PROJECTS
Security Tribunals in the Spanish Monarchy (ca. 1808–1813)
Martin Biersack
One of the central problems posed by conspiracy theories is that, although there may be indicators suggesting the existence of an alleged conspiracy, such indicators rarely amount to admissible evidence. This absence of proof creates a significant legal challenge, particularly in contexts where fears of political overthrow lead authorities to identify large numbers of suspects against whom no legally sufficient evidence exists to sustain convictions.
In response to this epistemological dilemma during the Age of Revolutions, the Spanish monarchy established a series of Security Tribunals (Tribunales, Juzgados, or Juntas de Vigilancia/Seguridad). These bodies were charged with adjudicating cases of political crime throughout the Spanish monarchy and constitute an institutional phenomenon that has, to date, received limited scholarly attention. Initially created in Spain in 1808, the Security Tribunals were designed to prosecute individuals suspected of collaborating with Joseph Bonaparte, who were labeled as “traitors.” In Spanish America, their jurisdiction initially focused on foreigners—particularly the French—but they were subsequently repurposed as instruments for the persecution of so-called infidentes (infidels) and sediciosos (seditionists) suspected of supporting independence from Spain.
This study aims to examine how these courts operated when confronted with suspicions of political crime in the absence of sufficient evidence to initiate formal proceedings before the Audiencia, the royal high court. When compelling proof of a conspiracy against the prevailing social and political order was lacking, substantial procedural adaptations were deemed necessary. According to my hypothesis, these adaptations brought the practices of the Security Tribunals closer to those of inquisitorial justice. Whether the Inquisition itself served as a direct institutional model, or merely as a source of inspiration, for the Security Tribunals remains an open question. Nevertheless, the struggle against revolutionary movements appears to have entailed the transposition of inquisitorial practices originally developed for the prosecution of heresy into secular courts tasked with the repression of political crime.
The Purification Courts in New Granada: institutionalizing suspicion in the early 19th century
Beatriz García-Torres Robles
In the context of the Atlantic Revolutions, the arrival of General Pablo Morillo in New Granada in 1815 marked a decisive turning point regarding the management of political loyalty. As occurred with the afrancesados in the Iberian Peninsula, the restored monarchy sought to establish mechanisms to distinguish loyal subjects from insurgents who had renounced the Spanish government. It was within this broader framework of monarchical restoration and regime change that the Tribunales de Purificación (Purification Tribunals) of New Granada were created in 1816.
This institution functioned not merely as a judicial body but also as an instrument of social control at a moment when suspicion of disloyalty to the Crown had become a central political concern. While the Sequestration Board addressed the material dimension of repression and the War Council imposed harsher punitive measures, the Tribunals of Purification were tasked with managing and certifying civic loyalty. Their rulings ranged from rehabilitation—through the issuance of certificates of purification, and thus of loyalty—to penalties including fines, forced labor, and compulsory military service.
Under this system, what may be described as an institutionalization of suspicion took shape: civilians were effectively presumed disloyal until proven otherwise. The certificate of purification consequently evolved from a procedural formality into an essential prerequisite for activities as varied as claiming a widow’s pension or practicing law. This study seeks to reconstruct the functioning of the Tribunal and to assess the profound impact of its actions on Neogranadine society. It positions the institution as a pivotal mechanism of political regulation whose legacy resonates beyond its immediate historical context, revealing parallels with later processes of political vetting, such as the Francoist purification tribunals in Spain, the Spruchkammern in postwar Germany, and anti-communist investigations associated with Joseph McCarthy in the United States.
Caribbean suspicion: Conspiracies and Freemasonry in the Captaincy General of Cuba During the Age of Revolutions
Iván Antonio Haro Palma
During a turbulent period for Spanish imperial sovereignty in the Americas, marked by the onset of the Atlantic Revolutions, significant anxieties were generated within the institutions responsible for maintaining colonial order. Such fears, combined with the chaotic situation in the Spanish metropolis—then immersed in foreign invasion—forced the colony into a permanent state of suspicion in order to preserve the privileges it had gained over the previous fifty years in comparison with other colonies.
This study focuses in examine how mechanisms of suspicion were implemented within the jurisdiction of the “Capitanía General de Cuba” and Puerto Rico’s. Additionally, the study highlights the evolution of these tools of control, the premises behind their implementation, and the specific courts used for prosecution. Once detected, these movements were systematically punished and suppressed. However, repression was not uniform; rather, it varied significantly depending on factors such as the number of conspirators involved, their social status and positions, the ways in which conspiracies were organized and carried out, and the material, human, and legal resources available to each colonial government at a given time.
It spans from the emergence of one of the island’s primary anxieties—the fear of a slave uprising following the Haitian Revolution—to the end of the “Trienio Liberal” and the second restoration of absolutism, evolving the colonial authorities’ approach over time. Ultimately, a lack of consistency and effectiveness led to the establishment of a permanent military court on the island to address these threats more directly.
