The Inquisition and the censorship of science in early modern Europe: Introduction

Since their decline in the nineteenth century, the early modern Inquisitions have attracted a myriad of scholars. Although it is impossible to reduce this vast production of writings to a single explanation, some broad factorsmight have contributed to the sustained scholarship on this subject. First, the unusual longevity of the tribunals together with an obsessive early modern culture of record keeping has provided enough material to write comprehensive books on the Spanish, Portuguese and Italian tribunals, onemajor attempt at a global history of the Inquisition, as well as countless scholarly articles on individual courts both in Europe and the Iberian overseas empires. Second, in a period characterized by a wide disagreement about the interpretation of scripture, tradition, faith, grace, and salvation, andby an increased violence across confessional frontiers, thepersecutionandprosecution of individuals by the Inquisition has time and again provided an intellectual framework – even if implicitly and unintendedly – for understanding the Reformation, the Council of Trent, and, in general, ecclesiastical history in the early modern period. Third, the meticulous record of several thousands of inquisitorial trials has allowed historians to hear both the voices of legal prosecutors and the statements of anonymous witnesses and defendants – even if the latter were possibly tainted under the threat or practice of torture. Fourth, the continuous effort to survey and punish dissent by publishing extensive lists of forbidden works, expurgating books, and prosecuting authors, booksellers, and individual readers has been a fruitful field of research in itself. Finally, even early modern