As in the case of the edicts, it had been thought desirable by Granvelle to make use of the supposed magic of the Emperor's name to hallow the whole machinery of persecution.

The action of the system during the greater part of the imperial period had been terrible.

Suffered for a time to languish during the French war, it had lately been renewed with additional vigor.

Among all the inquisitors, the name of Peter Titelmann was now pre-eminent.

He executed his infamous functions throughout Flanders, Douay, and Tournay, the most thriving and populous portions of the Netherlands, with a swiftness, precision, and even with a jocularity which hardly seemed human.