Established in Peru in 1570; the Holy Office of the Inquisition operated there until 1820; prosecuting; torturing; and sentencing alleged heretics. Ana Schaposchnik offers a deeply researched history of the Inquisition's tribunal in the capital city of Lima; with a focus on cases of crypto-Judaism—the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing Christianity.Delving into the records of the tribunal; Schaposchnik brings to light the experiences of individuals on both sides of the process. Some prisoners; she discovers; developed a limited degree of agency as they managed to stall trials or mitigate the most extreme punishments. Training her attention on the accusers; Schaposchnik uncovers the agendas of specific inquisitors in bringing the condemned from the dungeons to the 1639 Auto General de Fe ceremony of public penance and execution. Through this fine-grained study of the tribunal's participants; Schaposchnik finds that the Inquisition sought to discipline and shape culture not so much through frequency of trials or number of sentences as through the potency of individual examples.
#416348 in Books 2002-09-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.30 x 6.00l; 1.45 #File Name: 0299142345466 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Lisa MFascinating! I contacted the author he got back in touch with me right away!1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Alana L. JolleyExcellent research on a subject seldom discussed.10 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Not the most reliable sourceBy toomanybooksI was very disappointed with this book and I will be giving it to Goodwill or getting rid of it so that others are not misled. On one of the first pages at the bottom of the Acknowledgments; the author thanks U of Wisconsin press for publishing a book that no one else wanted to publish; "simply because of its length." Uh; no; it's because it is not a very good or accurate book; yet the author goes on and on about how everyone else is wrong and they don't have anything to back up their ideas. It would be very interesting to understand what is driving this author. He was too busy looking for the crypto Jews in Spain that he has no idea where they went; therefore they must not have existed at all. He couldn't find them because they were busy hiding out in the mountains of Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado; among other places.
