The book An Account of the cruelties and the writings against the Portuguese Inquisition in Modern Age (1670-1821)

ABSTRACT During the Modern era, the Inquisition was not a consensual institution. Various individuals and social groups have criticized inquisitional procedures and actions through pamphlets, memorials or even their own voice to forge, even though unintentionally, a literary image of the Holy Office. Indeed, these writings have gained a certain unity within a diverse realm of characters occupying disparate places and multiple intentions regarding their own words. Thus, overall, we will qualify these writings as anti-inquisitorial literature, in spite of the imprecision of the term, although most authors were only critical of the procedure and styles and were not opposed to the Court’s existence. Therefore, this article analyzes three aspects of the five editions of the booklet known as “An Account of the cruelties exercis’d by the Inquisition in Portugal”: I) authorship; II) themes; III) editions and circulation.