Ecclesiastical power and Inquisition in the eighteenth century Luso-Brazilian: agents, careers and mechanisms of social promotion

Author(s)

Aldair Carlos Rodrigues

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2012-06-29

Examining board members

Laura de Mello e Souza; Caio Cesar Boschi; Daniela Buono Calainho; Iris Kantor; George Evergton Sales Souza

• Advisor: Laura de Mello e Souza

Abstract

The main question of this work is the multifaceted relationship established between the ecclesiastical structures of Portuguese America and the Holly Office through the clergy (and their careers) during the eighteenth century. We clarify these little known aspects of the strategies that made possible the presence of the Inquisition in Brazil, a land that has never hosted a tribunal of the Inquisition. This lack hypertrophied the connections between the local ecclesiastical sphere and the inquisitorial sphere. We investigate also the impact of these institutional apparatuses in colonial society, particularly highlighting their roles in the process of structuring of social hierarchies. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 07/59427-2 - Ecclesiastical power and Inquisition in Portuguese America (1707-1808)
• Grantee: Aldair Carlos Rodrigues
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate