Inquisition and Regalism

the policy of (re)evaluating candidacies in the Holy Office during the Pombaline period

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the administrative procedure of the Portuguese Holy Office that was derived from the reforms promoted in its operation during the Pombaline period, with special attention to the social classification mechanisms adopted by the institution in the early days after its elevation to the status of royal court. The main interest is to discuss the action of the decision-making bodies of the Portuguese Inquisition who, specifically in the years 1769 and 1770, undertook a process of reanalysis of old licensing processes that had been suspended for incurring regimental impediments, reconsidering them in light of the new political guidelines that were in force in the Portuguese State at that time. The central argument is that this action was part of the reformist political efforts that aimed to curb the regulatory power of the Holy Office and provide the center of the governing power with an instrument to co-opt political support from the intermediate strata of society, valuing mercantile groups and broadening their base of supporters and state financiers. Such a plot reveals, then, a still unknown dimension of the regalist impetus of the reign of D. José I and gives a good measure of how the Portuguese Inquisition was at the service of the reformist policies of the Josephine government.