The last falls of the Inquisition

The case of Eugenia de las Heras

Abstract

The article analyzes the case of Eugenia de las Heras, a woman from the bishopric of Sigüenza, linked to the Barco-Razola family with a presence in the publishing world. In 1802 she was denounced in the Inquisition of the Court of Madrid, first accused of being a liar and demoniac, and later as a heretic. She ended up declaring herself, due to inquisitorial pressure, as a prostitute. Through the oral Relation of his life, formulated at the request of the Holy Office, the institutional decline of the Inquisition in the final years of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century is evidenced in this research work, but, at the same time, it demonstrates the repressive capacity of the Tribunal in this historical moment and its strategy of reaffirming its political and ideological significance.The documentation examined allows us to know the books that Eugenia de las Heras owned and the sociocultural context in which the life of this woman developed. Quite a testimony of the importance of the female counter exemplary as an object of persecution by the Inquisition in its twilight stage.