Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon

Étienne-Léon de Lamothe-Langon (1786-1864) was a prolific French author of many novels, apocryphal memoirs, and a controversial historical work.

During the Restoration he was sub-prefect of Saint-Pons-de-Thomières, but lost his job and suffered reverses of fortune which forced him to return to Toulouse and start writing to earn a living.

In 1824 he wrote with some success M. le Préfet which Stendhal calls "an admirable subject marred by a writer unable to take advantage of."

In the preface, Lamothe-Langon writes that inspiration came from witnessing the l'atroce persécution of the vénérable Juan Antonio Llorente, who, while in exile in Paris and had recently published (1817) a work on the inquisition in his native Spain, considered critical of the Church, was harassed over it.

[6] [7] The translated passage is of Limborch's introduction to the sentences of Dominican inquisitors Pierre de Claverie and Guillaume Julien, both working in Toulouse in the 14th century.