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.

CONFERENCE: "The Roman Inquisition in Malta and Elsewhere" (Malta, 18-20 September 2014)

WHAT: The Roman Inquisition in Malta and Elsewhere, Conference

WHERE: Inquisitor's Palace, Vittoriosa, Malta

WHEN: 18- 20 September 2014

All information here

The Conference has managed to attract 28 among the leading academics on the Roman Inquisition. Discussed themes will include:

The impact of the Council of Trent

The Tridentine spirit was not only directed against the enemies and external threats to the faith – notably the Christian Protestant heretics – but its zeal and fervour acted as an integrating force in the Catholic world at large. It also provided a much needed energy and incentive. Nevertheless the Tridentine spirit did much more. It subordinated all aspects of life and government, in varying degrees, to an overarching ideology. Thus Tridentine culture was an attempt to integrate and guide the various strands of life – political, cultural, economic, and social – to impose order on society, by all means available.The Roman Inquisition came to serve as a tool to introduce Tridentine principles. The tribunal soon took upon itself to communicate the ‘truth’, fight ignorance and heresy in order to convert all the social strata of the population to the Church doctrine as expressed by the Council of Trent. By convincing the people to act as good Catholics, the Inquisitors acted as ‘missionaries’ as they emphasized the need to teach the basics of Catholic Reformation thought through the pastoral work. The fear of God which resulted out of this intensive activity was designed to lead the faithful to a general confession and the receiving of Holy Communion. Essentially therefore Tridentine Catholicism gave the faithful a sense of security by surrounding them with the protective sacraments, and Church dogma to lead a more intensive Christian life. Consequently, it gave the sacraments a new depth and a more meaningful presence in the life of the faithful. 