This collection of previously untranslated court documents, testimonials, and letters portrays the Inquisition in vivid detail, offering fresh perspectives on such topics as the Inquisition's persecution of Jews and Muslims, the role of women in Spanish religious culture, the Inquisition's construction and persecution of witchcraft, daily life inside an inquisition prison, and the relationship between the Inquisition and the Spanish Monarchy. Homza's general introduction traces the Inquisition's origins back to the Roman Empire and provides valuable historical, political, and legal context. Headnotes introduce each selection and footnotes identify unfamiliar terms, religious customs, and people.

This collection of previously untranslated court documents, testimonials, and letters portrays the Spanish Inquisition in vivid detail, offering fresh perspectives on such topics as the Inquisition's persecution of Jews and Muslims, the role of women in Spanish religious culture, the Inquisition's construction and persecution of witchcraft, daily life inside an Inquisition prison, and the relationship between the Inquisition and the Spanish monarchy. Headnotes introduce the selections, and a general introduction provides historical, political, and legal context. A map and index are included.

This collection of previously untranslated court documents, testimonials, and letters portrays the Spanish Inquisition in vivid detail, offering fresh perspectives on such topics as the Inquisition's persecution of Jews and Muslims, the role of women in Spanish religious culture, the Inquisition's construction and persecution of witchcraft, daily life inside an Inquisition prison, and the relationship between the Inquisition and the Spanish monarchy.

Thirty-five years ago, Kamen wrote a study of the Inquisition that received high praise. This present work, based on over 30 years of new research, is not simply a complete revision of the earlier book. Innovative in its presentation, point of view, information, and themes, it will revolutionize further study in the field.

Inquisitions of heresy have long fascinated both specialists and non-specialists. A Companion to Heresy Inquisitions presents a synthesis of the immense amount of scholarship generated about these institutions in recent years. The volume offers an overview of many of the most significant areas of heresy inquisitions, both medieval and early modern. The essays in this collection are intended to introduce the reader to disagreements and advances in the field, as well as providing a navigational aid to the wide variety of recent discoveries and controversies in studies of heresy inquisitions. Contributors: Christine Ames, Feberico Barbierato, Elena Bonora, Lúcia Helena Costigan, Michael Frassetto, Henry Ansgar Kelly, Helen Rawlings, Lucy Sackville, Werner Thomas, and Robin Vose

Among them are a politically incendiary prophet, a self-proclaimed hermaphrodite, and a morisco, an Islamic convert to Catholicism.

"In this completely updated edition of Henry Kamen's classic survey of the Spanish Inquisition, the author incorporates the latest research in multiple languages to offer a new-and thought-provoking-view of this fascinating period. Kamen sets the notorious Christian tribunal into the broader context of Islamic and Jewish culture in the Mediterranean, reassesses its consequences for Jewish culture, measures its impact on Spain's intellectual life, and firmly rebuts a variety of myths and exaggerations that have distorted understandings of the Inquisition. He concludes with disturbing reflections on the impact of state security organizations in our own time"--

Few institutions in Western history have as fearful a reputation as the Spanish Inquisition. For centuries Europe trembled at its name. Nobody was safe in this terrifying battle for the unachievable aim of unified faith. Established by papal bull in 1478, the first task of the Spanish Inquisition was to question Jewish converts to Christianity and to expose and execute those found guilty of reversion. It then turned on Spanish Jews in general, sending three hundred thousand into exile. Next in line were humanists and Lutherans. No rank was exempt. Children informed on their parents, merchants on their rivals, and priests upon their bishops. Those denounced were guilty unless they could prove their innocence. Few did. Two hundred lashes were a minor punishment; 31,913 were led to the stake at public displays, the last a mad witch in 1781. The Inquisition policed what was written, read and taught, and kept an eye on sexual behaviour. Napoleon tried to abolish it in 1808, and failed. Joseph Perez tells the history of the Spanish Inquisition from its medieval beginnings to its nineteenth-century ending. He discovers its origins in fear and jealousy and its longevity in usefulness to the state. He explores the inner workings of its councils, courts and finances, and shows how its officers, inquisitors and leaders lived and worked. He describes its techniques of interrogation, disorientation and torture, and shows how it refined displays of punishment as instruments of social control. The author ends his fascinating account by assessing the impact of the Inquisition over three and a half centuries on Spain's culture, economy and intellectual life.

This book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition asan instrument of religious persecution, torture and repressionandlooks at its wider role as an educative force in society. A reassessment of the history of the Spanish Inquisition. Challenges the reputation of the Inquisition as an instrumentof religious persecution, torture and repression. Looks at the wider role of the Inquisition as an educativeforce in society. Draws on the findings of recent research by American, Britishand European scholars. Includes original documentary evidence in translation.

The accounts, representing the experiences of girls and women from different classes and geographical regions, include the trials' vastly divergent outcomes ranging from burning at the stake to exoneration.