Inquisition.

Abstract

Although homosexual acts, grouped under the rubric of sodomy, alongside other "unnatural" practices, were deemed an unspeakable sin often associated with heresy, its prosecution normally lay outside inquisitorial parameters. Under special circumstances, however, various inquisitorial courts did try sodomy. Indeed, it is estimated that between 1570 and 1630 there were nearly 1,000 sodomy trials before the Aragonese Inquisition and almost 500 sodomy trials under the Portuguese Inquisition.