most in absentia or posthumously) resulting in the confiscation of property; in Albi between 1240 and 1252 there were 60 sentences of this type. The activities of Bernard Gui, inquisitor of Toulouse from 1307 to 1323, are better documented, as a complete record of his trials has been preserved. During the entire period of his inquisitorial activity, he handed down 633 sentences against 602 people (31 repeat offenders), including: In addition, Bernard Gui issued 274 more sentences involving

1800-487: Is believed to have been running a warehouse in New Orleans and possibly a store on Royal Street . Biographer William C. Davis suggests a different childhood for Lafitte. According to his 2005 book, Lafitte was born in or near Pauillac , France, the son of Pierre Lafitte and his second wife, Marguerite Desteil. The couple had six children, including at least three daughters. Jean Lafitte was likely born in 1782, although he

1920-519: Is known about Lafitte, and speculation about his life and death continues among historians. A famous persistent rumor claimed that Lafitte rescued French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte from exile, and both of them ended their days in Louisiana. No evidence supports it. A number of details about Jean Lafitte's early life remain obscure, and often sources contradict each other. In the Journal de Jean Lafitte ,

2040-568: Is not known how many of them were actually carried out, only six people captured in 1382 are confirmed to be executed. In the 15th and 16th centuries, major trials took place only sporadically, e.g. against the Waldensians in Delphinate in 1430–1432 (no numerical data) and 1532–1533 (7 executed out of about 150 tried) or the aforementioned trial in Arras 1459–1460 . In the 16th century, the jurisdiction of

2160-561: The Marranos (people who were forced to abandon Judaism against their will by violence and threats of expulsion) and on Muslim converts to Catholicism , as a result of suspicions that they had secretly reverted to their previous religions, as well as the fear of possible rebellions and armed uprisings , as had occurred in previous times. Spain and Portugal also operated inquisitorial courts not only in Europe , but also throughout their empires:

2280-736: The 12th-century Kingdom of France , particularly among the Cathars and the Waldensians . The inquisitorial courts from this time until the mid-15th century are together known as the Medieval Inquisition . Other banned groups investigated by medieval inquisitions, which primarily took place in France and Italy , include the Spiritual Franciscans , the Hussites , and the Beguines . Beginning in

2400-677: The Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229). The Inquisition was permanently established in 1229 ( Council of Toulouse ), run largely by the Dominicans in Rome and later at Carcassonne in Languedoc. In 1252, the Papal Bull Ad extirpanda , following another assassination by Cathars, charged the head of state with funding and selecting inquisitors from monastic orders; this caused friction by establishing

2520-601: The Bishop of Brescia , Paolo Zane, sent some 70 witches from Val Camonica to the stake. The Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) a crusade proclaimed by the Catholic Church against heresy, mainly Catharism , with many thousands of victims (men, women and children, some of them Catholics), had already paved the way for the later Inquisition. France has the best preserved archives of medieval inquisitions (13th–14th centuries), although they are still very incomplete. The activity of

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2640-628: The Embargo Act of 1807 as tensions built with the United Kingdom by prohibiting trade. The Lafittes moved their operations to an island in Barataria Bay , Louisiana. By 1810, their new port had become very successful; the Lafittes had a profitable smuggling operation and also started to engage in piracy. In 1812, the United States and the United Kingdom went to war . Despite Lafitte's warning

2760-978: The Goa Inquisition , the Peruvian Inquisition , and the Mexican Inquisition , among others. Inquisitions conducted in the Papal States were known as the Roman Inquisition . With the exception of the Papal States, ecclessiastical inquisition courts were abolished in the early 19th century, after the Napoleonic Wars in Europe and the Spanish American wars of independence in the Americas. The scope of

2880-517: The United Kingdom , as tensions were increasing between the two countries over the North American border with Canada and other issues. That was problematic for New Orleans merchants, who had depended on trade with the Caribbean colonies of Great Britain and other nations. The Lafitte brothers began to look for another port from which they could smuggle goods to local merchants. They created a base on

3000-436: The Waldensians in both southern France and northern Italy. Other inquisitions followed after these first inquisition movements. The legal basis for some inquisitorial activity came from Pope Innocent IV 's papal bull Ad extirpanda of 1252, which authorized the use of tortures in certain circumstances by inquisitors for eliciting confessions and denunciations from heretics. By 1256 Alexander IV's Ut negotium allowed

3120-587: The canon law of the Catholic Church . Although the term "Inquisition" is usually applied to ecclesiastical courts of the Catholic Church, in the Middle Ages it properly referred to a judicial process, not any organization. The term "Inquisition" comes from the Medieval Latin word inquisitio , which described a court process based on Roman law , which came back into use during the Late Middle Ages . It

3240-429: The "infamy" of the defendant (rather than a formal denunciation or accusation) to prevent fishing, or charging for private opinions. However, such inquisitions could proceed with minimal distraction by lawyers, the identity of witnesses was protected, tainted witness were allowed, and once found guilty of heresy there was no right to a lawyer. However, many inquisitors did not followed these rules scrupulously, notably from

