Storia moderna -Global Inquisitions (15th to 18th Century) (Ordinario)

The course will explore, from a range of themes and points of view, the birth and rise of repressive regimes and the establishment of control systems in the early modern period.

The module titled "Inquisitions (XV-XVIIIth Century): An Introduction" (designed for undergraduate students) provides a historical overview of the emergence of the three Catholic Inquisitions—the Spanish, Portuguese, and Roman Inquisitions. It analyzes the historical and legal assumptions that underpin the concept of heresy and the justification for widespread control over individual consciences from the Middle Ages to the 18th Century.

We will focus on the legal and procedural aspects of control and censorship systems, as well as their influence on early modern politics. Specific episodes will be contextualized and analyzed, ranging from cases of witchcraft to some of the most famous trials. We will dedicate significant time to critical readings and an analysis of how the historiography of the Inquisitions has evolved over the past forty years, moving from local contexts to a comprehensive global perspective.

The module titled “Ego-documents and Gender Studies: Reading an Inquisitorial Trial” (intended for professors and PhD students) will focus on the analysis of inquisitorial documents as enforced ego-documents. We will conduct a theoretical and methodological examination of the characteristics, potential, and risks associated with using documents from repressive and judicial systems to study biographical narratives in the context of gender and intersectional history. Both published and unpublished inquisitorial trials will allow us to create a methodological framework based on accounts of exceptionality and marginality, as conveyed through the more or less distorted voices of their subjects. This approach aims to promote a direct and personal exploration of early modern history and its sources.

A significant amount of time will be dedicated to reading original texts and documents, as well as analyzing visual sources. The professor will provide ten hours of integrative teaching focused specifically on reading and analyzing critical texts and sources—both printed and manuscript—during classroom sessions. This will include paleographic exercises on manuscript sources.