Tribunal de la Inquisición de Santiago

Item

Country

ES

Name of institution (English)

National Historical Archive

Name of institution (official language of the state)

Language of name of institution

spa

Contact information: postal address

Serrano 115, 28006 Madrid

Contact information: phone number

0034 917688500

Contact information: web address

Contact information: email

ahn@cultura.gob.es

Reference number

INQUISICIÓN

Type of reference number

Archival reference number

Title (English)

Tribunal of the Inquisition of Santiago

Title (official language of the state)

Tribunal de la Inquisición de Santiago

Language of title

spa

Creator / accumulator

Tribunal de la Inquisición de Santiago

Date(s)

1520/1834

Language(s)

spa

Extent

4 books

Type of material

Textual Material

Scope and content

This fonds comprises documentation produced by the Inquisition of Santiago. The fonds is relatively small, containing only four books mainly referring to issues related to the economic management of the court.
The local populations offered resistance to the implementation of this court. Despite that, the court's actions against conversos accused of practising Jewish-related activities were notorious. Those fleeing from persecution in Portugal and crossing Galicia to get to other European cities and ports were particular targets of this court.
The Spanish Archives system, PARES, provides researchers with a large amount of documentation, which has already been digitised and made available online.
In most cases, consultation of inquisitorial documents should be complemented with research on other district courts and the Consejo de Inquisicion (Inquisition Council) fonds, which contains documentation produced by the Suprema. This institution had jurisdiction over all inquisitorial courts in Spanish territories.

Archival history

After the extinction of the Inquisition in Spain, most documents were sent to the Archivo General de Simancas. From 1896, the inquisitorial fonds held in Simancas and Alcalá were sent to the Archivo Historico Nacional, where the Inquisición section was created. This section was completed by incorporating other inquisitorial documents stored in the Biblioteca Nacional de España (National Library of Spain) in 1914.
The archives of the Tribunal of Santiago were lost.
Sources:

Administrative / Biographical history

The Inquisition of Galicia was founded in 1574 after numerous unsuccessful attempts (1520, 1524-1532, 1561-1567). The intent was to intensify the control in a somewhat isolated region, which was particularly important given the proximity to the Atlantic and its growing importance with the Iberian Expansion processes. Its district corresponded almost precisely to the territory of Galicia, which was part of the Inquisition of Valladolid before that. The Inquisition of Galicia had its headquarters in Santiago de Compostela, a vital ecclesiastical capital of the region.
This Inquisitorial Court's activity was limited compared to that of the courts in the interior of the Peninsula. Before the early 17th century, this Court mostly persecuted Old Christians accused of blasphemy and other behaviours related to moral issues. At a later period, conversos became an important target, especially those fleeing persecution in Portugal and crossing Galicia in their passage to other territories.
The Court had difficulties imposing itself in local societies, being the target of frequent protests by local populations, who often tried to sabotage its activity. The Court was suppressed in 1820, along with the other courts of the Spanish Inquisition.

Access points: locations

Access points: corporate bodies

Access points: subject terms

Access points: document types

System of arrangement

The fonds is arranged according to document type.

Links to finding aids

Author of the description

Kevin Soares, 2023

Bibliography

Item sets