The Holy Office in the Marche of Ancona: Institution and Crimes

The essay examines the history of the Inquisition in a little-known area of the papal states, the Marca of Ancona, where political and religious dissent had spread since the late Middle Ages leading to the introduction of judges delegated by the Pope to oppose 'heresy'. Focusing mainly on the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the article will address the following issues: 1) The beginnings of anti-heretical repression under Paul IV and Pius V; 2) The territorial organization of the Holy Office, its seats and vicariates; 3) Sixtus V and the second phase of the Inquisition in the Marca; the shrine of Loreto and its Penitentiary; 4) The control of the port of Ancona: Christians, Jews, Muslims; 5) Catholic discipline in the seventeenth century: the familiari and the role of the tribunal; 6) The status of the surviving documentation. The essay could be placed in the third section of the book and it will certainly provide a detailed fresco of how a local office of the Inquisition worked in Italy during the early modern period.