3360-428: The "secular arm", would then determine the penalty based on local law. Those local laws included proscriptions against certain religious crimes, and the punishments included death by burning in regions where the secular law equated persistent heresy with sedition, although the penalty was more usually banishment or imprisonment for life, which was generally commuted after a few years. Thus the inquisitors generally knew

3480-711: The 1250s, inquisitors were generally chosen from members of the Dominican Order , replacing the earlier practice of using local clergy as judges. Inquisitions also expanded to other European countries, resulting in the Spanish Inquisition and the Portuguese Inquisition . The Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions often focused on the New Christians or Conversos (the former Jews who converted to Christianity to avoid antisemitic regulations and persecution),

3600-601: The 15th to 18th centuries. Portugal and Spain in the late Middle Ages consisted largely of multicultural territories of Muslim and Jewish influence, reconquered from Islamic control , and the new Christian authorities could not assume that all their subjects would suddenly become and remain orthodox Catholics. So the Inquisition in Iberia , in the lands of the Reconquista counties and kingdoms like León , Castile , and Aragon , had

3720-570: The American authorities at New Orleans, and booty from all other ships was often channeled for sale on the markets through Lafitte's operation. As the smuggling operations reduced the amount of revenue collected by customs offices, American authorities were determined to halt business at Barataria. Because the US Navy did not have enough ships to act against the Baratarian smugglers, the government turned to

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3840-479: The American lines on December 28, but were repulsed by an artillery crew manned by two of Lafitte's former lieutenants, Renato Beluche and Dominique Youx . Patterson praised the Barataria men who served on one of the US Navy ships, and whose skill with artillery was greater than their British counterparts. On land and sea, the former pirate gunners earned praise as the battle continued. On January 21, Jackson issued

3960-686: The British Navy. He had also been told in August that American officials were planning an assault on Barataria with forces under the command of Commodore Daniel Patterson . They feared that Lafitte and his men might side with the British. Lafitte tried to convince the Americans that they had nothing to fear from him. He sent a message to the Americans that few of his men favored helping the British but said he needed 15 days to review their offer. Lafitte had copies of

4080-505: The British colonies in the Americas (by then, these consisted of islands in the Caribbean and territory in Upper and Lower Canada). In exchange, the king asked for Lafitte and his forces to promise to assist in the naval fight against the United States and to return any recent property that had been captured from Spanish ships. (Spain had become an ally of the British against the French.) If they refused

4200-453: The British officers to row to their island. When they had disembarked and were surrounded by his men, Lafitte identified himself to them. Many of the smugglers wanted to lynch the British men, but Lafitte intervened and placed guards outside his home to ensure their protection. McWilliam brought two letters in his packet for Lafitte: one, under the seal of King George III , offered Lafitte and his forces British citizenship and land grants in

4320-558: The Church. Bloodier were the trials of the Waldensians in Austria in 1397, where more than a hundred Waldensians were burned at the stake. However, it seems that in these trials the death sentences represented only a small percentage of all the sentences, because according to the account of one of the inquisitors involved in these repressions, the number of heretics reconciled with the Church from Thuringia to Hungary amounted to about 2,000. In 1414,

4440-662: The Dominican inquisitor Andrew reconciled many heretics with the Church in the town of Skradin, but precise figures are unknown. The border areas with Bohemia and Austria were under major inquisitorial action against the Waldensians in the early 15th century. In addition, in the years 1436–1440 in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Franciscan Jacobo de la Marcha acted as an inquisitor... his mission was mixed, preaching and inquisitorial. The correspondence preserved between James, his collaborators,

4560-498: The Empire. The inquisitorial tribunal in papal Avignon, established in 1541, passed 855 death sentences, almost all of them (818) in the years 1566–1574, but the vast majority of them were pronounced in absentia. The Rhineland and Thuringia in the years 1231–1233 were the field of activity of the notorious inquisitor Konrad of Marburg. Unfortunately, the documentation of his trials has not been preserved, making it impossible to determine

4680-519: The Hungarian bishops and Pope Eugene IV shows that he reconciled up to 25,000 people with the Church. This correspondence also shows that he punished recalcitrant heretics with death, and in 1437 numerous executions were carried out in the diocese of Sirmium, although the number of those executed is also unknown. In Bohemia and Poland, the inquisition was established permanently in 1318, although anti-heretical repressions were carried out as early as 1315 in

4800-580: The Jesuits. "Shall I put you to the torture until you confess, my friends?" One of the Jesuits was Friedrich Spee , who thanked God he had been led to this insight by a friend, not an enemy. Very little is known about the activities of inquisitors in Hungary and the countries under its influence (Bosnia, Croatia), as there are few sources about this activity. Numerous conversions and executions of Bosnian Cathars are known to have taken place around 1239/40, and in 1268

