Daughters Of The Inquisition

The #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Mommie Dearest explores WomanSpirit through the ages, from the Neolithic Goddess to the Inquisition to present day. Breaking free of the emotional wreckage of her childhood and a devastating illness that challenged her physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Christina Crawford sought out an indomitable and innate inner source of power. Upon reconnecting with the very essence of the female spirit—that which unites all daughters throughout time—Crawford decided to pursue and discover its “herstory.” Drawing on years of research, she explores every aspect of the evolution of womanhood over the past ten thousand years: culture, government, religion, professions, laws, customs, family, fashion, marriage, commerce, art, industry, and sexuality. Charting the trajectory of female communion, Crawford delves into the Goddess culture of the Neolithic period, in which self-sovereign women governed, built empires, and were deified; explores the Inquisition in which women were demonized, brutalized, and erased from history; and celebrates the rebirth of the WomanSpirit and its influence over generations on the Western world. Both an enlightening journey and an invaluable reference, Daughters of the Inquisition is a testament to the rise, endurance, survival, and lasting impact of the WomanSpirit—its givers of life, its queens, and its warriors.

The Inquisition! Just the word itself evokes, to the modern reader, endless images of torment, violence, corruption, and intolerance committed in the name of Catholic orthodoxy and societal conformity. But what do most people actually know about the Inquisition, its ministers, its procedures? This systematic, comprehensive look at one of the most important Inquisition tribunals in the New World reveals a surprisingly diverse panorama of actors, events, and ideas that came into contact and conflict in the central arena of religious faith. Edited and annotated by John F. Chuchiak IV, this collection of previously untranslated and unpublished documents from the Holy Office of the Inquisition in New Spain provides a clear understanding of how the Inquisition originated, evolved, and functioned in the colonial Spanish territories of Mexico and northern Central America. The three sections of documents lay out the laws and regulations of the Inquisition, follow examples of its day-to-day operations and procedures, and detail select trial proceedings. Chuchiak’s opening chapter and brief section introductions provide the social, historical, political, and religious background necessary to comprehend the complex and generally misunderstood institutions of the Inquisition and the effect it has had on societal development in modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Featuring fifty-eight newly translated documents, meticulous annotations, and trenchant contextual analysis, this documentary history is an indispensable resource for anyone seeking to understand the Inquisition in general and its nearly three-hundred-year reign in the New World in particular.

Between 1391 and the end of the 15th century, numerous Spanish Jews converted to Christianity, most of them under duress. Before and after 1492, when the Jews were officially expelled from Spain, a significant number of these conversos maintained clandestine ties to Judaism, despite their outward conformity to Catholicism. Through the lens of the Inquisition's own records, this groundbreaking study focuses on the crypto-Jewish women of Castile, demonstrating their central role in the perpetuation of crypto-Jewish society in the absence of traditional Jewish institutions led by men. Renee Levine Melammed shows how many "conversas" acted with great courage and commitment to perpetuate their religious heritage, seeing themselves as true daughters of Israel. Her fascinating book sheds new light on the roles of women in the transmission of Jewish traditions and cultures.

Inquisitionis Hispanicae Artes (Heidelberg, 1567), the work of exiled Spanish Protestants, was a groundbreaking denunciation of the Inquisition which had a great impact on modern Europe, both in translation and as a source for anti-Spanish literature. This critical edition presents a new text as well as, for the first time, extensive notes.

History of the Inquisition by William Rule Harris, first published in 1868, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.