Inquisition et pouvoirs civils dans les États des Couronnes de Castille et d’Aragon. Essai de synthèse

Taking into account the long lifetime of the Spanish inquisition and the various roles it played, I have distinguished three possible scenarios whose applications can be found in the institution’s history:1. a confusion of powers or, to put it another way, the supreme secular power, i.e. the Crown, and the inquisitorial power being made identical;2. a collaboration between secular powers at the highest levels (king, viceroy, audiences) and the inquisitorial power;3. jurisdictional conflicts between secular and inquisitorial powers.In the first two scenarios the concept of a « denominationalization » of monarchy seems adequate. The concept is of German origin, but has been applied to Spain by several Inquisition specialists for about twenty years. The reign of Philip II would correspond to the concept’s validity at its highest, since the political orientations Philip II gave the Spanish monarchy are in keeping with the concept’s main features. Our present study develops such ideas and gives many illustrations of them. The third scenario, however, implies two very different aspects: the first aspect is about jurisdiction conflicts, which were inevitable especially in the kingdom’s outlying territories (Sardinia, Sicily); the second aspect emphasizes the fact that in an Age of Enlightenment and increasing secularization of society the royal power could no longer stand the Inquisition as « a State within the State » or « a law unto itself »