(Il)legible Orthodoxy: Diligence and Impertinence Before Inquisitorial Curiosity

This article proposes the Spanish Inquisition as a site of productive conflict between the polyvalent significations of curiosity in early modern Spain. On one hand, the Spanish Inquisition promoted curiosity through diligent inquiry, while on the other it prosecuted those whose curiosity led them to impertinence. This article examines the significance of an archival curiosity whose dubious relevance within the archive highlights its fundamental illegibility before Inquisitorial curiosity. This article argues that despite an ethos of apparent orthodoxy and cryptic invitations to curious readers, the manuscript ultimately fails to prompt Inquisitorial inquiry and itself becomes designated as “Escrito curioso por su valor caligráfico” by an unidentified archivist. Impertinent as an archival misfit and insolent in its failure to adhere to standards of confession, the “Escrito curioso’s” playful provocations invite a diligent reader to peruse its depths, only to find obstinate opacities nestled within the umbrage of orthodoxy. Ultimately, the article contends that the “Escrito curioso” ironically elucidates the Inquisition’s paradoxical dependence upon the heretical curiosity it condemned. As a diligent expression of undying faithfulness to the Church and her Inquisition, it is relegated to the forgotten margins of the Holy Office’s operations.