4920-847: The Lafittes for providing them with luxuries otherwise prevented from being imported by the embargo. When Claiborne returned to office, he was relatively quiet on the subject. On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on Great Britain . Britain maintained a powerful navy, but the United States had little naval power. The US built 13 warships in upstate New York to operate on the Great Lakes , but in other areas supplemented its navy by offering letters of marque to privately owned armed vessels. New Orleans issued six such letters, primarily to smugglers who worked with Lafitte at Barataria. The smugglers often held letters of marque from multiple countries, authorizing them to capture booty from differing nations. They submitted booty from captured British ships to

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5040-454: The Lafittes returned the ship to its former captain and crew. The Lafittes gained a reputation for treating captive crew members well and often returned captured ships to their original crew. The brothers soon acquired a third ship, La Diligente . They outfitted it with 12 fourteen-pounder cannons. Dorada captured a fourth ship, a schooner they renamed Petit Milan . The brothers stripped down their original ship and used its guns to outfit

5160-517: The Mississippi River. By 1806, several "Captain Lafitte"s operated in New Orleans; Jean Lafitte was likely one of them. Sources indicate that Lafitte was sharp and resourceful, but also handsome and friendly, enjoying drinking, gambling, and women. He was known to adopt more aristocratic mannerisms and dress than most of his fellow privateers. Lafitte's native language was clearly French, though

5280-437: The New Orleans militia or as sailors to man the ships. Others formed three artillery companies. On December 23, advance units of the British fleet reached the Mississippi River. Lafitte realized that the American line of defense was so short as to potentially allow the British to encircle the American troops. He suggested that the line be extended to a nearby swamp, and Jackson ordered it done. The British began advancing upon

5400-545: The US but had prepared their vessels to flee. The judge ruled that Patterson should get the customary share of profits from the goods that had already been sold, but he did not settle the ownership of the ships. They were held in port under custody of the United States Marshal. Likely inspired by Lafitte's offer to help defend Louisiana, Governor Claiborne wrote the US Attorney General, Richard Rush requesting

5520-544: The accuracy of the manifests. The ship would sail to the mouth of Bayou Lafourche , load the contraband goods, and sail "legally" back to New Orleans, with goods listed on a certified manifest. Governor William C.C. Claiborne took a leave of absence in September 1810, leaving Thomas B. Robertson as acting governor. Robertson was incensed by Lafitte's operation, calling his men "brigands who infest our coast and overrun our country". The residents of New Orleans were grateful to

5640-506: The adult inhabitants (5,471 people) were questioned, of whom 207 were found guilty of heresy. Of these 207, no one was sentenced to death, 23 were sentenced to prison and 184 to penance. Between 1246 and 1248, the inquisitors Bernard de Caux and Jean de Saint-Pierre handed down 192 sentences in Toulouse, of which 43 were sentences in absentia and 149 were prison sentences. In Pamiers in 1246/1247 there were 7 prison sentences [201] and in Limoux in

5760-565: The armed assistance of local secular authorities (e.g. military expeditions in 1338–1339 and 1366). In the years 1375–1393 (with some breaks), the Dauphiné was the scene of the activities of the inquisitor Francois Borel, who gained an extremely gloomy reputation among the locals. It is known that on July 1, 1380, he pronounced death sentences in absentia against 169 people, including 108 from the Valpute valley, 32 from Argentiere and 29 from Freyssiniere. It

5880-645: The authenticity of which is contested, Lafitte claims to have been born in Bordeaux, France , in 1780 to Sephardic Jewish parents. His maternal grandmother and mother, both Conversos , fled Spain for France in 1765. His maternal grandfather had been executed by the Inquisition for "Judaizing". Some sources say that his father was French and his mother's family had come from Spain. Lafitte and his brother Pierre also claimed to have been born in Bayonne . Other documents of

6000-452: The bayou. This article related to a river in Louisiana is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( c.  1780 – c.  1823 ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite , but English language documents of

6120-624: The bull Ad Abolendam (1184), which condemned heresy as contumacy toward ecclesiastical authority. The bull Vergentis in Senium in 1199 stipulated that heresy would be considered, in terms of punishment, equal to treason ( Lèse-majesté ) , and the punishment would be imposed also on the descendants of the condemned. The first Inquisition was temporarily established in Languedoc (south of France) in 1184. The murder of Pope Innocent III's papal legate Pierre de Castelnau by Cathars in 1208 sparked

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6240-485: The charges of November 10, 1812, and subsequent arrest and jailing of his brother Pierre, Jean Lafitte operated the piracy and smuggling business. Over the next few months, the British Navy increased patrols in the Gulf of Mexico, and by August they had established a base at Pensacola . On September 3, 1814, the British ship HMS Sophie fired on a pirate ship returning to Barataria. Lafitte's ship grounded in shallow water where

6360-462: The county of Foix 156 people were sentenced to carry crosses. Between 1249 and 1257, in Toulouse, the inquisitors handed down 306 sentences, without counting the penitential sentences imposed during "times of grace". 21 people were sentenced to death, 239 to prison, in addition, 30 people were sentenced in absentia and 11 posthumously; In another five cases the type of sanction is unknown, but since they all involve repeat offenders, only prison or burning

