THE FOLIO SOCIETY

In 1482 the Spanish state embarked on a programme of religious and racial purges – La Inquisición – that lasted officially until 1834.

A runaway bestseller when first published by The Folio Society in 1998, Henry Kamen’s marvellous account provides a complete picture of these times, from the sides of both the tormentors and the tormented. It shows the social and political circumstances behind the religious zeal, and the clash between old blood and new money that brought about the ‘weapon’ of the Inquisition.

Kamen’s groundbreaking research gave us a new understanding of the era of Grand Inquisitor Torquemada and the auto-da-fe.