
Few institutions in Western history have as fearful a reputation as the Spanish Inquisition. For centuries Europe trembled at its name. Nobody was safe in this terrifying battle for the unachievable aim of unified faith. Established by papal bull in 1478 the first task of the Spanish Inquisition was to question Jewish converts to Christianity & to expose & execute those found guilty of reversion. It then turned on Spanish Jews in general sending three hundred thousand into exile. Next in line were humanists & Lutherans. No rank was exempt. Children informed on their parents merchants on their rivals & priests upon their bishops. Those denounced were guilty unless they could prove their innocence. Few did. Two hundred lashes were a minor punishment; 31 913 were led to the stake at public displays the last a mad witch in 1781. The Inquisition policed what was written read & taught & kept an eye on sexual behaviour. Napoleon tried to abolish it in 1808 & failed. Joseph Perez tells the history of the Spanish Inquisition from its medieval beginnings to its nineteenth-century ending. He discovers its origins in fear & jealousy & its longevity in usefulness to the state. He explores the inner workings of its councils courts & finances & shows how its officers inquisitors & leaders lived & worked. He describes its techniques of interrogation disorientation & torture & shows how it refined displays of punishment as instruments of social control. The author ends his fascinating account by assessing the impact of the Inquisition over three & a half centuries on Spains culture economy & intellectual life.