2009/6/17 Gilbert Lawrence <[email protected] > Thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts with you. I find Fred's > question interesting - "Can anyone > enlighten about the ideologies and interests of the repeated-cited authors of > the Goa Inquisition?" I > hope the authors can be upfront in responding to this question. Thank you
I made these comments particularly in the case of Buchanan, Dellon and Priolkar. Even for someone not defensive about the record of Christianity or the Catholic Church, the role of these much-cited authors on the Inquisition is intriguing to say the least. At the same time, much of our understanding of the Inquisition, I would argue, is based on the attitudes (far from neutral or un-interested) of the Protestant world, Jews, the North European rivals of (then powerful) South European colonialism, and, more latterly, the Hindutva world view. Of course, this is not to say that such lobbies and interest groups cannot or should not take the stance which suits their interests. After all, the Inquisition itself was staunchly a Catholic product of a particular point of history, and that too connected to the powerful South European colonial structures of the period. Yet, one needs to keep in mind the logic of "who said what and why". I find it amusing that the writings on the Inquisition are taken as the Gospel truth (pun intended!) as it were. For some time now, since reading up about the Black Legend, I've been interested in understanding the logic of this debate. Thanks for raising it here, so that I could further search around for more ideas on this front. And apologies for not responding when the issue was 'hot' as I was travelling and returned from Penang only yesterday morning. Here's an interesting quote that helps us understand some of the background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Legend#The_Spanish_Inquisition Quote Exaggerations about the Spanish Inquisition have been one of the main elements of the Black Legend since its origin. Its incorporation into anti-Spanish works dates from the sixteenth century, a time of strong Anglo-Spanish and Protestant-Catholic rivalry. Criticisms of the Spanish Inquisition were first written by Protestant authors such as Englishman John Foxe, a polemicist who published the Book of Martyrs in 1554, and the controversial Spanish convert Reginaldo González de Montes, author of Exposición de algunas mañas de la Santa Inquisición Española (Exposition of some methods of the Holy Spanish Inquisition) (1567). The fabricated legend depicts the Spanish Inquisition as cruel and bloodthirsty. The image of moats, chains, cries and rooms of torture is usually attached to it with the intention of creating a sense of mysticism and evil. The myth of thousands of Jews, Muslims, Protestants and non-Catholics being tortured and murdered in the dungeons of the institution by Dominican friars is part of this propaganda. In fact, the Inquisition was a religious institution created by the Spanish monarchy to monitor Christian principles and teachings within the Catholic Church. It was not an institution of persecution or torture as the Black Legend intentionally portrays, or as fictional literature and films depict. Similar religious institutions existed in other parts of Europe, such as the Roman Inquisition and the Portuguese Inquisition. The first such institution was the Medieval Inquisition, created in the 12th century. Legally, the inquisition only had jurisdiction over Catholics and claimed no authority over Jews or Muslims. However, a person who had been baptized into the Catholic faith who was found to be secretly practicing Jewish or Muslim customs was still considered to be a Catholic culpable of heresy - and punishable under the law. Like similar European policies before and after the 15th century, the Alhambra Decree removed the Jews from Spain in 1492, while a decree in 1515 removed the last Muslims. End of quote -- FN * http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/fn M +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 http://fredericknoronha.multiply.com/ http://goa1556.goa-india.org "I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada." - Britney Spears, Pop Singer
