The Spanish Inquisition and the Morisco question under the reign of Carolus V. Unprecedented doctrinal and judicial administration adjustments (1516-1524)

Abstract

If the temperance of the Spanish Inquisition is usually interpreted under a Mohammedan approach as a consequence of political, social and economic factors, this article favours the idea that the Spanish Inquisition’s jurisprudence contributed in the definition of criminal law during the reign of Charles V. At the origins of the outrages committed during the generalship of Diego de Deza and the judicial practice reform triggered by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, the Spanish Inquisition defined a line of action based on the most rigorous compliance with the law actually motivated by an imperative of judicial conformism. Between 1516 and 1524, having to face theological and judicial ambiguities underlying the Morisco question and the contradictions in royal legislation, the Spanish Inquisition willingly delayed the process of unification in judicial practice and unprecedented adjustments relative to judicial administration, which doctrinal impact was transcending in terms of penal restraint and on a wider scale, in the Spanish Inquisition’s perception of heretic manifestations.