SINS FOR CENSUS: ACCOUNTING FOR CENSUS AT THE TIME OF THE ROMAN INQUISITION

This research analyses the role of census for the functioning and the economic dimension of tribunals of Roman Inquisition. Roman Inquisition was established by Pope Paolo III aiming to react to the Protestant Reform which was spreading in Western Europe, during 16th century, with the name of “heretic plague”. During the inquisitorial colloquium, suspects were forced to tell the truth about their sins not only by the inquisitor and his methods, but also by the strong faith which made them to trust the Church and to see it as a sort of guide and the last hope to achieve salvation, necessaire for a blessed afterlife. Among the various confessions and declarations, suspects were obliged to declare to inquisitors their patrimony in what can be defined a census operated by the ecclesiastical institution. In case of condemn, the whole patrimony would have been confiscated by the Roman Inquisition. With the eradication of the heretic plague, Roman Inquisition began to investigate also minor criminals, aiming to defend the faith and to save as much people as possible from the eternal damnation. Also in these eventualities, census during the inquisitorial colloquium was developed. Furthermore, Roman Inquisition investigated people for a larger variety of sins than before, this enhanced the detail and the accuracy of census. This paper enriches accounting history literature with a contribution in a scarcely investigated field, the one of Inquisition. Furthermore, this paper proposes an element of novelty characterised by its framework about faith as the element which justifies not only the power of Roman Church but also any further action or consequence of the Church itself and its institutions.