6480-406: The courts. On November 10, 1812, United States District Attorney John R. Grymes charged Lafitte with "violation of the revenue law." Three days later, 40 soldiers were sent to ambush the Baratarians and captured Lafitte, his brother Pierre, and 25 unarmed smugglers on November 16. They confiscated several thousand dollars of contraband . Officials released the smugglers after they posted bail ;

6600-410: The crews of all that he took, for no one has ever escaped him. Following the custom of the times, Patterson filed a legal claim for the profits from the confiscated ships and merchandise. An attorney representing Lafitte argued that the captured ships had flown the flag of Cartagena , an area at peace with the United States. One of Lafitte's men testified that the Baratarians had never intended to fight

6720-482: The duties of a good citizen. Lafitte committed himself and his men for any defensive measures needed by New Orleans. Within two days of Lafitte's notes, Pierre "escaped" from jail. The US ordered an attack on Lafitte's colony. On September 13, 1814, Commodore Daniel Patterson set sail aboard the USS ; Carolina for Barataria. He was accompanied by six gunboats and a tender . The fleet anchored off Grande Terre and

6840-409: The eight captured ships, began the return trip to New Orleans. Widely publicized, the raid was hailed by the Niles' Weekly Register as "a major conquest for the United States". Lafitte was described as a man who, for about two years past, has been famous for crimes that the civilized world wars against. ... [He] is supposed to have captured one hundred vessels of all nations, and certainly murdered

6960-404: The elder Pierre and Jean, from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans in the 1780s. In approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry, a New Orleans merchant, keeping Jean with her. She placed Pierre to be raised by extended family elsewhere in Louisiana. According to Ramsay, as a young man, Lafitte likely spent much time exploring the wetlands and bayou country south of New Orleans. In later years, he

7080-408: The ensuing gunfight, one of the revenue officers was killed and two others were wounded. Claiborne appealed to the new state legislature, citing the lost revenues due to the smuggling. He requested approval to raise a militia company to "disperse those desperate men on Lake Barataria whose piracies have rendered our shores a terror to neutral flags". The legislature appointed a committee to study

7200-413: The episcopal inquisition, when more than 50 Waldensians were burned in various Silesian cities. The fragmentary surviving protocols of the investigations carried out by the Prague inquisitor Gallus de Neuhaus in the years 1335 to around 1353 mention 14 heretics burned out of almost 300 interrogated, but it is estimated that the actual number executed could have been even more than 200, and the entire process

7320-482: The evils they would commit"). Before the 12th century , the Catholic Church suppressed what they believed to be heresy , usually through a system of ecclesiastical proscription or imprisonment, but without using torture, and seldom resorting to executions. Such punishments were opposed by a number of clergymen and theologians, although some countries punished heresy with the death penalty . Pope Siricius , Ambrose of Milan , and Martin of Tours protested against

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7440-622: The execution of Priscillian , largely as an undue interference in ecclesiastical discipline by a civil tribunal. Though widely viewed as a heretic, Priscillian was executed as a sorcerer. Ambrose refused to give any recognition to Ithacius of Ossonuba, "not wishing to have anything to do with bishops who had sent heretics to their death". In the 12th century, to counter the spread of Catharism , and other heresies, prosecution of heretics became more frequent. The Church charged councils composed of bishops and archbishops with establishing inquisitions (the Episcopal Inquisition ). Pope Lucius III issued

7560-435: The expected fate of anyone so remanded. The "secular arm" didn't have access to the trial record of the defendants, only declared and executed the sentences and was obliged to do so on pain of heresy and excommunication. While the notational purpose of the trial itself was for the salvation of the individual by persuasion, according to the 1578 edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum (a standard manual for inquisitions)

7680-414: The fall of Montsegur and the seizure of power in Toulouse by Count Alfonso de Poitiers , the percentage of death sentences increased to around 7% and remained at this level until the end of the Languedoc Inquisition around from 1330. Between 1245 and 1246, the inquisitor Bernard de Caux carried out a large-scale investigation in the area of Lauragais and Lavaur . He covered 39 villages, and probably all

7800-689: The fall of the fortress of Montsegur (1244), probably accounted for no more than 1% of all sentences. In addition to the cremation of the remains of the dead, a large percentage were also sentences in absentia and penances imposed on heretics who voluntarily confessed their faults (for example, in the years 1241–1242 the inquisitor Pierre Ceila reconciled 724 heretics with the Church). Inquisitor Ferrier of Catalonia, investigating Montauban between 1242 and 1244, questioned about 800 people, of whom he sentenced 6 to death and 20 to prison. Between 1243 and 1245, Bernard de Caux handed down 25 sentences of imprisonment and confiscation of property in Agen and Cahors. After

7920-419: The first few years, it was not very intense. France's first Dominican inquisitor, Robert le Bougre , working in the years 1233–1244, earned a particularly grim reputation. In 1236, Robert burned about 50 people in the area of Champagne and Flanders, and on May 13, 1239, in Montwimer, he burned 183 Cathars. Following Robert's removal from office, Inquisition activity in northern France remained very low. One of

