Translators and Interpreters during the Spanish Inquisition

Abstract

The Spanish Inquisition has been widely studied and approached from the perspective of different disciplines. However, from the point of view of Traductology, the role translators and interpreters played during that time is very little known. Authors who have published works in English about the Inquisition are numerous and some of them have mentioned interpreters involved in trials, ship registers, confessions, etc. This article collects references in these publications to the figure of language intermediaries, whether they were found among clerics, artisans or traders, to mention but a few of the wide range of professions carried out by those who ended up translating for the inquisitors.