Episode 17 — Global Inquisition

In the 16^th Century Spain and Portugal globalized the inquisition by spreading the fight for religious orthodoxy and against heresy, blasphemy and apostasy to the Americas, Africa and Asia allowing inquisitors to pry into the souls of men on five continents. In Episode 17 we try to answer questions such as:

• How many people were affected by the inquisition?
• What were the consequences for native Americans?
• What were the similarities and differences between inquisition in Europe and the different colonies?
• What where the links between inquisition, racism and anti-semitism?
• How did the inquisition stop the spread of books and information?
• Why and when did the inquisition end?

You can subscribe and listen to Clear and Present Danger on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, YouTube, TuneIn and Stitcher, or download episodes directly from SoundCloud.

Stay up to date with Clear and Present Danger on the show’s Facebook and Twitter pages, or visit the podcast’s website at freespeechhistory.com.

Email us feedback at freespeechhistory@gmail.com.

Literature:

• Barnadas, J.M. (1984): “The Catholic church in colonial Spanish America” in Bethell, L (ed.): The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. 1: Colonial Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
• Bethencourt, F. (2009): The Inquisition: A Global History 1478–1834. Cambridge University Press.
• Carvajal, F.G. (2003): Butterflies will Burn: Prosecuting Sodomies in Early Modern Spain and Mexico. University of Texas Press.
• Cohen, M.A. (1973): The Martyr: The Story of a Secret Jew and the Mexican Inquisition in the Sixteenth Century. The Jewish Publication Society of America.
• da Silva, A.C.S. (2014): Books and Periodicals in Brazil 1768-1930. Routledge.
• e Souza, L.d.M. (2003): The Devil and the Land of the Holy Cross: Witchcraft, Slavery, and Popular Religion in Colonial Brazil (trans. by D.G. Whitty). University of Texas Press.
• Febvre, L. & Martin, H.-J. (1976): The Coming of the Book: The Impact of Printing 1450-1800. NLB.
• Glaser, E. (1956): “Invitation to Intolerance: A stury of the Portuguese sermons preached at autos-da-fé” in: Hebrew Union College Annual 27, pp. 327–385.
• Hoornaert, E. (1984): “The Catholic church in colonial Brazil” in Bethell, L (ed.): “The Catholic Church in Colonial Spanish America” in: The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. 1: Colonial Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
• Johnson, H.B. (1984): “The Portuguese Settlement of Brazil, 1500-1580” in Bethell, L (ed.): The Cambridge History of Latin America, vol. 1: Colonial Latin America. Cambridge University Press.
• Kamen, H.  (2014): The Spanish Inquisition – A Historical Revision, 4th edition. Yale University Press,
• Lea, H. C. (1922): The inquisition in the Spanish dependencies : Silicy, Naples, Sardinia, Milan, the Canaries, Mexico, Peru, New Granada. New York, The Macmillan company; London : Macmillan & Co., Ltd.
• MacCulloch, D. (2009): Christianity – The First Three Thousand Years. Viking.
• Murphy, C. (2013): God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. Mariner Books.
• Nesvig, M.A. (2009): Ideology and Inquisition: The World of the Censors in Early Mexico. Yale University Press.
• Paiva, J.P. (2017): “The Inquisition Tribunal in Goa: Why and for What Purpose?” in: Modern History 21 pp. 565-593.
• Santos, V.S. (2012): “Africans, Afro-Brazilians and Afro-Portuguese in the Iberian Inquisition in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, African and Black Diaspora” in: An International Journal 5 (1), pp. 49–63.
• Saraiva, A.J. (2001): Marrano Factory: The Portuguese Inquisition and its New Christians 1536-1765. BRILL.
• Scholes, F.V. (1935): “The First Decade of the Inquisition in New Mexico” in: New Mexico Historical Review 10(3).
• Scholes, F.V. (1937): “Church and State in New Mexico, 1610-1650” in: New Mexico Historical Review 11(1).
• Schorsch, J. (2009: Swimming the Christian Atlantic: Judeoconversos, Afroiberians and Amerindians in the Seventeenth Century. BRILL.
• Sweet, J. H. (2013): Domingos Álvares, African Healing, and the Intellectual History of the Atlantic World. The University of North Carolina Press
• Taylor, A. (2002): American Colonies: The Settling of North America, vol. 1. Penguin Books.
• Vose, R. (2013): “Beyond Brazil: Inquisition History in a Global Context” in: History Compass 11(4), pp. 316-329.
• Wadsworth, J.E. (2010): “Historiography of the Structure and Functioning of the Portuguese Inquisition in Colonial Brazil” in: History Compass 8(7), pp. 636–652.
• Walker, T. (2004): ”Sorcerers and Folkhealers: Africans and the Inquisition in Portugal (1680-1800)” in:Revista Lusófona de Ciência das Religiões 3 (5), pp. 83–98.
• Werner, M. (2001): Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico. Routledge.

• Berger, J. (January 1st 2017): “A secret Jew, The New World, a lost book: Mystery Solved”. The New York Times. Accessible at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/arts/a-secret-jew-the-new-world-a-lost-book-mystery-solved.html.
• Las Casas, B. (2007): A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Project Gutenberg EBook 2007, pp. 9-16. The American Yawp Reader. English translation accessible at:https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-new-world/bartolome-de-las-casas-describes-the-exploitation-of-indigenous-peoples-1542/.
• Pope Alexander VI’s Demarcation Bull Granting Spain Possession of Lands Discovered by Columbus. English translation accessible at: https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/T-04093.pdf.