8040-490: The gunboats attacked. By midmorning, 10 armed pirate ships formed a battle line in the bay. Within a short period, Lafitte's men abandoned their ships, set several on fire, and fled the area. When Patterson's men went ashore, they met no resistance. They took 80 people captive, but Lafitte escaped safely. The Americans took custody of six schooners , one felucca , and a brig , as well as 20 cannon and goods worth $ 500,000. On September 23, Patterson and his fleet, including

8160-419: The heretical behaviour of Catholic adherents or converts (including forced converts). As with sedition inquisitions, heresy inquisitions were supposed to use the standard inquisition procedures: these included that the defendant must be informed of the charges, has a right to a lawyer, and a right of appeal (to the Pope.) The inquisitor could only start a heresy proceeding if there was some broad public opinion of

8280-414: The honor of men who have courted an alliance with pirates and robbers?" When General Andrew Jackson arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1814, he discovered the city had not created any defenses. It had approximately 1,000 unseasoned troops and two ships for its use. Although the city kept control of the eight ships taken from Lafitte, it did not have enough sailors to man them for defense. Resentful of

8400-468: The initiative of bishops. In the years 1311–1315, numerous trials were held against the Waldensians in Austria, resulting in the burning of at least 39 people, according to incomplete records. In 1336, in Angermünde , in the diocese of Brandenburg, another 14 heretics were burned. The number of those convicted by the papal inquisitors was smaller. Walter Kerlinger burned 10 begards in Erfurt and Nordhausen in 1368–1369. In turn, Eylard Schöneveld burned

8520-439: The inquisition in this country was very diverse, both in terms of time and territory. In the first period (1233 to c. 1330), the courts of Languedoc ( Toulouse , Carcassonne ) are the most active. After 1330 the center of the persecution of heretics shifted to the Alpine regions , while in Languedoc they ceased almost entirely. In northern France, the activity of the inquisitors was irregular throughout this period and, except for

8640-722: The inquisitions grew significantly in response to the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation . In 1542, a putative governing institution, the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition was created. The papal institution survived as part of the Roman Curia , although it underwent a series of name and focus changes. The opening of Spanish and Roman archives over

8760-516: The inquisitor Heinrich von Schöneveld arrested 84 flagellants in Sangerhausen , of whom he burned 3 leaders, and imposed penitential sentences on the rest. However, since this sect was associated with the peasant revolts in Thuringia from 1412, after the departure of the inquisitor, the local authorities organized a mass hunt for flagellants and, regardless of their previous verdicts, sent at least 168 to

8880-486: The inquisitors in the kingdom of France was effectively limited to clergymen, while local parliaments took over the jurisdiction of the laity. Between 1500 and 1560, 62 people were burned for heresy in the Languedoc, all of whom were convicted by the Parliament of Toulouse. Between 1657 and 1659, twenty-two alleged witches were burned on the orders of the inquisitor Pierre Symard in the province of Franche-Comté, then part of

9000-419: The inquisitors to absolve each other if they used instruments of torture. In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX (reigned 1227–1241) assigned the duty of carrying out inquisitions to the Dominican Order and Franciscan Order . By the end of the Middle Ages, England and Castile were the only large western nations without a papal inquisition. Most inquisitors were friars who taught theology and/or law in

9120-519: The instructions of the office of the Holy Inquisitio n). Later additions would be made, based on experience, many by the canonist Francisco Peña. With the sharpening of debate and of conflict between the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation , Protestant societies came to see/use the Inquisition as a terrifying " other ", while staunch Catholics regarded the Holy Office as

9240-573: The interior of the US. After securing victory, Jackson paid tribute in despatches to the Lafitte brothers' efforts, as well as those of their fellow privateers. The Lafittes subsequently became spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence . In 1817, Jean founded a new colony on Galveston Island named Campeche . At its height, the colonists and privateers earned millions of dollars annually from stolen or smuggled coin and goods. Very little

9360-562: The larger British ship could not follow. The British raised a white flag and launched a small dinghy with several officers. Lafitte and several of his men rowed to meet them halfway. Captain Nicholas Lockyer, the commander of the Sophie , had been ordered to contact the "Commandant at Barataria". He was accompanied by a Royal Marine infantry captain, John McWilliam, who had been given a package to deliver to Lafitte. The Baratarians invited

9480-490: The largest trials in the area took place in 1459–1460 at Arras ; 34 people were then accused of witchcraft and satanism, 12 of them were burned at the stake. The main center of the medieval inquisition was undoubtedly the Languedoc. The first inquisitors were appointed there in 1233, but due to strong resistance from local communities in the early years, most sentences concerned dead heretics, whose bodies were exhumed and burned. Actual executions occurred sporadically and, until

9600-500: The last 50 years has caused historians to substantially revise their understanding of the Inquisition, some to the extent of viewing previous views as "a body of legends and myths". Many famous instruments of torture are now considered fakes and propaganda. Today, the English term "Inquisition" is popularly applied to any one of the regional tribunals or later national institutions that worked against heretics or other offenders against

