Overview

The Holy Office of the Inquisition (a royal tribunal that addressed issues of heresy and offenses to morality) was established in Peru in 1570 and operated there until 1820. In this book, Ana E. Schaposchnik provides a deeply researched history of the Inquisition’s Lima Tribunal, focusing in particular on the cases of persons put under trial for crypto-Judaism in Lima during the 1600s. Delving deeply into the records of the Lima Tribunal, Schaposchnik brings to light the experiences and perspectives of the prisoners in the cells and torture chambers, as well as the regulations and institutional procedures of the inquisitors. She looks closely at how the lives of the accused—and in some cases the circumstances of their deaths—were shaped by actions of the Inquisition on both sides of the Atlantic. She explores the prisoners’ lives before and after their incarcerations and reveals the variety and character of prisoners’ religiosity, as portrayed in the Inquisition’s own sources. She also uncovers individual and collective strategies of the prisoners and their supporters to stall trials, confuse tribunal members, and attempt to ameliorate or at least delay the most extreme effects of the trial of faith. The Lima Inquisition also includes a detailed analysis of the 1639 Auto General de Fe ceremony of public penance and execution, tracing the agendas of individual inquisitors, the transition that occurred when punishment and surveillance were brought out of hidden dungeons and into public spaces, and the exposure of the condemned and their plight to an avid and awestricken audience. Schaposchnik contends that the Lima Tribunal’s goal, more than volume or frequency in punishing heretics, was to discipline and shape culture in Peru.

Full Product Details

9780299306106

Table of Contents

Reviews

[A] major strength of <i>The Lima Inquisition</i> is its transatlantic focus. . . . Schaposchnik also impresses with her ability to transform the inner world of tribunal facilities into a subject for historical study. <i>Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies</i>

Reveals the details of the Americas' most alarming Inquisitorial crackdown: the 'Great Complicity' and subsequent Auto de Fe of Lima in 1639. Schaposchnik convincingly shows that it was not an aberration or just another Baroque-era spectacle--it was the essence of what the Inquisition was and had been all about, from inception to abolition. --Kris Lane, Tulane University Revises and enriches our understanding of the Inquisition in colonial Peru and provides a major contribution to the emerging literature on politics, culture, and identity in seventeenth-century Latin America. --James Krippner, Haverford College Demonstrates that there has been a dramatic change in the field of Inquisition studies. --Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews [A] major strength of The Lima Inquisition is its transatlantic focus. . . . Schaposchnik also impresses with her ability to transform the inner world of tribunal facilities into a subject for historical study. --Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies [A] major strength of The Lima Inquisition is its transatlantic focus. . . . Schaposchnik also impresses with her ability to transform the inner world of tribunal facilities into a subject for historical study. Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies The Lima Inquisition reveals the details of the Americas most alarming Inquisitorial crackdown: the Great Complicity and subsequent Auto de Fe of Lima in 1639. Schaposchnik convincingly shows that it was not an aberration or just another Baroque-era spectacle it was the essence of what the Inquisition was and had been all about, from inception to abolition. Kris Lane, Tulane University Schaposchnik revises and enriches our understanding of the Inquisition in colonial Peru and provides a major contribution to the emerging literature on politics, culture, and identity in seventeenth-century Latin America. James Krippner, Haverford College The Lima Inquisition reveals the details of the Americas most alarming Inquisitorial crackdown: the Great Complicity and subsequent Auto de Fe of Lima in 1639. Schaposchnik convincingly shows that it was not an aberration or just another Baroque-era spectacle it was the essence of what the Inquisition was and had been all about, from inception to abolition. Kris Lane, Tulane University The Lima Inquisition reveals the details of the Americas' most alarming Inquisitorial crackdown: the 'Great Complicity' and subsequent Auto de Fe of Lima in 1639. Schaposchnik convincingly shows that it was not an aberration or just another Baroque-era spectacle--it was the essence of what the Inquisition was and had been all about, from inception to abolition. --Kris Lane, Tulane University Schaposchnik revises and enriches our understanding of the Inquisition in colonial Peru and provides a major contribution to the emerging literature on politics, culture, and identity in seventeenth-century Latin America. --James Krippner, Haverford College

The Lima Inquisition reveals the details of the Americas most alarming Inquisitorial crackdown: the Great Complicity and subsequent Auto de Fe of Lima in 1639. Schaposchnik convincingly shows that it was not an aberration or just another Baroque-era spectacle it was the essence of what the Inquisition was and had been all about, from inception to abolition. Kris Lane, Tulane University

Author Information

Ana E. Schaposchnik is an assistant professor of history at DePaul University.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available