Ideology and inquisition : the world of the censors in early Mexico

This book is the first comprehensive treatment in English of the ideology and practice of the Inquisitional censors, focusing on the case of Mexico from the 1520s to the 1630s. Others have examined the effects of censorship, but Martin Nesvig employs a nontraditional approach that focuses on the inner logic of censorship in order to examine the collective mentality, ideological formation, and practical application of ideology of the censors themselves. Nesvig shows that censorship was not only about the regulation of books but about censorship in the broader sense as a means to regulate Catholic dogma and the content of religious thought. In Mexico, decisions regarding censorship involved considerable debate and disagreement among censors, thereby challenging the idea of the Inquisition as a monolithic institution. Once adapted to cultural circumstances in Mexico, the Inquisition and the Index produced not a weapon of intellectual terror but a flexible apparatus of control. Contents 7 Acknowledgments 9 Note on Orthography and Names 13 Introduction 15 Part I. Theories of Inquisitional Authority 31 1. Longue Durée Concerns 33 2. Medieval and Early Modern Precedents 44 3. Theories of Adjudication 79 Part II. Practice of Censure in Mexico 105 4. The Salamanca Connection 107 5. The Early Inquisitions, 1525–71 118 6. The Holy Office Established, 1571–90 148 7. The Ebb of the Holy Office, 1591–1640 178 Part III. Censors and Their Worlds 213 8. Lucre and Connections 215 9. Cordon Sanitaire: Efforts and Failures of Book Censorship 240 Conclusion 261 Appendix 1. Inquisitional Trials 271 Appendix 2. Censors 275 Appendix 3. Inquisitors 288 Notes 291 Bibliography 333 Index 361 A 361 B 362 C 363 D 366 E 367 F 368 G 368 H 369 I 370 J 371 K 371 L 372 M 372 N 374 O 374 P 375 Q 376 R 376 S 377 T 379 U 379 V 379 W 380 X 380 Y 380 Z 380