Inquisition, Slavery and Transing Gender in Renaissance Portugal

This book provides a microhistory that focuses on a truly remarkable document: the trial of Antonio/Vitoria, an enslaved African prosecuted by the Inquisition in Lisbon in 1556-7 for the act of sodomy. Through an examination of the inquisitorial trial dossier, François Soyer shares rare insights into queer sexuality and gender fluidity as well as the responses that they provoked in an early modern context. Furthermore, the book includes the first edition of the trial dossier in its original Portuguese as well as the first translation of this exceptional document into modern English.Inquisition, Slavery and Transing Gender in Renaissance Portugal combines deep archival work with cutting-edge gender analysis and an invaluable translated primary source. It also explores early modern racial dynamics by reflecting on Antonio/Vitoria’s condition as a black slave in a predominantly white European society and the impact that had on how events unfolded.