A Global History of the Inquisition, 1478-1834: The Holy Office in Europe, Asia, and the…

Catalog description

This course closely examines the history of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions from their establishment in the last fifteenth/early sixteenth centuries to their abolition in the early nineteenth century. The Inquisition was set up in both Spain and Portugal to systematically hunt down heretics and eradicate from Catholic society any form of heretical beliefs. The various groups persecuted by the inquisitorial tribunals in Spain and Portugal’s world empires included, amongst others, crypto-Jews, crypto-Muslims, Protestants, bigamists, homosexuals, dissenting intellectuals and witches. This course will examine the actual historical institutions behind the modern myths of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions; their organization, their modus operandi and their evolution during their more than three centuries of existence both in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Spanish and Portuguese World empires. Topics covered include the history of the Inquisition in Spain and the Spanish Americas, including the existence of the Spanish Inquisition in the early colonial Latin American territories as well as its spread into the colonial North American territories of the Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, New Mexico and the Californias; the topics will also include an examination of the history of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal’s Asian colonies such as the Philippines, India (Goa) and China (Macao).