Social Diseases: Heresy, Sedition and Political Pathologies in the XVIth century

In De iusta haereticorum punitione, the Franciscan Alfonso de Castro (1498–1558) issues a cautionary note about heresy, likening it to a "pestilential" force. He emphasizes its pervasive spread and the ensuing difficulty in curing it. Indeed, in his heresiological treatises medical language abounds, with the ongoing metaphor likening the process of addressing heresy to a healing process.

This volume explores the concept of social disease in Hispanic heresiography and medical literature. ...