Search

This article considers the relationship between women in the monastic life and political change during the late 15th to the mid-16th centuries in Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain. The author discusses the bishopric of Córdoba specifically and comments on the effects of the religious reforms of this era on women. She describes the common practice of the subordination of women by the assertion of power of the upper class nobility at the time mainly through the use of endowments, which were received with stipulations regarding their usage.

In the current history of ideas and intellectual itineraries, it is very rare to find studies on the circulation of religious ideas associated to social environments and power relations in early modernity. This paper analyzes the conflicts that prompted the intervention of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in the monastery of St. Placid in the early seventeenth century. The authors locate this analysis at the intersection of the new studies on the Catholic identity of the Habsburg monarchy, the inquisitional trials, the birth of a novel individualism, the contrasts between a refined theological culture --always on the lookout for any signs of deviation from orthodoxy-- and ancient religious beliefs, and lastly, the infernal and external rivalries of the conventual community. The research is based on the official correspondence (letters) between the accused, and between them and high-ranking figures, testimonies, and memorials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]