Tears and Contrition in Early Modern Iberian Inquisitorial Trials (1560–1610): A Preliminary Study

The History of Emotions has been establishing itself as a field of historical research since the 1980s, but, to date, almost no attempt has been made to approach the study of the Spanish and Portuguese inquisitions through the history of emotions. Focusing on the period 1560–1610, which followed the conclusion of the Council of Trent, this essay endeavours to offer a preliminary analysis of Iberian inquisitorial trials for the history of emotions. The first section examines the case study offered by the trial of the Spanish soldier Bartolomé Domínguez, who was prosecuted in Portugal for committing sacrilege in 1589. Having lost all his money gambling, Bartolomé drew his sword and slashed at a wayside cross. This public act of sacrilege led to Bartolomé’s arrest and an investigation by the Inquisition. The surviving inquisitorial trial dossier provides an interesting insight into the role played by emotions in inquisitorial justice and social disciplining in the early modern Iberian Peninsula. The second section examines a limited sample of trials that have been edited and seeks to find references to tears and weeping in such sources. It discusses what such references reveal about the attitudes of inquisitors towards tears within the legal context of inquisitorial trials, and whether tears were always seen as evidence of genuine contrition. The third and final section focuses on investigating how the context of post-Tridentine spirituality might have played a role in the increased attention that the inquisitors paid to other physical signs of contrition beyond tears.