The Purification Courts in New Granada: institutionalizing suspicion in the early 19th century
Richard Herzog
The project examines the roles women assumed in the wars of independence in Spanish America, both in the period preceding open conflict and during the revolutionary struggles themselves. Women of diverse ethnic and social backgrounds participated actively in the rebellions against Spanish rule in the late eighteenth century as well as in the subsequent wars of independence. They acted as organizers, secured and distributed provisions, transmitted sensitive information, bore arms, and, in some cases, exercised formal and informal leadership. Their visibility and influence, particularly in moments of political crisis, drew the suspicion of colonial authorities. Spanish officials increasingly regarded politically engaged women—especially those occupying positions of authority—as potential agents of subversion and, at times, subjected them to surveillance, prosecution, or punishment.
The study adopts a regional focus on the Andes, with particular attention to colonial Peru. In the region surrounding the former Inca capital of Cuzco, numerous noble Indigenous women played central roles in organizing and mobilizing support for the major rebellion led by Túpac Amaru II (1780–1783). Their prominence in this uprising was striking in comparative perspective and challenges conventional assumptions about gendered political participation in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Many of these women faced severe reprisals for their involvement. Only a few years later, colonial authorities proceeded against the influential creole prioress of the Monastery of Santa Catalina in Cuzco, suspecting her of sympathies with insurgent networks. Such anxieties about conspiracy and dissent in and around Cuzco were not unfounded: they were followed by a creole-led plot in 1805 and, subsequently, by the extensive Pumacahua rebellion of 1814–1815.
In the colonial capital of Lima, viceregal authorities likewise developed growing suspicions toward sectors of the creole elite in the late colonial period. The Bourbon reforms progressively curtailed the influence of Lima’s merchant elite, provoking resentment and resistance among creole traders. At the same time, members of the clergy came under scrutiny, and religious colleges were restructured amid concerns that they fostered liberal and revolutionary ideas. During the occupation of Lima by General José de San Martín, mechanisms of political vetting were institutionalized through the establishment of a Purification Junta (Junta Eclesiástica de Purificación), designed to evaluate clerical loyalty. Women participated in this process as informants and intermediaries. In 1822, San Martín formally recognized a number of women for their contributions to the independence cause by awarding them a military distinction within the Order of the Sun.
By situating the Peruvian case within a broader comparative framework, the project seeks to identify overarching patterns in the relationship between women’s political engagement and regimes of suspicion during the age of Spanish American independence. Through this lens, it aims to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of gender, authority, and political legitimacy in colonial and revolutionary contexts.
Suspicion in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, 1766–1820
Vicente Pajuelo Moreno
The research to be conducted in the coming years will examine how suspicion was constructed and managed as an operative category of colonial governance in New Spain between 1766 and 1820. During this period—marked by imperial crises, Bourbon reforms, and the impact of the Atlantic Revolutions—the preemptive identification of individuals deemed potentially dangerous became increasingly embedded in the practices of the viceregal government, the Holy Office, and port and military authorities. Within this context, the New Spanish Inquisition assumed a pivotal role in monitoring foreigners, inspecting ships, regulating the circulation of books, and processing neighborhood denunciations, thereby establishing mechanisms of control that extended beyond the strictly religious sphere.
The project’s overarching objective is to assess the impact of this security policy on the Viceroyalty of New Spain by analyzing how procedures of surveillance, control, and denunciation contributed to redefining the relationships among authority, territory, and population. It proceeds from the premise that suspicion was not merely a response to specific threats, but rather a governmental mechanism that shaped preventive forms of intervention, generated new social categories (such as “suspect,” “foreigner,” and “unlicensed passenger”), and reconfigured the balance of power between civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions.
The study is primarily based on direct research in primary sources preserved in the Inquisition section of the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico) and in the Consejo de Inquisición holdings of the Archivo Histórico Nacional (Madrid). Methodologically, the project adopts an inductive approach, analyzing cases initiated by the New Spanish Inquisition between 1766 and 1820 against individuals considered potentially dangerous to the viceregal administration and the Spanish Crown. It also examines ship inspections conducted to identify suspicious individuals at ports of entry.
Drawing on specific cases—including accusations of blasphemy, surveillance of French nationals and other foreigners, and the regulation of mobility and the circulation of printed materials—the project engages broader questions concerning imperial governance. In particular, it explores the transformation of the concept of security in the late colonial imperial world; the development of documentary and port control systems; the interplay between rumor, denunciation, and formal legal procedure; and the gradual institutionalization of policing practices.
A detailed analysis of denunciations, interrogations, judicial orders, correspondence, and inspection records will make it possible to examine both procedural practices and the legal and social languages that legitimized institutional intervention. More specifically, this approach will illuminate the mechanisms through which suspicion was generated, circulated, and formalized within the administrative sphere. In this way, the project brings together institutional, social, and political history to demonstrate how suspicion functioned as an instrument of government in a context of mounting imperial uncertainty.