Rediscovering the Inquisition : Archives and Tribunals of Faith in a Global Perspective

This book offers new research on the history of the Inquisition and its global reach through the discovery and analysis of new sources. Expanding the traditional boundaries often associated with studies of the Inquisition, it sheds light on previously underexplored regions such as Mexico, Peru, California and India, and revisits archives from the Italian peninsula, Malta and Portugal to incorporate newly accessible archival materials and recent historiographical trends.

By engaging with both already known and little studied geographical and chronological contexts, Rediscovering the Inquisition seeks to provide a fresh understanding of how this religious institution functioned, transformed, and interacted with various social, political, and religious systems around the world. The contributions will focus on new discoveries from inquisitorial archives including letters and diaries from missionaries and inquisitors, colonial reports, court records, trial transcripts and heresy documents. The collection pays particular attention to documents recovered from the peripheral courts of the Roman, Spanish, and Portuguese Inquisitions, and assesses the role of the Inquisition in the spread of European imperialism. Investigating its engagement with colonized and indigenous populations, it examines the enforcement of orthodoxy in multi-ethnic, multi-religious settings. In expanding established narratives of the Inquisition, this book provides new interpretations of its power, practices and legacy.