Helen Rawlings is a Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Leicester. Her previous publications include Church, Religion and Society in Early Modern Spain (2002).

"Rawlings has made a valuable contribution to the field. She has successfully constructed a thought-provoking, analytical précis of some of the most essential studies of her subject. She has emphasized the complicated and contingent nature of the Inquisition’s practices in a manner accessible to any interested reader." (European History Quarterly, January 2009) "Offers insights into a much mythologised and maligned phenomenon and, historiographically, it's bang up to date." (BBC History Magazine)"Helen Rawling's The Spanish Inquisition is an excellent introduction to this complex and controversial subject." (H-Net Reviews) "Solid virtues and thoughtful care ... have gone into this contribution." (Bulletin of Spanish Studies)"Makes for compelling reading and for a perfect test case against which to measure all the revisionist history that Rawlings so aptly summarises." (Journal of Ecclesiastical History)

• List of Maps and PlatesAcknowledgementsChronology1 The Historiography of the InquisitionIntroductionSixteenth and Seventeenth-century LiteratureThe Black LegendEighteenth and Nineteenth-century LiteratureTwentieth-century ScholarshipThe Inquisitorial Data-bankThe Four Seasons of the InquisitionConclusion2 The Inquisition as an InstitutionThe Office of Inquisitor GeneralThe Council of InquisitionThe Inquisition in the ProvincesThe Procedures of the InquisitionThe Auto de FeThe Finances of the InquisitionInquisitors General of Castile and Aragón, 1483-1818 (Appendix)3 The Inquisition and the ConversoAnti-semitic Tensions in Spanish SocietyThe Statutes of Limpieza de SangreThe Beginnings of the Spanish InquisitionThe Expulsion of the JewsThe Portuguese New Christians4 The Inquisition and the Morisco1492-1525: Coexistence and Conversion1526-1550: Respite1560-1570: Coercion and Revolt in Granada1570-1600: The End of Tolerance in Aragón1600-1609: The Route to Expulsion1609-1614: The Aftermath5 The Inquisition and ProtestantismIlluminism and Humanism under AttackInnovation in Religious Life CondemnedThe Protestant Challenge, 1558--1559Inquisitorial Censorship and the 1559 IndexBiblical Scholarship under Scrutiny6 The Inquisition and Minor HeresyReligious InstructionReligious Deviance:(a) Blasphemy(b) Bigamy and Sexual Promiscuity(c) Solicitation(d) Superstition and Witchcraft7 The Decline and Abolition of the InquisitionThe Inquisition under the BourbonsThe Cortes of Cádiz, 1810--1813Restoration and Abolition, 1814--1823Goya's InquisitionThe balance of HistoryBibliography and ReferencesGlossaryIndex