Paper -a:
The medieval inquisition (inquisitio hereticæ pravitatis) was in the 13th century initially a temporary expedient to solve the problems of heresy, particularly Catharism. But over time it developed from a technique to solve particular problems to an historical agent, which had continuity and helped define the way new challenges were dealt with. This paper will cover how in the 14th century the medieval inquisition transformed into an institution, which developed and continued well into the modern period, notably as the Spanish and Roman inquisitions. It builds on an article of 1995 by Richard Kieckhefer outlining this process of institutionalisation.
Paper -b:
By the end of the 16th century, laws of 'purity of blood' attained an unprecedented height of diffusion in the Iberian Peninsula. This was precisely the time when descendants of the famously converted Jew Rabbi Salomon Halevi/ Pablo de Santa Maria, bishop of Burgos (1351-1435) tried to obtain complete ennoblement, as if they were Old Christian aristocrats. One of the means employed to attain that goal was to elaborate on sources written from the late 14th to the late 16th century in which the conversion of Pablo de Santa Maria was described as miraculous and his life was depicted as that of a saint.
Paper -c:
The medieval period had seen fierce debates among monks, canons, and friars about the most perfect form of religious life. The attacks of early Protestant reformers on all religious orders brought on the need for religions to develop a new apologetic not dependent on earlier polemics. Jacob Panhausen was abbot of the Premonstratensian abbey of Steinfeld and vicar general of the Westphalian circary from 1540-1582. This paper will survey briefly his life and work, and focus on his tract in defense of monastic vows. It will show how Panhausen transforms arguments from earlier medieval debates about the nature of the religious life to deal with the new situation.
| 