A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Volume I

Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.5
Word count
1.5M words
Chapters
147

Tags

English Originals World HistoryReligion Historical ReappraisalPower GameSocial CritiqueAcademic StudyMedieval HistoryInquisition

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I by Henry Charles LeaAuthor: Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909,Language: English, Class: BX: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Christianity: Churches, Church movements, Release Date: Apr 14, 2012

Editor's review

This is a public-domain electronic edition of Volume I of Henry Charles Lea's A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, a work of institutional and religious history grounded in primary sources. Its value lies not in sensation but in situating the rise of the Inquisition within the relations among medieval canon law, royal authority, and local society, showing how the institution took shape step by step. Readers should note the author's nineteenth-century positivist historiographical stance and narrative tone; it is not a neutral general history or an introductory textbook. It suits as supplementary material for courses on medieval European history, church history, and legal history, and for thematic study by readers interested in religious toleration. The original is in English, lengthy, and densely annotated; reading alongside a guide or a related general history is recommended, noting names, places, and terms first and then returning to the argument.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and introduction first to grasp the chronological scope and institutional threads of this volume, then proceed to the main text.
  2. Keep a comparative notebook of names, canon decrees, and place names, filling it in at key institutional points to avoid losing the thread.
  3. Read alongside a general history of the medieval church to place the book's arguments in a broader historical framework.
  4. Read one chapter at a time and, afterward, restate the author's core argument in two or three sentences to check whether you have followed it.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
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  22. 22
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  25. 25
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  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
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  38. 38
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  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
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  77. 77
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FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English? According to the materials, this is an English public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg, in English. There is no Chinese translation; readers need some English reading ability and are advised to use a Chinese general history or glossary for support.
Can I read it without any background in medieval history? Reading it straight through is not advisable. The book is primarily institutional and documentary argument and assumes basic familiarity with canon law, royal authority, and local society. Complete beginners should first read a general history of the Middle Ages and then use this as specialized material.
Is the book's stance objective? The author, Lea, was a nineteenth-century positivist historian, and the writing carries the methods and concerns of that era. Read the narrative as one perspective, distinguish source quotation from the author's judgment, and compare with other scholarship.
How is the electronic edition best used? The public-domain e-edition is easy to search and excerpt, making it suitable for thematic study: locate institutions, decrees, and cases by keyword, then check the context. For coursework, note chapter locations so quotations can be verified.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909 Author

Henry Charles Lea (1825–1909) was an American historian known for his studies of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The library holds eight of his works, including the four-volume A History of the Inquisition of Spain and the three-volume A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, as well as Superstition and Force. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, he examined the organization, trial procedures, and social impact of the Inquisition. His detailed, well-documented narratives remain foundational works frequently cited in the field. Because public information is limited, biographical details are omitted here, and readers may come to know his historical contribution mainly through his writings.