Atlante dell'Inquisizione
Edited by Daniele Santarelli
The Atlas of the Inquisition, integrated into the Ereticopedia portal, brings together interactive maps devoted to the historical geography of inquisitorial institutions and, in the longer term, to other aspects of the history of dissent, persecution, and the circulation of people and ideas. This section complements the entries in the Dictionary of Heretics, Dissenters and Inquisitors in the Mediterranean World and the resources of the Repertory of Inquisitors and Inquisitorial Tribunals, offering an additional way to explore the site, with places providing a point of access to the institutions, individuals, and events under study.
Geography is essential to understanding how inquisitorial systems operated. The distribution of tribunals, the distances between their seats, the presence of commissariats, and the use of inquisitorial visitations help us examine the practical forms of religious control, relations between centres and peripheries, and the different ways in which inquisitorial authority was exercised across territories. Comparing the maps also reveals similarities and differences between the Roman, Spanish, and Portuguese Inquisitions, while preserving the distinctions between their organisational structures and jurisdictions. From the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and Asia, the geographical scope encompasses the spaces in which religious repression intersected with mobility, exchange, and empire-building.
The interactive maps allow readers to move from an overview to a closer examination of an individual seat. Readers can explore different geographical areas, search for a locality, select points, and open panels containing dates, institutional information, and links to the relevant entries. The map thus becomes a guide to the material assembled by Ereticopedia, supporting research, teaching, and exploration by a wider audience.
These resources are currently available:
- Atlas of the Roman Inquisition – Interactive map of the tribunals of the Roman Inquisition, illustrating their geographical distribution and historical development over time.
- Atlas of the Spanish Inquisition – Interactive map of the network of Spanish Inquisition tribunals across the Iberian Peninsula and the territories of the Spanish monarchy.
- Atlas of the Portuguese Inquisition – Interactive map of Portuguese inquisitorial tribunals, with particular attention to their expansion into overseas colonial territories.
- Atlas of the Medieval Inquisition – Geographical survey of the principal centres and areas of activity of the medieval Inquisition, from its origins to the development of the persecution of heresy in the late Middle Ages.
- Geography of the Archival Sources on the Roman Inquisition – Interactive geographical repertory of archival institutions and collections preserving records relating to the Roman Inquisition, with descriptive entries and references to archival sources.
PAGE CREATED BY DANIELE SANTARELLI | ERETICOPEDIA.ORG © 2026
et tamen e summo, quasi fulmen, deicit ictos
invidia inter dum contemptim in Tartara taetra
invidia quoniam ceu fulmine summa vaporant
plerumque et quae sunt aliis magis edita cumque
[Lucretius, "De rerum natura", lib. V]