Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Cambridge Companions to History
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: Beginnings, Endings, Myths
- Part I The Institution
- Part II Targets
- Part III Geographical Reach
- Index
- References
Introduction: Beginnings, Endings, Myths
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 December 2025
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Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Cambridge Companions to History
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Introduction: Beginnings, Endings, Myths
- Part I The Institution
- Part II Targets
- Part III Geographical Reach
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter provides an examination of the complex beginning and ending of the Spanish Inquisition, with attention to the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity in 1391, the ambiguous religious status of those converts in the fifteenth century, and the creation of yet another new generation of converts after the Jewish Expulsion of 1492. The aims of Ferdinand and Isabella are explored, as is the resistance to the Inquisition’s creation. The essay explores the attempted abolition of the Spanish Inquisition in 1808, with Napoleon’s invasion, as well as the contested legal relevance of the Inquisition in the 1812 Cortes of Cádiz, and the institution’s gradual extinction from 1814 to 1834.
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- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Inquisition , pp. 1 - 20Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Suggestions for Further Reading
Homza, Lu Ann, ed. and trans. The Spanish Inquisition, 1478–1614: An Anthology of Sources. Hackett, 2006.Google Scholar
Jiménez Montserín, Miguel. “La abolición del Tribunal (1808–1814).” In Villanueva, Joaquín Pérez and Bonet, Bartolomé Escandell, eds., Historia de la Inquisición en España y América Vol. 1. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos/Centro de Estudios Inquisitoriales, 1984.Google Scholar
Kagan, Richard L. “Prescott’s Paradigm: American Historical Scholarship and the Decline of Spain.” American Historical Review 101 (1996): 423–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. 4th edition. Yale University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Kinder, A. Gordon. “Creation of the Black Legend: Literary Contributions of Spanish Protestant Exiles.” Mediterranean Studies 6 (1996): 67–78.Google Scholar
Nirenberg, David. “Mass Conversion and Genealogical Mentalities: Jews and Christians in Fifteenth-Century Spain.” Past and Present 174 (2002): 3–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peña Rambla, Fernando. La inquisición en las Cortes de Cádiz: un debate para la historia. Universitat Jaume I, 2016.Google Scholar
Ray, Jonathan. Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.Google Scholar
Bibliography
Daileader, Philip. Saint Vincent Ferrer, His World and Life: Religion and Society in Late Medieval Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greer, Margaret, Mignolo, Walter D., and Quilligan, Maureen, eds. Rereading the Black Legend. The University of Chicago Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiménez Montserin, Miguel. “La abolición del Tribunal (1808–1834).” In Villanueva, Joaquín Pérez and Bonet, Bartolomé Escandell, eds., Historia de la Inquisición en España y América Vol. 1, 1424–86. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos/Centro de Estudios Inquisitoriales, 1984.Google Scholar
Juderías, Julián. La Leyenda negra y la verdad histórica. Tip. de la Rev. de Arch., Bib., y Museos, 1914.Google Scholar
Kagan, Richard L. “Prescott’s Paradigm: American Historical Scholarship and the Decline of Spain.” The American Historical Review 101 (1996): 423–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamen, Henry. The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. 4th edition. Yale University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Kinder, A. Gordon. “Creation of the Black Legend: Literary Contributions of Spanish Protestant Exiles.” Mediterranean Studies 6 (1996): 67–78.Google Scholar
La Parra, Emilio, and Ángeles Casado, María. La Inquisición en España: Agonía y Abolición. Catarata, 2013.Google Scholar
Meseguer Fernández, José. “El period fundacional (1478–1517).” In Villanueva, Joaquín Pérez and Bonet, Bartolomé Escandall, eds.,Historia de la Inquisición en España y América, Vol. 1, 281–370. Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos/Centro de Estudios Inquisitoriales, 1984.Google Scholar
Pastore, Stefania. Il vangelo e la spada: L’inquisizione di Castiglia e i suoi critici (1460–1598). Storia e Letteratura, 2003.Google Scholar
Rodríguez López-Brea, Carlos. “El final de la Inquisición.” Historia Constitucional 15 (2014): 573–9.Google Scholar
Nirenberg, David. “Mass Conversion and Genealogical Mentalities: Jews and Christians in Fifteenth-Century Spain.” Past and Present 174 (2002): 3–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peña Rambla, Ferdinand. La inquisición en las Cortes de Cádiz: un debate para la história. Universitat Jaume I, 2016.Google Scholar
Moura, Prado, Ángel de. El tribunal de la inquisición en España (1478–1834). Actas Editorial, 2003.Google Scholar
Sánchez Moya, Manuel, and Ángel Moris Dolader, Miguel. “Autos de fe celebrados por el tribunal del Santo Oficio en Teruel (1485–1487).” Sefarad 77 (2017): 315–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radcliff, Pamela Beth. Modern Spain, 1808 to the Present. Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rawlings, Helen. Church, Religion and Society in Early Modern Spain. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.Google Scholar
Ray, Jonathan. Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.Google Scholar
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