The Abolition of the Inquisition and the Creation of a Historical Myth

Abstract

This article looks at the way in which the Spanish Inquisition was inserted within a wider historical narrative of the nation around the mid-nineteenth century. After discussing the predominant vision of the events as seen in the historical work of Modesto Lafuente and others, it goes on to explore the representation of the Tribunal in other historians who challenged the prevailing image of the Spanish Inquisition as a foreign institution that did not embody the spirit of the reign of the Catholic Monarchs. In both the cases of Adolfo de Castro and Jaime Balmes, the Inquisition was seen as inevitable, a requirement by the nation in order to preserve religious unity, rather than an external, papal imposition or a tool for the despotism of Charles I or Philip II. In the historical novel La Sigea (1854) by Carolina Coronado, a similar tragic vision of the role of the Tribunal in national history becomes apparent. The ideals of Iberian union, harmony, and integration are threatened by the Holy Office as a symbol of dark passions and patriarchal oppression. This is represented not only by the Inquisition, but also by the aggressive, male configuration of the idea of nation in liberalism which, according to the logic of the novel, was ultimately the main element responsible for the establishment and durability of the Inquisition.