9720-443: The late 1300s: many inquisitors had theological not legal training. The overwhelming majority of guilty sentences with repentance seem to have consisted of penances like wearing a cross sewn on one's clothes or going on pilgrimage . When a suspect was convicted of major, wilful, unrepentant heresy, canon law required the inquisitorial tribunal to hand the person over to secular authorities for final sentencing. A secular magistrate,

9840-549: The late 1790s and the early 19th century. Due to escalating violence from the Haitian Revolution , in early 1803 Pierre boarded a refugee ship for New Orleans. This was the last year that Napoleon Bonaparte failed to regain control of Saint-Domingue. He withdrew his battered troops and ended French involvement in North America, selling the US what became known as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803: French-claimed lands west of

9960-437: The laws angered Governor Claiborne, who, on March 15, issued a proclamation against the Baratarian "banditti ... who act in contravention of the laws of the United States ... to the evident prejudice of the revenue of the federal government". The proclamation was printed in the nationally read Niles' Weekly Register . In October, a revenue officer prepared an ambush of a band of Lafitte's smugglers. The smugglers wounded one of

10080-493: The letters sent to Jean Blanque, a member of the Louisiana state legislature who had invested in the Barataria operation. In a personal note, Lafitte reminded Blanque that his brother Pierre was still in jail and deserved an early release. Lafitte added a note to Governor Claiborne, saying, I am the stray sheep, wishing to return to the sheepfold... If you were thoroughly acquainted with the nature of my offenses, I should appear to you much less guilty, and still worthy to discharge

10200-403: The many bayous to New Orleans. Based in New Orleans, Pierre Lafitte served as a silent partner, looking after their interests in the city. Jean Lafitte spent most of his time in Barataria managing the daily hands-on business of outfitting privateers and arranging the smuggling of stolen goods. By 1810, the island had become a booming port. Seamen flocked to the island, working on the docks or at

10320-436: The matter but, as most of their constituents benefitted by the smuggling, they never authorized the militia. A grand jury indicted Pierre Lafitte after hearing testimony against him by one of the city's leading merchants. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed on charges of "having knowingly and wittingly aided and assisted, procured, commanded, counselled, and advised" persons to commit acts of piracy ". Following

10440-546: The men quickly disappeared and refused to return for a trial. Although under indictment, in March 1813 Lafitte registered as captain of Le Brig Goelette la Diligente for a supposed journey to New York. Biographer Jack Ramsay speculates that the voyage was intended to "establish ... [Lafitte] as a privateering captain". Lafitte soon acquired a letter of marque from Cartagena , but never sent any booty there. He brought all captured goods to Barataria. Lafitte's continued flouting of

10560-521: The mid 19th century. Only fragmentary data is available for the period before the Roman Inquisition of 1542. In 1276, some 170 Cathars were captured in Sirmione , who were then imprisoned in Verona , and there, after a two-year trial, on February 13 from 1278, more than a hundred of them were burned. In Orvieto , at the end of 1268/1269, 85 heretics were sentenced, none of whom were executed, but in 18 cases

10680-470: The mitigation of sentences already served to convicted heretics; in 139 cases he exchanged prison for carrying crosses, and in 135 cases, carrying crosses for pilgrimage. To the full statistics, there are 22 orders to demolish houses used by heretics as meeting places and one condemnation and burning of Jewish writings (including commentaries on the Torah). The episcopal inquisition was also active in Languedoc. In

10800-520: The new one. They sailed three ships, which Davis described as likely "one of the largest privately owned corsair fleets operating on the coast, and the most versatile." For several months, the Lafittes would send the ships directly to New Orleans with legal cargo and would take on outgoing provisions in the city. The crew would create a manifest that listed not the provisions that had been purchased, but smuggled items stored at Barataria. Uninterested in exports from New Orleans, customs agents rarely checked

10920-548: The number of his victims. The chronicles only mention "many" heretics that he burned. The only concrete information is about the burning of four people in Erfurt in May 1232. After the murder of Konrad of Marburg, burning at the stake in Germany was virtually unknown for the next 80 years. It was not until the early fourteenth century that stronger measures were taken against heretics, largely at

11040-432: The offer, the letters informed Lafitte that the British had orders to capture Barataria to put an end to their smuggling. The second item was a personal note to Lafitte from McWilliam's superior, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Nicolls , urging him to accept the offer. Believing that the Americans would eventually prevail in the war against Britain, Lafitte thought he could more easily defeat the US revenue officers than he could

11160-437: The officers and safely escaped with the contraband. The following month, the governor offered a $ 500 reward for Lafitte's capture. Within two days of his offer, handbills were posted all over New Orleans offering a similar award for the arrest of the governor. Although the handbills were made in Lafitte's name, Ramsay believes "it is unlikely [the handbills] originated with him". Following the reward offer, Lafitte wrote Claiborne

11280-552: The other Baratarians of a possible military attack on their base, a US naval force successfully invaded in September 1814 and captured most of his fleet. Later, in return for a legal pardon, Lafitte and his fleet helped General Andrew Jackson during the Battle of New Orleans to defend the city during the War of 1812 . British forces sought access to the Mississippi River to gain control of

