The Spanish Inquisition

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 Inquisitionʹs 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.