BOOK REVIEW: Francesco SERPICO on Current trends in the historiography of inquisitions: themes and comparisons, edited by Irene Bueno, Vincenzo Lavenia and Riccardo Parmeggiani (Comparative Legal History, XIII (2025), nr. 1, June, pp. 132-137)

(Image source: Taylor&Francis)

The International Research Centre on the Inquisitions (INQUIRE) was established in 2020 at the Department of History and Culture at the University of Bologna. With an interdisciplinary methodological approach and free from nationalistic paradigms, the centre aims to promote the study of the Inquisitions by organising conferences, seminars and workshops, sponsor publications and editions of sources in digital formats, strengthen international collaboration, encourage comparisons and facilitate dialogue between researchers. The opening volume in the new series promoted by INQUIRE, which consists of contributions collected during the first annual conference with the addition of two further papers, endeavours to provide a complete overview of the main historiographical themes of the last decades of the medieval and modern Inquisitions in 18 chapters.

For any scholar researching the subject of the Inquisitions, there is always the risk of disorientation and confusion when faced with the quantity of works produced. It would be difficult to make even a rough estimate of the number of contributions that have analysed the structure and function of the inquisitorial tribunals throughout their centuries-old journey (from the Middle Ages to the present) and their immense geographical diffusion (a network that at its peak stretched from Rome to Madrid, from Mexico to Chile and from Brazil to the Indian shores). For this reason, the studies that address the bibliographical and historiographical aspects and focus on discerning the main lines of interpretation constitute a challenge for those who produce these works.

To read the full review, please click here. Online access is free for members of the European Society for Comparative Legal History. For further information about the volume on our blog, please visit here

DOI: 10.1080/2049677X.2025.2500207

CFP: 'Rediscovering Inquisition Research and new perspectives from the Archives of the Inquisition(s)' (Naples, 17-18 SEPT 2025 ) [DEADLINE 30 NOV 2024]

(Source: EEHAR)

The inquisitorial archives have undergone a process of dispersal over the past two centuries, the outcomes of which are only partly known. While some large inquisitorial funds are still preserved in public and private institutions, the destination of many other archives (or archival series) has been more troubled and, in some cases, not well known. 

This call for papers intends to gather contributions, especially from young researchers, regarding new studies and/or new discoveries on inquisitorial archives, with a focus on the archives of the local courts of the (Roman, Spanish or Portuguese) Inquisition. 

Contributions could be focused on: 

- little-known or not yet studied funds or archival series of inquisitorial courts; 

- newly discovered funds that survived documentary dispersion (e.g., correspondence, instructions, etc.); 

- trials or files that shed new lights on the history of the Inquisition; 

- new discoveries on the libraries of local courts of the Inquisition; 

- the history of documentary funds of inquisitorial origin. All speakers will be required to give a brief preliminary overview on the history of the inquisitorial court investigated, from the origin to the suppression phase. 

The conference will take place on 17-18 September 2025 in Naples. Reimbursement of travel expenses (up to a maximum of 200 euros from Italy and 400 euros from abroad) and lodging will be provided. Selected papers will be published in a final volume. The article submissions are due by 1st November 2025. 

Each proposal should contain an abstract of the content to be illustrated (400-500 words) and a short cv of the proposer (200 words). Deadline for proposal submission: November 30, 2024. Acceptance will be communicated by December 15, 2024. Infos and proposal submission (Organization): Silvia Toppetta - silvia.toppetta@unimore.it (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

Issued by: DIGITAL INQUISITION. Tools for multimedia access and exploitation of the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; NETEX - NETworks and EXchanges within the Congregations of the Roman Curia: a Digital Analysis of the Early Roman Church Archives; in collaboration with: INQUIRE - International Centre for Research on Inquisitions.

Scientific Commettee (members of DIGITAL INQUISITION/NETEX projects): Matteo Al Kalak, Nicoletta Bazzano, Massimo Carlo Giannini, Vittoria Fiorelli. 

