The History of the Inquisition of Spain from the Time of its Establishment to the Reign of Ferdinand VII.

LLORENTE'S HISTORY OF THE INQUISITION.
COMPOSED FROM THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS OF THE ARCHIVES OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL, AND FROM THOSE OF SUBORDINATE TRIBUNALS OF THE HOLY OFFICE. ————— ABRIDGED AND TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL WORKS OF D. JUAN ANTONIO LLORENTE, FORMERLY SECRETARY OF THE INQUISITION, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO, KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF CHARLES III., &c. &c. &c. ————— SECOND EDITION. ————— LONDON: PRINTED FOR GEO. B. WHITTAKER, AVE-MARIA-LANE. MDCCCXXVII.
LONDON: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford Street.
THE Compiler of the following pages has only attempted to give a condensed translation of a complex and voluminous history, with the hope that it might prove of more utility in its present form than in the original works. Those portions which are not calculated to interest or instruct the general reader, and afford no illustrations of the subject, have been passed over. Those trials have been selected which serve as examples of the various laws of the Inquisition, and of its state at different epochs, and which include the persecutions of the most eminent men.
The curious will be amply gratified by the perusal of the history of the secret tribunal; the man of leisure cannot fail in finding occupation and amusement in the pages of Llorente; and the philosopher will discover in them ample scope for reflection on the aberrations of human reason, and on the capability of our nature, when under the influence of fanaticism, to inflict, with systematic indifference, death, torture, misery, anxiety, and infamy, on the guilty and the innocent.
All the records of the fantastic cruelties of the heathen world do not afford so appalling a picture of human weakness and depravity as the authentic and genuine documents of the laws and proceeding of this Holy Office, which professed to act under the influence of the doctrines of the Redeemer of the World!
I offer, with humility, this abridgement of the work to the public, and while I hope that it will be kindly and favourably received, I believe that it may prove interesting and useful to every class of readers.