Inquisition

by Edward Peters (Author)

18 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0520066304

ISBN-10: 0520066308

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This impressive volume is actually three histories in one: of the legal procedures, personnel, and institutions that shaped the inquisitorial tribunals from Rome to early modern Europe; of the myth of The Inquisition, from its origins with the anti-Hispanists and religious reformers of the sixteenth century to its embodiment in literary and artistic masterpieces of the nineteenth century; and of how the myth itself became the foundation for a "history" of the inquisitions.

Inquisition

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Inquisition history, a developing field, provides a key to the "understanding of past societies in their entirety." Peters, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Torture, demonstrates this key function as he traces the transformation of the inquisition tribunal from a simple legal procedural of ancient Rome to its employ as a feared instrument of enforcing religious orthodoxy in the medieval period, to its symbolic use in the works of such contemporary writers as Kafka, Koestler and Miller. In Peters's view, the societal divisions brought about by the Reformation in the 16th century provide the grounds for centuries of polemic, fiction and a vivid mythology that caused the term "The Inquisition" to be persistently associated with coercive authority that attempts to stifle free expression. Richly detailed and relevant in application to contemporary philosophy, this study, mainly of interest to historians and social scientists, establishes the thesis that "the history of myth is a valid part of history."
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Tracing the Inquisition's history from its roots in Roman legal procedure through its growth under the Roman Church as an instrument to enforce religious orthodoxy and up to its depiction as a symbol of intellectual dissent (no longer simply the Inquisition, but now "The Inquisition) by such artists as Schiller, Verdi, and Dostoevski, Peters makes a forceful and cogent case that history and myth inform one another--thus making historical objectivity but another myth. Not only an excellent study of the Inquisition, but a piquant look at the methodology of historians."--"Kirkus Reviews

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Product details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: University of California Press (April 14, 1989)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520066308
ISBN-13: 978-0520066304
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 18 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #990,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #425 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Religious Studies > Religious History
- #1316 in Books > Literature & Fiction > History & Criticism > Movements & Periods > Medieval
- #2193 in Books > History > World > Religious > General

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R T von Koch

Spain and Portugal don't look so bad, do they

November 19, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Quality work product reviewing the myth/myths surrounding the misused/abused inquisition phenomena. Suddenly the Roman Catholic Church, Spain and Portugal don't look so bad, do they ?!

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MickeyV

Five Stars

September 20, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Good, all good.

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A. O'Neill

If you're interested in the subject, this is essential reading

April 29, 2014

Format: Paperback

There's nothing much I can say here that the other four- and five-star reviewers haven't said already, so let me just add three things:

1) Peters' book makes good use of original sources close to the time of the events, an essential characteristic of reliable historical accounts.

2) Other reviewers have given this book a low rating because they thought the writer was biased. I'm not going to provide any arguments about historical bias vs. reviewer bias; if you're smart enough to read this book, then you're smart enough to parse those arguments for yourself. But I will say that Peters wisely sticks to the one topic at hand, not as an apologist but as an observer.

3) Finally, a note to clarify any confusion about the author: there's another Ed Peters who *is* a Catholic apologist who *also* occasionally discusses historical issues; this guy isn't that guy.