BOOK: Martine OSTORERO, Sylvain PARENT (eds.), Contester l’Inquisition (XIIIe-XVe siècle) (Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2024). ISBN: 9782753597075

(Image source: Presses universitaires de Rennes)

ABOUT THE BOOK

Dès les premiers temps de son existence, dans les années 1230, l’Inquisition suscita des réactions parfois très hostiles et violentes. Les inquisiteurs furent régulièrement les cibles du déchaînement populaire, jusqu’à en perdre la vie. S’il s’agit de l’une des manifestations les plus visibles et spectaculaires de cette hostilité, les formes que prirent les contestations et résistances furent en réalité d’une grande diversité.

Traquer la pluralité de ces modes d’opposition à l’Inquisition nécessite de s’intéresser aux contextes locaux, à l’équilibre des pouvoirs, aux enjeux de la défense des droits et prérogatives, ainsi qu’aux acteurs de cette résistance. Cela conduit à mieux saisir la délicate insertion de ce tribunal au sein de la société, mais aussi à prendre en compte les moyens de défense de l’office par les acteurs eux-mêmes et à mesurer ses capacités de réaction.

L’ambition de ce livre est de poser les bases d’une étude comparative afin d’offrir un premier état des lieux assez large de la diversité des formes que prennent ces contestations dans l’espace de l’Europe. Elle s’inscrit dans le temps long de l’histoire de l’office d’Inquisition, depuis son émergence, jusqu’à la reconfiguration de la sorcellerie comme hérésie à la toute fin du Moyen Âge.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Martine Ostorero, professeure associée d’histoire médiévale à l’université de Lausanne, est spécialiste de la répression de la sorcellerie et de la démonologie chrétienne.

Sylvain Parent, maître de conférences HDR en histoire du Moyen Âge à l’École normale supérieure de Lyon et chercheur au CIHAM-UMR 5648, s’intéresse aux dissidences et à leur répression à la fin du Moyen Âge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

L’inquisition en question : entre conflits juridictionnels, négociation et collaboration

• Simone Balossino, Élites dirigeantes et Inquisition dans les consulats du Midi de la France (première moitié du XIIIe siècle)
• Riccardo Parmeggiani, Résistance à l’Inquisition et défense des statuts communaux dans les villes toscanes au XIIIe siècle
• Georg Modestin, L’« affaire Gilles Mersault » à Tournai (1423). Un cas de résistance à l’inquisition ?

Les résistances à l’inquisition : entre violence, droit et argumentations savantes

• Sergi Grau Torras, Qui sont les vaudois de la couronne d’Aragon ?
• Alberto Cadili, Résister par la parole. Discours critiques contre l’Inquisition italienne (XIIIe-XIVe siècles)
• Pavel Soukup, La mise en cause de l’Inquisition dans la controverse hussite
• Irene Bueno, Appel au pape et résistance à l’Inquisition en France au xive siècle
• Sylvain Parent et Cédric Quertier, Un inquisiteur en procès. Pietro dell’Aquila, entre faillite des Acciaioli et abus de l’Office (Florence, 1346)
• Marina Benedetti, Au-delà des bûchers. Procès inquisitoriaux, condamnations et annulations (XIVe-XVe siècles)

Le cas de la sorcellerie : délimitation du champ de compétence de l’office d’inquisition

• Olivier Silberstein, avec la collaboration de Christine Morerod, Quand le concile de Bâle cite l’inquisiteur à comparaître. Le cas d’Ulric de Torrenté face à Antoine Mathey (1439)
• Franck Mercier, Limiter l’hérésie ? Un discours de résistance face à l’inquisition et au sabbat des sorcières. Le Tractatus de haeresi d’Ambroise de Vignate (vers 1468) 
• Franck Mercier et Martine Ostorero, Résister à la chasse aux sorcières. Le De synagoga demonum d’Humbert de Costa (o. carm.), c. 1470

