Intellectual Life under the Spanish Inquisition: A Continuing Historical Controversy

The effects of the Spanish Inquisition on Spain's intellectual life have long been a topic of heated historical controversy. This article surveys the arguments dating from the late eighteenth century to the present. It illustrates the extreme views held by opposing sides, views often sustained more by passion and prejudice than by sound historical research. The results of recent research over the last three decades, explicitly conducted with the intention of eliminating prejudice, show not only surprising conclusions but also the complexity and intractability of some of the questions posed relating to the influence of the Inquisition on Spain.