The Compendium of Srem Quotes

“He reached through a slit in his robe into a pouch strapped to his ample abdomen. From it he withdrew a small wineskin.

"Here," he said, pushing it between the bars. "For strength. For courage."

Adelard pulled the stopper and drank greedily.

"They don't feed me and give me very little water."

How does it feel? Ramiro thought. How many have you treated the same to make them weak and more easily persuaded by your tortures?”
― F. Paul Wilson, The Compendium of Srem

“He hated the Inquisition and what it had done to the Spains. He found it logical that the Church should want to safeguard the doctrines that empowered it, but at what cost? Thousands upon thousands had been tortured, hundreds upon hundreds had died in agony, tens of thousands had been banished from the land. A whole society had been upended.

But preserving the Faith was only part of it. The war for the crown of Castile, in which his family had been slaughtered, plus the war in Grenada–the whole Reconquista, in fact–had bankrupted the monarchy. Banishing the Jews and Moors did more than make the Spains a Christian realm. It left the abandoned properties to be looted by the Church and the royal treasury–an equal share between them. The same with heretics: the Church and the treasury divided their property and money down the middle.

Wealth and power–the two Holy Grails of Church and state.”
― F. Paul Wilson, The Compendium of Srem

“Brother Ramiro carried the carefully wrapped Compendium between his chest and his folded arms as they crossed the town square. Adelard glanced at the trio of scorched stakes where heretics were unburdened of their sins by the cleansing flame. He had witnessed many an auto da fé here since his arrival from France.

"Note how passersby avert their eyes and give us a wide berth," Ramiro said.

Adelard had indeed noticed that. "I don't know why. They can't know that I am a member of the tribunal."

"They don't. They see the black robes and know us as Dominicans, members of the order that runs the Inquisition, and that is enough. This saddens me."

"Why?"

"You are an inquisitor, I am a simple mendicant. You would not know."

"I was not always an inquisitor, Ramiro."

"But you did not know Ávila before the Inquisition arrived. We were greeted with smiles and welcomed everywhere. Now no one looks me in the eye. What do you think their averted gazes mean? That they have heresies to hide?"

"Perhaps."

"Then you are wrong. It means that the robes of our order have become associated with the public burnings of heretics to the exclusion of all else.”
― F. Paul Wilson, The Compendium of Srem