Establishment of the Mexican Inquisition

Timeline

1. 1569–1570Madrid · MadridTo prevent European religious divisions from spreading to the Americas, Philip II ordered a permanent tribunal established in the Indies along the lines of the peninsular Inquisition. In August 1570 Moya was appointed inquisitor for New Spain and received detailed instructions signed by Espinosa. At this time the Lima tribunal was already under preparation, and the Mexico tribunal became the North American counterpart within the same edict system.
2. 1571Mexico City · Mexico CityWhen Moya and prosecutor Bonilla, alguacil Bazán, and others arrived, the viceroy was Martín Enríquez de Almansa. On November 4 the Inquisition was formally installed in Mexico City, independent of the episcopal tribunal of Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar and directly answerable to the peninsular Council. At the opening, residents of all ranks were required to swear to pursue so-called heretics, marking the replacement of ad hoc proceedings by a permanent institution.
3. 1571–1574Mexico City · Mexico CityThe new tribunal had jurisdiction over old Christians, converts, and foreign residents within New Spain, extending to the Caribbean, Central America, and later the Philippines, but explicitly did not try cases involving Indians. This exclusion left indigenous religious questions to episcopal tribunals while making the Inquisition an orthodoxy-screening machine aimed at residents of European descent and Atlantic arrivals. The first large auto de fe of 1574 showed the institution in regular operation.