[Mexican Imprint]:

$12,500 · Offered by William Reese Company

CONSTITUCION DE NUESTRO SANTISSIMO SEÑOR CLEMENTE POR LA DIVINA PROVIDENCIA PAPA OCTAVO...[caption title]. An early Mexican broadside proclaiming the power of the Spanish Inquisition in the New World. The Inquisition had formally begun in New Spain in 1569, when Philip II established tribunals of the Holy Office at Mexico and Lima. It was specifically charged with vigilance against Moors, Jews, and New Christians. The great privileges it exercised and the dread with which Spaniards generally regarded the charge of heresy made the Inquisition an effective check on dangerous thoughts, be they religious, political, or philosophical. The Inquisition largely relied on denunciations by informers and employed torture to secure confessions. The local natives were originally subject to the jurisdiction of Inquisitors, but were later exempted because, as recent converts of supposedly limited mental capacity, they were not fully responsible for their deviations from the faith. The first execution in the New World took place in 1574, and the tenth in 1596. Many of the victims of the Holy Office were amongst the Portuguese settlers who were persecuted for political rather than religious reasons.The present broadside reads, in translation:"Constitution of our most blessed Lord Clement by the Divine Providence Pope the Eighth against those who, not having been promoted to the sacred order of Priesthood, boldly take the authority of the Priests, dare to pretend to celebrate the Mass, and adm

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.