There is a school of literary theory called "New Historicism", and its unique research method is to study "small history" rather than "big history". This is what the so-called "listening to the silence of history" means.
The author happened to see a brief case introduction, so he paid attention to it, and then found the film of the case to study, and wrote the book seven years later. This kind of book is undoubtedly a bit boring, but it is also a trace left by vivid history. Although it is very slight, it is also publicized by people with a heart like the author.
Cheese and maggots are actually metaphors of religious origins stated by the miller in the inquisition.
Many of Miller's remarks are radical, and he holds a negative attitude towards the authority of the church, the mass for the dead, the Virgin Mary or Jesus who suffers for the masses, and thinks that these are not in line with the spirit of God (the so-called "Holy Spirit"). Of course, this deviant idea will not be accepted by the secular, let alone by the church people, because they are the targets of his attacks, and admitting that what he said is correct means that his own interests will be deprived.
It is worth noting that the witness statement on the Inquisition reminds me of the witness statement in The Outsider. The witness distorted the original facts, but rightly accused the "defendant". It can be seen that the trial scene shown in The Outsider is a literary creation, but it also reflects a part of real history, which is creepy.
When the authority has judged you guilty, your defense becomes "sophistry", and people will only find out your language loopholes from your defense and find more "evidence" that will kill you. As the defendant and the client, you become an outsider.
It is not that the miller can't say anything. He expounded his thoughts in detail during the trial, which gave us more opportunities to understand his thoughts. In this respect, he is lucky.
A rebellious spirit in The Miller also reminds me of another person who was also tried by the court-Julien (the protagonist of Red and Black). As the ruled class and the lower class, they are eager to climb up and change their class status. This rebellious spirit is very similar to that of the miller. The miller is just an ordinary Christian, but through his own reading and thinking, he is eager to change the original religious system and try to subvert the authority of the church. For the ruling class, such people must be regarded as "heresies" and must be eradicated.
In Miller's incomplete book list compiled by the author, there is Boccaccio's decameron (this is so familiar, I wrote this reading note just after the final exam). Decameron, as a masterpiece of humanism in the Renaissance, is strongly anti-feudal and anti-church. Most of the stories have the roles of priests, monks and other religious figures, and their "double standards" are vividly displayed, which is extremely ironic.