COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN INQUISITIONS: CIRCUITS AND INTERMEDIARIES

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to present the main forms of correspondence circulation among the Iberian inquisitorial courts. During the period of operation of the Inquisition in the peninsular and American space, the Portuguese, Spanish and American courts collaborated in the pursuit of the heterodoxies of the faith and in the formation of its network of inquisitorial agents. This collaboration was based on the circulation of information about faith processes taking place across the border, arrest warrants, persecution of fugitives and the carrying out of investigations by the commissioners. The joint action of the Iberian inquisitors allowed families to be prosecuted synchronously by the Spanish and Portuguese courts. All the information needed to prove the guilt of those in prisons was sent with remarkable speed. Likewise, it was possible for the Portuguese to be qualified as inquisitorial agents in Castilian or American courts, as they had the collaboration of commissioners from the courts of Lisbon, Évora and Coimbra to carry out the blood cleansing measures in their cities of birth. As the main instrument for the circulation of information in the modern period, the letters conveyed the information necessary for the inquisitorial work. Therefore, it is intended to present the intermediaries in the correspondence of the Iberian courts, the main circulation routes and demonstrate how speedy communication between the courts could be.