The Inquisition
The Inquisition
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GBPThe Inquisition was the most powerful disciplinary institution in the early modern world, responsible for 300,000 trials and over 1.5 million denunciations. How did it root itself in different social and ethnic environments? Why did it last for three centuries? What cultural, social and political changes led to its abolition? In this first global comparative study, Francisco Bethencourt examines the Inquisition's activities in Spain, Italy, Portugal and overseas Iberian colonies. He demonstrates that the Inquisition played a crucial role in the Catholic Reformation, imposing its own members in papal elections, reshaping ecclesiastical hierarchy, defining orthodoxy, controlling information and knowledge, influencing politics and framing daily life. He challenges both traditionalist and revisionist perceptions of the tribunal. Bethencourt shows the Inquisition as an ever evolving body, eager to enlarge jurisdiction and obtain political support to implement its system of values, but also vulnerable to manipulation by rulers, cardinals, and local social elites.
- Compares for the first time the three main Inquisitions: Roman, Spanish and Portuguese
- Explores previously unstudied sources such as architectural plans, accounts of autos-da-fé, nominations, emblems, manuals of the Inquisition, dictionaries of heresy, memoirs of victims and propaganda literature
- A major contribution to English-language scholarship on the religious, political, social and cultural history of early modern Europe
Reviews & endorsements
'Until now, we have lacked a comprehensive, reliable, comparative study of the broad range of inquisitorial systems; we have even lacked an agreed-on methodology for writing such a study. Francisco Bethencourt has solved both problems in a remarkably successful single volume.' Edward Peters, University of Pennsylvania
'… a genuine landmark in early European history. … Organizing his book around four areas (ritual and etiquette; forms of organisation; modes of action; and systems of representation), Bethencourt ventures into such virtually-unknown subjects, as inquisitorial emblems or forms of protocol with the flair of an anthropologist.' William Monter, Northwestern University, Illinois
'Bethencourt's book is one of the best global works on the Inquisition published in the past twenty five years.' Jaime Contreras, University of Alcalá de Henares
'Bethencourt's scope is undeniably broad: he has worked in archives in Spain, Portugal and Italy, and has an enviable command of the vast secondary literature in several languages … there is also much that is valuable and persuasive in [his] analysis of the institutional culture of the Inquisition(s).' Peter Marshall, The Times Literary Supplement
Product details
October 2009Paperback
9780521748230
504 pages
228 × 150 × 22 mm
0.79kg
46 b/w illus. 3 maps 11 tables
Available
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Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Foundation
- 2. Organisation
- 3. Presentation
- 4. Appointments
- 5. The edicts
- 6. The visits
- 7. The auto-da-fé
- 8. Status
- 9. Representations
- 10. Abolition
- Conclusion.
