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Giannis de Occhio

Giannis de Occhio (1115-1160) was an Inquisitor of the Papal States.

Biography[]

Giannis de Occhio was an Inquisitor of the Papal States, with the duty of persecuting people (even royalty) of being non-religious and burning them at the stake. In the mid-1100s, he persecuted the people of southern Aquitaine in France, including many Cathars and Albigensians. Hubert Powell was sent by England to assassinate him, as Occhio could prove to be a threat to England's excommunicated nobles in the area. 

Powell carried out the task while Occhio was sleeping, using a poisonous snake. He slipped the snake in front of the bed of Occhio, and while Occhio slumbered, the snake bit and killed him. 

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