Eduardo Benítez-Inglott y Ballesteros

Research Topic: "In an Age of Uncertainty: Inquisition in Castile and Aragón (1391–1516)"

Eduardo's doctoral project explores the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition between the first widespread conversion of Iberian Jews (1391) and the death of Fernando II of Aragon (V of Castile). The central claims of his research are that both of the Spanish Holy Office’s political context and medieval precedents have been significantly under-emphasised in modern scholarly literature. Overall, the goal of this project is to understand better the power of inquisitorial ideas in the politics that shaped the Spanish Renaissance. The research makes a particular take on the diplomacy on inquisition and heresy between the Spanish kingdoms and the papacy before and after 1478.

Eduardo's long-term goal with this project is to use the Past to enlighten the Present and the Future in order to create trust and tolerance through effective policymaking. In stark contrast to most doctorates on medieval history, this DPhil has modern applicability since it aims to comprehend the relationship between crises and scapegoating more thoroughly.The doctorate's returns can be of use for United Kingdom and Spanish government organisations, as well as international bodies such as the United Nations' Forum on Minority Issues.  

Supervisors: Professor Steven Gunn and Professor John Edwards (†)

Research Interests

Eduardo is an interdisciplinary student with interests ranging from anthropology to manuscript studies and covering religious history, art, and literary studies. During Michælmas 2022 he acted as graduate assistant in the special subject paper The Trial of the Tudor State: Politics, Religion, and Society, 1540-1560.

Conferences

• 'Seville's Inquisition Network, c. 1474-c. 1504', paper presented in the panel 'Converso Entanglements in 15th-century Castile', International Medieval Congress 2023: Networks & Entanglements, University of Leeds (4 July 2023).
• 'A revolving door? heresy and apostasy in the context of forced conversion in Spain (1391-c.1450)', paper presented in a two-part special workshop on conversos, Universidad de Buenos Aires-Queen Mary University of London-University of Oxford (20 & 27 May 2022).
• 'Condemnant quo non intellegunt: Scapegoating of minorities in fifteenth-century England and Castile', Aberystwyth Early Modern Conference 2020: Community and Identity, Aberystwyth University - Prifysgol Aberystwyth. (2 September 2021).
• 'El chivo expiatorio en la Castilla e Inglaterra tardomedieval: Los Lolardos y los Judeoconversos', Aula Manuel Alemán, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (14 January 2021). 
• 'Discordia in regno, hæreses ubique: disobedience, socio-political tensions, and the “creation” of heresy', L'Apprendistato dello Storico (IV): Disobbedire nel Medioevo. Tensioni, Repressioni, Pacificazioni, Sapienza Università di Roma (11-15 January 2021). 
• 'The Politics of Heresy: the Scapegoating of Minorities in Fifteenth-century England and Castile', The Oxford Transnational and Global History Seminar, University of Oxford (24 November 2020).
• 'Alfred the Great as an English Gregory', Medieval and Early Modern Studies Festival, University of Kent (14-15 June 2019).
• 'A Lollard Preacher and the Eucharist: De oblacione iugis sacrificii', Medieval Church and Culture Seminar, University of Oxford (22 May 2018).
• 'The Black Death and Lay Piety in Medieval England’, St Catherine's College Exchange Conference, University of Oxford (28 February 2018).

Publications

• 'Causas in Partibus Cognoscendas: An Edition of a Vatican Document and Its Possibilities for Future Research on Papal Judges Delegate in Late Medieval Castile', Anthologica Annua, 70/1 (2023), 349–68. Available online. 

Public Engagement

Eduardo is committed to sharing his project and discoveries with those beyond the academic environment. He believes that History can be of immense use for the present, in particular concerning the wellbeing of religious, social, and ethnic minorities. To that intent he is involved with the media. 

• Interviewed in the podcast series Triálogos (13/02/2021): 'The Inquisition and the 21st Century: History in the Service of the Present'. Available via YouTube and IVOOX. 
• Interview in the radio programme  'La Alpispa', Radio Televisión Canaria (03/01/2020) [appearing between 01:04:16 and 01:18:35].
• Interview: 'Un Canario en Oxford' ('A Canarian at Oxford'), Canarias7 (29/12/2019). 
• Contribution with Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books AG: 'Popes, Conversos, and the Eternal City' (15/09/2023).

To contribute to the commemorations of World War I's centenary, Eduardo also curated in May 2019 the mini-exhibition 'War and Religion' at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.

Eduardo read History at King's College London (2014-2017), his first dissertation dwelling on the diplomatic impact of the Gregorian Reforms in the final protocols of English and Castilian royal charters and his second on the place of Lollardy in early English Protestantism (1520s-1530s). He then pursued a Master of Studies (MSt) Medieval Studies (2017-2018)  at St Catherine's College, Oxford, exploring the Eucharistic 'affiliations' of early academic Wycliffism (pre-1414).  

He has been in receipt of numerous awards, such as the Santander Universities' Academic Travel Award (2020), the Vice-Chancellor's De Osma Studentship (2020–21), and the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Language's Isaiah Berlin Fund Bursary (2021). Eduardo also received a Jewish Historical Society of England's Award (2021). 

In October 2017 the University Council elected Eduardo an Associate of King's College London (A.K.C.). In December 2022 the Council of the Royal Historical Society elected him as a Postgraduate Member. 

He is an active member of the Jewish Historical Society of England, being involved with its New Generation ('NewGen') Group. He is also a member of the British-Spanish Society, the British School at Rome, and of the Oxford Centre for Intellectual History.