The Spanish Inquisition
Resumen del libro
Established by papal bull in 1478, the first task of the Spanish Inquisition was to question Jewish converts to Christianity and to expose and 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 and Lutherans.
Children informed on their parents, merchants on their rivals and priests upon their bishops - nobody was safe. The denounced were assumed to be guilty unless they could prove their innocence, and punishments were brutal - 31,913 people were led to the stake at public displays, the last a mad witch in 1781. Joseph Perez tells the whole story of the Spanish Inquisition, from its medieval beginnings to its nineteenth-century ending, and discusses its impact on Spanish culture, economy and intellectual life.
Biografía del autor
Joseph Pérez, Premio Príncipe de Asturias de Ciencias Sociales 2014, es Profesor Emérito de civilización española y latinoamericana en la Universidad de Burdeos-III, de la que ha sido Rector. Uno de los hispanistas más prestigiosos de la actualidad, ha sido director de la Casa de Velázquez, y es autor de una amplia obra, en la que destacan Los comuneros, Historia de España, La España de Felipe II, Breve historia de la Inquisición en España, Carlos V, Los judíos en España, Humanismo en le Renacimiento español, y Fray Luis de León y el humanismo.
