The Spanish Inquisition

Resumen del libro

Named a Notable Book of 1998 by the New York Times Book Review



Since the sixteenth century, the Spanish Inquisition has been synonymous with terror, bigotry, and persecution. In this book, a renowned historian sweeps away old misconceptions and presents a new view of this notorious and fascinating period.

Henry Kamen reassesses the significance and consequences of the expulsion of the Jews and also argues that there is little evidence for the alleged Jewishness of the conversos who were the Inquisition's first victims. He presents a major revision of the impact of blood purity prejudices on Spanish society, revises the figures given for execution of heretics by the tribunal, and examines the amount of Spanish persecution in the context of executions in neighboring countries. He gives a completely new picture of the infamous censorship system, showing it to be much less effective than is often presented, and he investigates the role played by foreign propaganda in the creation of the diabolic image of the Inquisition. Kamen reconstructs the atmosphere of fear and oppression that typified the period, relating it to the fear generated by community tensions. He also demonstrates for the first time that the famous auto-da-fe was not a product of traditional Spanish piety but a deliberate tool of the inquisitors, invented in the sixteenth century in order to boost their political standing.

Biografía del autor

El historiador británico Henry Kamen (1936) se formó en Oxford y ha enseñado en diversas universidades de Gran Bretaña, Estados Unidos y España. Ha sido profesor del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas en Barcelona, y es miembro de la Royal Historical Society de Londres. Especialista en los siglos XVI y XVII del Imperio español, es uno de los hispanistas más reputados del panorama internacional.<br> Entre más de treinta títulos destacados, pueden citarse Felipe de España; La Inquisición española. Una revisión histórica; Imperio. La forja de España como potencia mundial; El gran duque de Alba; Del Imperio a la decadencia. Los mitos que forjaron la España moderna; Los desheredados. España y la huella del exilio; El enigma del Escorial; Poder y gloria. Los héroes de la España imperial; Brevísima historia de España, Magia y enigma. Edificios legendarios de España o La invención de España. Leyendas e ilusiones que han construido la realidad española.