A History of the Inquisition of Spain; Vol. 4

The fourth volume of Henry Charles Lea's monumental history examines one of the most fascinating and troubling dimensions of the Spanish Inquisition: its campaign against mysticism. While the Inquisition is often remembered for its brutal suppression of heresy, its war against mystical spirituality reveals something more complex, an institution terrified by the possibility that ordinary believers might experience the divine directly, without mediation by church hierarchy. Lea traces the evolution of mystical practices in Spain, showing how movements that began as earnest attempts to deepen spiritual life came to be seen as existential threats to ecclesiastical authority. Through meticulous examination of trial records, he reconstructs the stories of figures like Francisca Hernández and María Cazalla, women whose spiritual experiences brought them into conflict with the very machinery of religious power. This is history at its most human, scholarship that transforms dry archival documents into intimate portraits of faith, doubt, and the terrible price of spiritual autonomy.