La défense du mode inquisitoire et de l’office d’inquisition

• Kathrin Utz Tremp, La résistance à l’inquisition naissante en France du Sud vue par un dominicain. La chronique de Guillaume Pelhisson († 1268)
• Thomas Girard, La rationalisation de l’entrave à la procédure inquisitoire. Sur la genèse d’un « crime de résistance » à l’inquisition dans les lettres pontificales (1231-1265)
• Julien Théry, La revanche de l’Inquisition languedocienne, de Clément V à Jean XXII. Bernard de Castanet, Bernard Gui, Bernard Délicieux et la « réconciliation » des « empêcheurs » de Carcassonne (v. 1308-v. 1330) 
• Laurence Silvestre, La Recollectio de Jean Bréhal. Un plaidoyer pour une autre inquisition

Vincenzo Lavenia, Conclusion. Révolte, religion et conflits politiques. Les Inquisitions à l’époque moderne

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Irene BUENO, Vincenzo LAVENIA, Riccardo PARMEGGIANI (eds.), Current Trends in the Historiography of Inquisitions. Themes and Comparisons (Rome: Viella, 2023). ISBN: 9791254694879

(Image source: Viella editore)

ABOUT THE BOOK

This volume launches the book series of “Inquire – International Centre for Research on Inquisitions” of the University of Bologna, a research network that engages with the history of religious justice from the 13th to the 20th century. This first publication offers twenty chapters that take stock of the current historiography on medieval and early modern Inquisitions (the Spanish, Portuguese and Roman Inquisitions) and their modern continuations. Through the analysis of specific questions related to religious repression in Europe and the Iberian colonial territories extending from the Middle Ages to today, the contributions here examine the history of the perception of tribunals and the most recent historiographical trends. New research perspectives thus emerge on a subject that continues to intrigue those interested in the practices of justice and censorship, the history of religious dissent and the genesis of intolerance in the Western world and beyond.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

I. Inquisitions in the Medieval West

• Thomas Scharff, The Beginnings and Early Stages of the Medieval Inquisition: Traditional Interpretations and New Approaches
• Irene Bueno, Papacy, Censorship and Government Through Investigation: The 14th Century
• Jessalynn Bird, Inquisitions in France and the Crown of Aragon
• Riccardo Parmeggiani, The Medieval Inquisition in the Italian Peninsula: A Historiographical Approach
• Fiona Somerset, The Historiography of Anti-Heresy Repression in England
• Thomas A. Fudge, Inquisitorial Culture in Medieval Central Europe
• Kirsi Salonen, The Apostolic Penitentiary and Inquisition
• Matteo Duni, Magic and the Witch-Hunt

II. The Iberian Inquisitions, Europe and the World

• Kimberly Lynn, The Spanish Inquisition: Power, Minorities and Dissent
• Claudia Geremia, Magical Objects and Inquisition in the Canary Islands (16th-18th Centuries)
• Gabriel Torres Puga, Carlos Mejía Chavez, The Historiography of the Mexican Inquisition: Professionalisation and the Use of the Archive
• M. Macarena Cordero Fernández, The District Court of the Lima Inquisition: A Historiographical Approach
• José Pedro Paiva, Current Trends Regarding the History of the Portuguese Inquisition: What Has Been Done and What Remains
• Bruno Feitler, Twenty Years of Historiography on the Portuguese Inquisition in Asia and in the Atlantic: Towards an Equilibrium?

III. Rome and the Congregations of the Curia

• Vincenzo Lavenia, The Roman Inquisition: The Centre, the Peripheries and the Papacy
• Giorgio Caravale, Censorship: Rome and the Others
• Andreea Badea, Roman Censorship and the Shaping of a Catholic Thought Collective
• Agnès Desmazières, The Inquisition After the Inquisition: Permanence and the Reshaping of Inquisitorial Practices in the Modern Holy Office

More infomation can be found here.