The documents used in this volume are, for the most part, drawn up by the very men who took part in those varied intrigues, and they are largely the originals themselves. Providence has preserved them to be the avengers of many crimes, and perhaps, though we imagine we are acting spontaneously, are little more than instruments of divine justice. This work traces the history and origin of the Inquisition in Portugal from the Inquisition in Europe to the Inquisition being established without restriction in 1547 and 1548, with an epilogue of 1561.