Inquisición y control de la sociedad urbana a fines del Antiguo Régimen

Abstract

In early modern times Inquisition courts kept an important presence in the urban societies, becoming a powerful instrument in which urban elites –as well as the Crown– left a footprint. The composition of those courts and their activity were changing in the long run perspective. In spite of this, they still were an important instrument of social control in the hands of local elites in the Old Regime end. This article deals with these historiography problems by analysing the footprint left by these courts in the Spanish Old Regime urban society in order to give a chance for future comparative approaches within the societies of the Spanish empire.