Iberian Inquisitions

Only the early modern Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions extended their reach across the Atlantic; however, they did so in very distinct ways. The Spanish would establish three independent tribunals in the Americas, the first two in Mexico and Lima in 1570, and later another in Cartagena (in the colony of New Granada, essentially modern Colombia) in 1610. On the other hand, the Portuguese would entrust the orthodoxy of its Atlantic holdings, even its largest colony of Brazil, to representatives of the institution, known as comissários, dependent on the tribunal in Lisbon. Both structures fostered a wealth of transatlantic exchange, of both people and communication, which brings to light the ways in which this institution, often assumed to be European-bound, also took on Atlantic dimensions as these empires expanded. However, studying Inquisitions in their full transatlantic scope is a daunting task, requiring the mastery of the history and historiography of far-flung locations and, potentially, if studying both Inquisitions, multiple languages. This means that truly transatlantic work on Inquisitions remains limited. However, there is significant work on the Holy Office in individual locations around the Atlantic Basin. Thus, this bibliography will begin by highlighting transatlantic studies, in the sense of tracing processes or people across the Atlantic, before delving into those works that treat individual locations around that basin. An additional consideration to keep in mind is that research on Inquisitions is most frequently divided between those studies interested in the institution and those interested in the defendants that institution tried. While such a division sets up a false dichotomy, because in studying the defendants we inherently learn about the institution, and vice versa, most researchers seem to embark on their studies from one direction or the other. It seemed therefore necessary, if crude, to divide the works in this bibliography into what could broadly be categorized as “institutional histories” and “histories of heterodoxy.” While acknowledging that such a division is problematic, it nonetheless seems the most accessible for those new to the field of Inquisition studies and those who use this resource as a reference guide. It likely goes without saying that much of the work on these Inquisitions remains in Spanish and Portuguese; however, considering the expected audience of this bibliography, English language work has been privileged when and where possible.