11400-476: The overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances , but convictions of unrepentant heresy were handed over to the secular courts for the application of local law, which generally resulted in execution or life imprisonment . If the accused was known to be lying, a single short application of non-maiming torture was allowed, to corroborate evidence. Inquisitions with the aim of combating religious sedition (e.g. apostasy or heresy ) had their start in

11520-454: The penalties themselves were preventative not retributive: ... quoniam punitio non refertur primo & per se in correctionem & bonum eius qui punitur, sed in bonum publicum ut alij terreantur, & a malis committendis avocentur (translation: "... for punishment does not take place primarily and per se for the correction and good of the person punished, but for the public good in order that others may become terrified and weaned away from

11640-551: The period place his birthplace as St. Malo or Brest . Jack C. Ramsay, who published a 1996 biography of Lafitte, says, "this was a convenient time to be a native of France, a claim that provided protection from the enforcement of American law". He notes that still other contemporary accounts claim that Lafitte was born in Orduña , Spain, or in Westchester County, New York , north of Manhattan. Some sources speculate that Lafitte

11760-420: The rack and asked her, "You are a confessed witch. I suspect these two men of being warlocks. What do you say? Another turn of the rack, executioners." "No, no!" screamed the woman. "You are quite right. I have often seen .. . They can turn themselves into goats, wolves, and other animals. ... Several witches have had children by them. ... The children had heads like toads and legs like spiders." The Duke then asked

11880-436: The raid on Barataria, Lafitte's men refused to serve on their former ships. In mid-December, Jackson met with Lafitte, who offered to serve if the United States would pardon those of his men who agreed to defend the city. Jackson agreed to do so. On December 19, the state legislature passed a resolution recommending a full pardon for all of the former residents at Barataria. With Lafitte's encouragement, many of his men joined

12000-473: The sentence concerned people who had already died. In Tuscany , the inquisitor Ruggiero burned at least 11 people in about a year (1244/1245). Excluding the executions of the heretics at Sirmione in 1278, 36 Inquisition executions are documented in the March of Treviso between 1260 and 1308. Ten people were executed in Bologna between 1291 and 1310. In Piedmont , 22 heretics (mainly Waldensians ) were burned in

12120-405: The small and sparsely populated island of Barataria, in Barataria Bay . The bay was located beyond a narrow passage between the barrier islands of Grand Terre and Grande Isle . Barataria was far from the US naval base, and ships could easily smuggle in goods without being noticed by customs officials. Workers would reload goods into smaller batches onto pirogues or barges, for transport through

12240-435: The specific dialect is a matter of some debate. He was evidently able to speak English reasonably well and most likely had a working knowledge of Spanish. He was educated with his brother at a military academy on Saint Kitts . No samples of his writing survive, except his signature; his surviving letters were always written by a secretary. His reading and writing abilities, therefore, remain unclear. During his life he acted as

12360-576: The stake (possibly up to 300) people. Inquisitor Friedrich Müller (d. 1460) sentenced to death 12 of the 13 heretics he had tried in 1446 at Nordhausen. In 1453 the same inquisitor burned 2 heretics in Göttingen . Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer , author of the Malleus Maleficarum , in his own words, sentenced 48 people to the stake in five years (1481–1486). Jacob Hoogstraten, inquisitor of Cologne from 1508 to 1527, sentenced four people to be burned at

12480-495: The stake. A duke of Brunswick in German was so shocked by the methods used by Inquisitors in his realm that he asked two famous Jesuit scholars to supervise. After careful study, the two 'told the Duke, "The Inquisitors are doing their duty. They are arresting only people who have been implicated by the confession of other witches."' The Duke then led the Jesuits to a woman being stretched on

12600-615: The time used "Lafitte". This has become the common spelling in the United States, including places named after him. Laffite is believed to have been born either in Biarritz , in the French Basque Country , France , or the French colony of Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean. By 1805, Laffite was operating a warehouse in New Orleans to help distribute the goods smuggled by his brother Pierre Lafitte . The United States government passed

12720-486: The universities. They used inquisitorial procedures , a common legal practice adapted from the earlier Ancient Roman court procedures. They judged heresy along with bishops and groups of "assessors" (clergy serving in a role that was roughly analogous to a jury or legal advisers), using the local authorities to establish a tribunal and to prosecute heretics. After 1200, a Grand Inquisitor headed but did not control each regional Inquisition. Grand Inquisitions persisted until

12840-732: The use of the inquisitors, the first in 1552 at the behest of the inquisitor Cardinal D. Henrique and the last in 1774, this sponsored by the Marquis of Pombal . The Portuguese 1640 Regiment determined that each court of the Holy Office should have a Bible, a compendium of canon and civil law, Eymerich's Directorium Inquisitorum, and Diego de Simancas ' Catholicis institutionibus . In 1484, Spanish inquisitor Torquemada, based in Nicholas Eymerich's Directorium Inquisitorum , wrote his twenty eight articles code, Compilación de las instrucciones del oficio de la Santa Inquisición (i.e. Compilation of

