The takeover of the Roman Inquisition

Elena Bonora traces the outlines of the foundation of the Roman Inquisition, as well as its satellites around the Italian peninsula. She supplies an over- view of the rapid strengthening of the Holy Office, one that achieved such stunning heights that it attempted to assert supervisory authority even over papal magisterium. She also reveals the dense web of social contexts that the Holy Office and the local inquisitions had to navigate. She describes the unique nature of such tribunals, by explaining their independence from claims of nobility, honor, or clerical privilege, things which challenged common social assumptions in premodern Italy. The nimble nature of the Holy Office enabled it seamlessly to transition from the extirpation of Protestant heresies to the supervision of religious conformity in the 17th century. This turn towards social control increased the purview of the office to new areas such as witchcraft, sexuality, mysticism, the supervision of publishing, and the assessment of new saints. In this new arena it was able to assess and attempt to manage streams of popular piety, particularly by a deft but delicate alignment of private confession and supervision over religious crimes. She notes how important it is to situate the tribunals within their historical and social worlds, rather than attempting a bare analysis based on banning of literature and the number of penances imposed.