1626: A Year in the Life of the Roman Inquisition

In 1626, Europe was in the midst of the Thirty Years' War; a flu pandemic began spreading in Asia; the Dutch acquired the island of Manhattan; Queen Christina of Sweden was born; and Francis Bacon died. A lot can happen in a year, and 1626 was no exception. It was an exceptional year for the Roman Inquisition, however, but not because of anything that happened. What makes it exceptional is that an extraordinarily large body of archival material from that year has been preserved. Drawing on ...