Llorente's position as a prominent supporter of Joseph I's French-imposed government and his criticism of an institution that became the darling of nineteenth-century right-wing opinion made him a controversial figure, and his book had little influence on the future development of Inquisition studies. Using the wealth of material at his disposal, Llorente produced a four-volume history of the Spanish Inquisition first published in French in 1817 and then translated into most of the major European languages. Juan Antonio Llorente, former secretary of Madrid's Corte tribunal, who was put in charge of the archives of the Holy Office after Napoleon abolished the Inquisition in 1808. Modern Inquisition scholarship really began with the work of
So barbarous was this spectacle that if an Asiatic were present, it was alleged that he would not be able to tell whether he had stumbled across "a religious festival, a sacrifice or a slaughterhouse." Furthermore, judicial reformers demanding a more rational system of justice with clearly defined crimes and appropriately proportioned punishments were outraged by inquisitorial procedure and especially by the auto de fé where "they chant, say mass and kill" all at the same time. ĭuring the eighteenth century, Enlightenment opinion blamed the Inquisition for Spain's intellectual backwardness relative to the rest of Western Europe. An opposing view was presented by Catholic authors like Caesare Carena and Luis de Paramo who depicted the Holy Office as a bulwark of orthodoxy that operated in accordance with widely accepted judicial procedures. Montano's book, which was first published in Latin in 1567 and later translated into English, French, Dutch, and German, strongly influenced later Protestant writers like Limborch, Foxe, and Dugdale. It was a Spanish Protestant, writing under the name of Reginaldo Gonzalez Montano, who gave the Spanish Inquisition its reputation as barbarous, arbitrary, and cruel which remains embedded in the public mind to this very day. Its first victims, the converted Jews, accused it of being far more interested in the money it could make from confiscations than in religious heresy. Finally, this project would not have come to fruition without the unflagging support, advice, and intellectual companionship of my wife, Deborah Haliczer.įrom the earliest years of its existence to the present, the Spanish Inquisition has been a controversial institution. The author was also helped by a grant from the NIU Graduate School.
The maps and table were prepared at the NIU Art-Photo Laboratory.įinancial support for the project came from the U.S.-Spanish Joint Committee for Cultural and Educational Cooperation. Eve Simonson of the NIU Computing Information Center was extremely helpful with the computer analysis of my data. I would also like to thank Karen Blaser who, along with her assistants at the Manuscript Services Center, typed the manuscript on several occasions. I am also indebted to William Beik, my colleague in early modern history, for his stimulating critique of the manuscript. John Elliott read through a late draft of the manuscript, and his excellent suggestions helped me to put it in its final and publishable form. The author also remembers with great appreciation stimulating conversations with Rafael de Leca Garcia about mutual research concerns. Jaime Contreras, Virgilio Pinto Crespo, and José Martínez Millán were also helpful at various times as the research went forward. Jean-Pierre Dedieu was kind enough to give me a general orientation to the Inquisition records contained in the Archivo Histórieo Nacional when I first started my research. ĭuring the years of research and writing that went into this book, the author has benefited, directly or indirectly, from the advice and inspiration of various friends and colleagues. Inquisition and Society in the Kingdom of Valencia, 1478-1834. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, c1990 1990.