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J. Angus Macdonald

Far from a whitewash

April 7, 2003

Format: Paperback

Edward Peters' book "Inquisition" is the furthest thing from a whitewash. Peters marshals facts neatly, cleanly, and readably, seperating the facts from the fictions. Tracing the notion of inquistion from its linguistic roots (inquire, inquest) all the way to the parodies of Monty Python and Mel Brooks, he shows how what we think of as THE INQUISITION is a composite of some historical fact and a lot of (truth to tell) whitewash and propoganda.
One of Peters' central arguments revolves around the printing press. The moveable type printing press was developed in /northern/ Europe and, as the Protestant Reformation spread, so did the printing press -- primarily into Protestant lands. Spain, the largest empire in Europe at the time, was also ardently Catholic. The printing press was therefor enlisted as a propoganda tool. Many lurid pamphlets, of at best questionable veracity, were spread by Protestants to show the levels of evil, the depravity to which the Spanish had sunk; Peters also points out how several of these same charges had been levelled against other groups both prior to Spain's rise and then later against new foes, but due to the new power of the written word, and the rise in literacy, the charges truly struck home.
On the other hand Peters does not shrink from the vile acts of the inquistion, Spanish or otherwise. He points to the origins of what we now collectively recognize as "The Inquisition" during the 12th century, citings boths its powers and its limits. He shows the later abuses, especially in Spain and the New World, including torture, forced conversions, endless imprisonments, and the rest. He also is meticulous in pointing out the comparative small numbers of people these horrors were visited upon, as the inquisitions (yes, plural) tended to keep fairly tight records.
The last part of the book is probably the most interesting, because here Peters deals with the /idea/ of The Inquisition. Based on the pamphlets of the 16th and 17th centuries, later writers grab up what has become a stock image. The Gothic writers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries drive these fictionalized visions even deeper into the collective set of themes of European literature. By the end of the 19th century and certainly in the 20th and 21st centuries, it is nearly impossible to erradicate the /vision/ of the Inquisition (NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquistion!) from the reality of the times.
No one wants a return of the inquistion. Conversely, its excesses have been decried to the point of shrillness and amplified to a degree of groteque improbability. Peters work is the single most solid, credible and even-handed works on the topic to date. Unlike many other works that rely on secondary sources or the oft-repeated pamphlets of the Protestant north, Peters looks into papal records, notes from both sides, histories, diaries, letters, and all the minutiae that go into making a true historical and historilogical work. On top over everything else, the work is neither dry nor dull -- it is a solid read for either the casual reader or the scholar. I cannot help but recommend this volume to anyone who would like a better understanding of both the abuses and the truth behind the inquistion.

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Marshall Fritz

Convincing, especially after reading Wm Walsh

August 2, 2000

Format: Paperback

My introduction to the notion that most of us believe a lot
of exaggerations and falsehoods about "the Inquisition"
was William Walsh's book, "Characters of the Inquisition."
Walsh was an ardent Catholic and a great admirer of Queen Isabella.

As a novice reader on the Inquisition, I had little
way to gauge how serious might be his bias. Then, along came
Edward Peters! His book is hardly a whitewash of the goal of a
confessional state (everybody believes in the same religion or
you leave), nor of the methods used in Spain and other places
to try to enforce this. But it does give us 20th Century
folks a clearer picture of 15th and 16th Century thinking
that heresy was treason, and treason then like today was a
serious crime against the state.

After giving facts of the inquisitions, Peters uses the second
half of the book to describe how the facts of the inquisitions
got exaggerated and embellished with falsehoods over
the centuries, eventually becoming what he calls the "Myth of
the Inquisition."

After reading Peters, I can even more enthusiastically recommend Walsh.

--- One chapter I would have like to have seen in Peters
is a review of inquisitions done by Protestants in Geneva,
Germany, and England, including the Witch Hunts. It would
be good to have something to compare to the Spanish, Portuguese,
Romans and Venetians.

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Most recent customer reviews

Rambling, boring, academic

Rambling, full of unnecessary digressions, boring, academic, not worth reading. It is hard to tell what the book is about. There are much better books.Read more

Published 1 year ago by doug korty

... book up for my college class it was in good condition and what I needed

I picked this book up for my college class it was in good condition and what I needed.

Did not read all of it, but what I did read served the class well.

Published on January 4, 2015 by pH 14

Three Stars

Dated information.

Published on August 29, 2014 by Amazon Customer

Did the "Inquisition" exist as we thought it did?

The author brings out some interesting points.
Such as did the Inquisition exist in the way it is most thought of?Read more

Published on February 26, 2010 by zz top

boring

holy boring book of death. this book was bland beyond bland. the artwork selected for this book was the only thing good about it.Read more

Published on April 17, 2007 by Satan

The Spanish Inquisition--a Monstrous Exaggeration

Peters has provided an invaluable analysis of the Inquisition. For the longest time, the Inquisition (especially the Spanish Inquisition) has been a mainstay of rationalistic...Read more

Published on July 6, 2006 by Jan Peczkis

Well-researched and readable

I won't go into more detail about the book except to confirm the positive reviews below about the book's accuracy and thoroughness.Read more

Published on March 11, 2004 by Gregory L. Richey

AVID READER OF HISTORICAL FACTS

Peter's book as many have previously clearly and rightfully stated, is a "whitewash" which downplays the true horrors of the Inquisition.Read more

Published on March 17, 2003

lots of information but poorly presented

This book's single best aspect is that it doesn't deal with just the Spanish Inquisition, as so many others do.Read more

Published on February 10, 2002 by Justus Pendleton

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