The Trial of Catarina de Orta. Methodological challenges in scrutinizing an inquisitorial trial
Thursday, 25 July 2024 | 6 pm
HISTORY HOUR
The Trial of Catarina de Orta
Methodological challenges in scrutinizing an inquisitorial trial
Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço
Researcher, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisbon
Susana Bastos Mateus
Researcher, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon
Please join us for a History Hour on ‘The Trial of Catarina de Orta: Methodological challenges in scrutinizing an inquisitorial trial’ by Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço and Susana Bastos Mateus on Thursday, 25 July 2024 at 6 pm at the Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim.
Please join us for tea at 5:30 pm.
The Trial of Catarina de Orta
Methodological challenges in scrutinizing an inquisitorial trial
The trials conducted by the Portuguese Inquisition were directed at scrutinizing the proper observance of the Catholic faith of those who were unfortunate enough to be arrested, interrogated and sentenced. The unfolding of the inquisitorial procedures and the concrete dynamics and tensions generated from the interaction between the judge and the defendant resulted in the production of a distinctive type of document — the trial. This document offers partial and uneven views of a person’s life. They are fragmented views, limited to the periods of their so-called religious offences. On the other hand, they are also distorted by the fact that a defendant is being questioned on matters regarding their orthodoxy, which conditions both the facts of one’s life that are being questioned, as well as the answers being provided. Therefore, how is it possible for a scholar to overcome the specificities of this type of source? How can one go beyond what the source is narrating? This presentation will discuss the challenges of editing an inquisitorial source elaborated by the Goa Inquisition, and have it further rendered in English.
Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço
Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço is a researcher from CHAM (Universidade Nova de Lisboa), the Center for Religious History Studies (Catholic University of Portugal) and the Alberto Benveniste Chair of Sephardic Studies. He specializes in the history of the Goa Inquisition in Asia, with a special emphasis on Goa, Macao and Manila. He is the author of A Articulação da Periferia. Macau e a Inquisição de Goa (c.1582 - c.1650) and the coordinator of the Project Monsoons at the Alberto Benveniste Chair of Sephardic Studies and of the Serie Goana, a collection created for the purpose of editing trials and other documents produced by the Goa Inquisition concerning the New Christian. This collection has already published The Trial of Catarina de Orta by the Goa Inquisition.
Susana Bastos Mateus
Susana Bastos Mateus is a researcher of the Alberto Benveniste Chair of Sephardic Studies at the University of Lisbon. She is a member of the international research group “History of the Inquisitions” and of the editorial board of the journal Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas. She is co-author of The Trial of Catarina de Orta by the Goa Inquisition (with Miguel Rodrigues Lourenço and Carla Vieira). Presently she is coordinating the project Praying to the God of Israel according to the Portuguese Tradition (16th–18th centuries), which is dedicated to studying the circulation of clandestine prayer books in the Iberian world during the early modern period. Her principal research field focuses on the dynamics of the Sephardic diaspora of the 16th century, studying the role of women, and questioning the importance of gender as an element of resistance and agency.
Xavier Centre of Historical Research
B B Borkar Road, Porvorim, Goa 403521, India