Approach to the inquisitorial court documents preserved in the Spanish National Historical Archive

Abstract

The author analyzes the legal documentation produced by the Spanish Inquisition in modern times preserved in the National Historical Archive. The most representative is the “causa de fe” (cause of faith). Destruction of these documents in the nineteenth century requires the researcher to seek other complementary sources, such as the “relaciones de causas y autos de fe” (relations of cause and faith autos) and “alegaciones fiscales” (fiscal allegations). The Inquisition was also a court which managed the “civil litigations” and “criminal cases” of its own staff, which entailed “pleitos de competencias” (lawsuits of competitions) with other courts when there was no mutual understanding.