This book sets out to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of Spain's Catholic identity in the early modern period. Traditionally the Spanish Church has been seen as a major bastion of orthodoxy and intolerance. Modern historians now see the Church as a much more complex and diverse institution in which tolerance and conservatism coexisted. The text provides evidence of the survival of multi-culturalism in Spanish society, the extent of innovative trends in religious scholarship, the partial nature of ecclesiastical reform, the vitality of popular religious culture and the...

This book challenges the reputation of the Spanish Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repressionand looks at its wider role as an educative force in society.

• A reassessment of the history of the Spanish Inquisition.
  
• Challenges the reputation of the Inquisition as an instrument of religious persecution, torture and repression.
  
• Looks at the wider role of the Inquisition as an educative force in society.
  
• Draws on the findings of recent research by American, British and European...