12960-422: The various manuals produced later, some stand out: by Nicholas Eymerich, Directorium Inquisitorum, written in 1376; by Bernardo Gui, Practica inquisitionis heretice pravitatis, written between 1319 and 1323. Witches were not forgotten: the book Malleus Maleficarum ("the witches' hammer"), written in 1486, by Heinrich Kramer, deals with the subject. In Portugal, several "Regimentos" (four) were written for

13080-503: The warehouses until they were chosen as crew for one of the privateers. Dissatisfied with their role as brokers, in October 1812 the Lafitte brothers purchased a schooner and hired Captain Trey Cook to sail it. As the schooner did not have an official commission from a national government, its captain was considered a pirate operating illegally. In January 1813, they took their first prize,

13200-533: The years 1232–1234, the Bishop of Toulouse, Raymond, sentenced several dozen Cathars to death. In turn, Bishop Jacques Fournier of Pamiers (he was later Pope Benedict XII) in the years 1318–1325 conducted an investigation against 89 people, of whom 64 were found guilty and 5 were sentenced to death. After 1330, the center of activity of the French inquisitions moved east, to the Alpine regions, where there were numerous Waldensian communities. The repression against them

13320-538: The years 1312–1395 out of 213 convicted. 22 Waldensians were burned in Cuneo around 1440 and another five in the Marquisate of Saluzzo in 1510. There are also fragmentary records of a good number of executions of people suspected of witchcraft in northern Italy in the 15th and early 16th centuries. Wolfgang Behringer estimates that there could have been as many as two thousand executions. This large number of witches executed

13440-420: Was a new, less arbitrary form of trial that replaced the denunciatio and accussatio process which required a denouncer or used an adversarial process, the most unjust being trial by ordeal and the secular Germanic trial by combat . These inquisitions, as church courts, had no jurisdiction over Muslims and Jews as such, to try or to protect them. Inquisitors 'were called such because they applied

13560-436: Was also high in other cities, such as Córdoba , Valencia , and Barcelona. One of the consequences of these pogroms was the mass conversion of thousands of surviving Jews. Forced baptism was contrary to the law of the Catholic Church, and theoretically anybody who had been forcibly baptized could legally return to Judaism. However, this was very narrowly interpreted. Legal definitions of the time theoretically acknowledged that

13680-573: Was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (known as Haiti since it gained independence in 1804). In the late 18th century, adult children of the French planters in Saint-Domingue often resettled along the Mississippi River in La Louisiane , especially in its largest city of New Orleans . Families with the surname Lafitte have been found in Louisiana documents from 1765. According to Ramsay, Lafitte's widowed mother migrated with her two sons,

13800-532: Was covered to varying degrees by some 4,400 people. In the lands belonging to the Kingdom of Poland little is known of the activities of the Inquisition until the appearance of the Hussite heresy in the 15th century. Polish courts of the inquisition in the fight against this heresy issued at least 8 death sentences for some 200 trials carried out. There are 558 court cases finished with conviction researched in Poland from

13920-404: Was described as having "a more accurate knowledge of every inlet from the Gulf than any other man". His elder brother Pierre became a privateer ; he may have operated from Saint-Domingue, where the colonial government frequently issued letters of marque to profit from the shipping traffic of other nations. Lafitte likely helped his brother to sell or trade the captured merchandise. By 1805 he

14040-462: Was not baptized until 1786. Pierre Lafitte had an older son, his namesake Pierre, born from his first marriage to Marie LaGrange, who died in childbirth. The boys were given a basic Catholic education. Acknowledging that details of Lafitte's first twenty years are sparse, Davis speculates that Lafitte spent much time at sea as a child, probably aboard ships owned by his father, a known trader. Davis places Lafitte's brother Pierre in Saint-Domingue by

14160-528: Was not continuous and was very ineffective. Data on sentences issued by inquisitors are fragmentary. In 1348, 12 Waldensians were burned in Embrun , and in 1353/1354 as many as 168 received penances. In general, however, few Waldensians fell into the hands of the inquisitors, for they took refuge in hard-to-reach mountainous regions, where they formed close-knit communities. Inquisitors operating in this region, in order to be able to conduct trials, often had to resort to

14280-525: Was once lined with many cypress trees, the saltwater brought in during this dredging caused some to die off, leaving behind stumps in the water. The bayou runs through the McNeese State University campus. L'Auberge du Lac Resort is located near the mouth of the bayou, and the resort's Contraband Bayou Golf Club is named for it. Part of the city docks of the Port of Lake Charles are also located near

14400-465: Was probably because some inquisitors took the view that the crime of witchcraft was exceptional, which meant that the usual rules for heresy trials did not apply to its perpetrators. Many alleged witches were executed even though they were first tried and pleaded guilty, which under normal rules would have meant only canonical sanctions, not death sentences. The episcopal inquisition was also active in suppressing alleged witches: in 1518, judges delegated by

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