The Roman Inquisition: A Papal Bureaucracy And Its Laws In The Age Of Galileo (haney Foundation Series)
by Thomas F. Mayer /
2013 / English / PDF
4.6 MB Download
While the Spanish Inquisition has laid the greatest claim to both
scholarly attention and the popular imagination, the Roman
Inquisition, established in 1542 and a key instrument of papal
authority, was more powerful, important, and long-lived. Founded
by Paul III and originally aimed to eradicate Protestant heresy,
it followed medieval antecedents but went beyond them by becoming
a highly articulated centralized organ directly dependent on the
pope. By the late sixteenth century the Roman Inquisition had
developed its own distinctive procedures, legal process, and
personnel, the congregation of cardinals and a professional
staff. Its legal process grew out of the technique of
While the Spanish Inquisition has laid the greatest claim to both
scholarly attention and the popular imagination, the Roman
Inquisition, established in 1542 and a key instrument of papal
authority, was more powerful, important, and long-lived. Founded
by Paul III and originally aimed to eradicate Protestant heresy,
it followed medieval antecedents but went beyond them by becoming
a highly articulated centralized organ directly dependent on the
pope. By the late sixteenth century the Roman Inquisition had
developed its own distinctive procedures, legal process, and
personnel, the congregation of cardinals and a professional
staff. Its legal process grew out of the technique ofinquisitio
inquisitio formulated by Innocent III in the early
thirteenth century, it became the most precocious papal
bureaucracy on the road to the first "absolutist" state.
formulated by Innocent III in the early
thirteenth century, it became the most precocious papal
bureaucracy on the road to the first "absolutist" state.
As Thomas F. Mayer demonstrates, the Inquisition underwent
constant modification as it expanded. The new institution modeled
its case management and other procedures on those of another
medieval ancestor, the Roman supreme court, the Rota. With
unparalleled attention to archival sources and detail, Mayer
portrays a highly articulated corporate bureaucracy with the pope
at its head. He profiles the Cardinal Inquisitors, including
those who would play a major role in Galileo's trials, and
details their social and geographical origins, their education,
economic status, earlier careers in the Church, and networks of
patronage. At the point this study ends, circa 1640, Pope Urban
VIII had made the Roman Inquisition his personal instrument and
dominated it to a degree none of his predecessors had approached.
As Thomas F. Mayer demonstrates, the Inquisition underwent
constant modification as it expanded. The new institution modeled
its case management and other procedures on those of another
medieval ancestor, the Roman supreme court, the Rota. With
unparalleled attention to archival sources and detail, Mayer
portrays a highly articulated corporate bureaucracy with the pope
at its head. He profiles the Cardinal Inquisitors, including
those who would play a major role in Galileo's trials, and
details their social and geographical origins, their education,
economic status, earlier careers in the Church, and networks of
patronage. At the point this study ends, circa 1640, Pope Urban
VIII had made the Roman Inquisition his personal instrument and
dominated it to a degree none of his predecessors had approached.