One of the great European publishing centers, Venice produced half or more of all books printed in Italy during the sixteenth-century. Drawing on the records of the Venetian Inquisition, which survive almost complete, Paul F. Grendler considers the effectiveness of censorship im…
"Few legal events loom as large in early modern history as the trial of Galileo. Frequently cast as a heroic scientist martyred to religion or as a scapegoat of papal politics, Galileo undoubtedly stood at a watershed moment in the political maneuvering of a powerful church. But…
"This is a book about Hebrew books, their owners and readers. Seven manuscripts from the Vatican Library, dating from 1578 to 1583, provide the basic evidence for this study. Unravelling the complex interrelation between these manuscripts, I attempt here to explore the multifari…
Inquisizione, magia e stregoneria in Sardegna
Describes accusations against witches, Jews, and Conversos in Rome (then part of the Papal States) at the end of the 15th and during the 16th century. In regard to Jews or Conversos, relates that in 1498 the Converso Pedro de Aranda, former Bishop of Calahorra, Spain, was arrest…
"In 1600, Giordano Bruno, one of the leading intellectuals of the Renaissance, was burned at the stake on the charge of heresy by the Roman Inquisition. He is remembered primarily for his cosmological theories, particularly that the universe was infinite with the Earth not being…