{"id":{"repo_id":"mo-state","oai_identifier":"oai:bearworks.missouristate.edu:theses-2171"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mo-state/oai:bearworks.missouristate.edu:theses-2171","repository":{"repo_id":"mo-state","name":"Missouri State University","base_url":"https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Performing Theaters of Power: The Holy Office of the Inquisition's General Autos de fe in Spain and Spanish America and the Visual and Physical Representation of Inquisitorial Power, 1481-1736","abstract":"The auto de fe, or \"act of faith” in English, served as the most elaborate public spectacle in what was otherwise the most private and secretive actions of an Inquisitorial Tribunal. At these massive public ceremonies that had both illustrative and didactic purposes, the Spanish Inquisition announced the sentences and punishments of those convicted heretics it sentenced and condemned. Although most previous scholars have identified these autos de fe as ostensibly a form of religious ritual, it is my contention that the Spanish Inquisition's auto de fe served not only religious, but obvious political, cultural and didactic purposes. Combining the politics of both the secular and the religious, as well as imbuing the ceremony with hierarchical and political messages, the inquisitorial auto de fe served not only to warn the Catholic faithful of the dangers of heresy, but it also served to delineate the proper hierarchical social and cultural spaces of what the Inquisition and the Spanish Crown believed were the ideal nature of the proper order of Spanish colonial society.","abstract_html":"The auto de fe, or "act of faith” in English, served as the most elaborate public spectacle in what was otherwise the most private and secretive actions of an Inquisitorial Tribunal. At these massive public ceremonies that had both illustrative and didactic purposes, the Spanish Inquisition announced the sentences and punishments of those convicted heretics it sentenced and condemned. Although most previous scholars have identified these autos de fe as ostensibly a form of religious ritual, it is my contention that the Spanish Inquisition's auto de fe served not only religious, but obvious political, cultural and didactic purposes. Combining the politics of both the secular and the religious, as well as imbuing the ceremony with hierarchical and political messages, the inquisitorial auto de fe served not only to warn the Catholic faithful of the dangers of heresy, but it also served to delineate the proper hierarchical social and cultural spaces of what the Inquisition and the Spanish Crown believed were the ideal nature of the proper order of Spanish colonial society.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Duncan, Justin R."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts in History","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["John Chuchiak"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2014,"date_issued":"2014-07-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2014-07-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:16:11Z","subjects":["auto de fe","Spanish inquisition","procession","spatial representation of power","religious ceremonies","History"],"languages":[],"rights":["© Justin R. Duncan"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1170","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["John Chuchiak"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Duncan, Justin R."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts in History"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["auto de fe","Spanish inquisition","procession","spatial representation of power","religious ceremonies","History"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["© Justin R. Duncan"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1170"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The auto de fe, or \"act of faith” in English, served as the most elaborate public spectacle in what was otherwise the most private and secretive actions of an Inquisitorial Tribunal. At these massive public ceremonies that had both illustrative and didactic purposes, the Spanish Inquisition announced the sentences and punishments of those convicted heretics it sentenced and condemned. Although most previous scholars have identified these autos de fe as ostensibly a form of religious ritual, it is my contention that the Spanish Inquisition's auto de fe served not only religious, but obvious political, cultural and didactic purposes. Combining the politics of both the secular and the religious, as well as imbuing the ceremony with hierarchical and political messages, the inquisitorial auto de fe served not only to warn the Catholic faithful of the dangers of heresy, but it also served to delineate the proper hierarchical social and cultural spaces of what the Inquisition and the Spanish Crown believed were the ideal nature of the proper order of Spanish colonial society."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Performing Theaters of Power: The Holy Office of the Inquisition's General Autos de fe in Spain and Spanish America and the Visual and Physical Representation of Inquisitorial Power, 1481-1736"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["John Chuchiak"],"dc:creator":["Duncan, Justin R."],"dc:description.abstract":["The auto de fe, or \"act of faith” in English, served as the most elaborate public spectacle in what was otherwise the most private and secretive actions of an Inquisitorial Tribunal. At these massive public ceremonies that had both illustrative and didactic purposes, the Spanish Inquisition announced the sentences and punishments of those convicted heretics it sentenced and condemned. Although most previous scholars have identified these autos de fe as ostensibly a form of religious ritual, it is my contention that the Spanish Inquisition's auto de fe served not only religious, but obvious political, cultural and didactic purposes. Combining the politics of both the secular and the religious, as well as imbuing the ceremony with hierarchical and political messages, the inquisitorial auto de fe served not only to warn the Catholic faithful of the dangers of heresy, but it also served to delineate the proper hierarchical social and cultural spaces of what the Inquisition and the Spanish Crown believed were the ideal nature of the proper order of Spanish colonial society."],"dc:identifier":["https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/1170"],"dc:rights":["© Justin R. Duncan"],"dc:subject":["auto de fe","Spanish inquisition","procession","spatial representation of power","religious ceremonies","History"],"dc:title":["Performing Theaters of Power: The Holy Office of the Inquisition's General Autos de fe in Spain and Spanish America and the Visual and Physical Representation of Inquisitorial Power, 1481-1736"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts in History"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:16:11Z"}