Please cite as:
Bellido, J., Xalabarder, R. & Casas Valles, R. (2011) ‘Commentary on the Royal Charter for Licensing (1554)', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org

Reglas que se han de observar en el Consejo sobre licencias para imprimir libros. Ordenanzas del Consejo. Carlos I y Príncipe D. Felipe. 1554, La Coruña

2. Abstract. One of the most recognizable institutions of sixteenth century censorship in Spain was the Royal Council (Consejo Real). The institution was vested with absolute licensing power by a royal decree enacted in 1554. In light of the chaos caused by the plurality of licensing authorities, the enactment of this decree is a key moment in the development of censorial practices in the Spanish book trade. It was also the starting point for jurisdictional cross-fertilisation and a sequence of systematic legislative royal attempts to control the production and distribution of books inSpain. Our commentary explores the context of the passage of the law, the consequences of the formation of a centralised licensing authority and the relationships between preventive and punitive censorship developed throughout the second half of the sixteenth century.

While the Catholic Monarchs’ legislative activity regarding the book trade is frequently considered to be a series of attempts to promote and control the proliferation of printed material,[1] the 1554 decree is historically perceived as a turning point or a rupture in this trend. It demonstrates a transition from relaxed and moderate censorial attitudes towards rigorous and control-obsessed practices of censorship.[2] The main achievement of the decree was that it provided a coherent institutional unity to the power to issue licenses.[3] This was undoubtedly an important change in policy.[4] Furthermore, the “ferocious” legislative measures that would follow have its roots in the decree’s enactment.[5]

A complex convergence of factors could have caused this policy shift.[6] The decree itself exposed two features which were, at that time, viewed as necessitating legislative intervention. Firstly, it pointed out the proliferation of what were then viewed as “useless and pointless” publications.[7] The recursive theme of utility was used to mobilize legislation in an attempt to link the printing press to the public good.[8] Secondly, it addressed the need to put limits on the unrestricted and chaotic discretionary power to grant licenses.[9] In fact, the legal and political fragmentation of the Iberian Peninsula directly affected the management and control of licensing decision-makers.[10] Furthermore, the lack of coordination between different authorities seems to have resulted in embarrassing contradictions and differences between different licensing authorities.[11] However, there is another factor that stands alone as the most plausible rationale for this new regulatory framework: the alarm caused by the rise of Protestantism.[12] It is worth emphasizing here that the definitive break between Catholicism and Protestantism took place at Trent in 1547.[13] Books then became isolated items in need of special legislative attention for they “proved to be one of the most powerful vehicles of the heretical plague”.[14]

Considering the religious character of the threat, it is remarkable that the pre-censorship of books was placed under direct and unique royal control, attached to the ordinary (and not ecclesiastical) civil jurisdiction.[15] Licensing became a secular technology specifically concerned with the informational space opened in the transition from manuscript to print.[16] As a prevention-orientated mechanism, it constituted a form of censorship primarily focused on pre-publication.[17] By legally mediating texts before their release, this censorial practice exercised an administrative control on two interconnected activities: writing and publishing.[18] Ironically, modern preoccupations with the idea/expression distinction find here a very different and complex historical setting. While other censorial practices were connected to the distribution and circulation of ideas and doctrines,[19] licensing was mainly concerned with their expression, with how these materialised in the book itself.[20] As a result, licensing had an important effect on the typology of printed matter.[21] The creation of an administrative grid with an obligatory passage expected to be fulfilled helped to standardize and stabilize the book as a commodity. More specifically, the systematic application of the grid affected the individualization of the book through legal mediations (submission, inspection, aprobacion, license and privilege). Moreover, the printed material was surveyed to check that it corresponded with the manuscript submitted.[22] As licenses and aprobaciones were required as a preliminary issue, censorship worked at the level of potential risk of damage to what was considered then as “public utility” or public good.[23]

In a lecture delivered at the Universityof Cambridge in November 1915, Alfred William Pollard (1859-1944) made an early exercise of comparative (pre)history of copyright law between Britainand Spain.[24] According to him, there was a possibility to find similar British and Spanish legislative interventions throughout the mid-sixteenth century. Pollard specifically singled out the British Stationers' Charter (1557)[25] and the Spanish royal decree which is the subject of this commentary (1554). While differences were obvious (in terms of institutions, structures and rationales), he suggested a point at which their similarities become apparent. The charter and decree are united by their common regulative desire to produce order: the responsibility for licensing was procured and centralized in one agency. In Britain, the monopoly was given to the Stationers’ Company, whereas in Spain the power was (exclusively) granted to the Royal Council.[26] Despite the fact that Pollard did not elaborate further on such a comparison, it is also tempting to make a connection between registration schemes developed at the Stationers’ Company in Britain and the deposit obligation established in Spain because in both cases the original manuscript had to be submitted to the Council.[27] Some Spanish historians have traced in this obligation an embryo of the institution of the legal deposit.[28]

Interestingly, licensing practices developed by the Royal Council helped to construct a legal territory in Spain.[29] This dimension is worth noting. After allocating the legal burden on booksellers, printers and authors,[30] the regulatory threshold marked a preliminary distinction between lawful and unlawful material.[31] Licensing had the precise technical effect of a legal “presumption”: printed materials with a license were presumptively lawful. As a result, and because it functioned as a prerequisite, the qualification awarded by the Royal Council was not definitive. Furthermore, the system was not suitable as an enforcement mechanism through which to control the circulation and consumption of books.[32] It is thus not surprising that a more comprehensive system of control developed.[33] By the mid 1550s, royal and ecclesiastical jurisdictions distributed competences between preliminary approval and subsequent judgement.[34] While secular practices concentrated on the preventive aspect of censorship, -possessing the authority to block the publication of books by refusing to grant a license-[35] the Inquisition occupied the post-production and immanent censorial positions.[36] Undoubtedly, this overlap and cooperation of jurisdictions and temporalities made the system of censorship more complex and asphyxiating.[37]

From the very beginning, the Inquisition attempted to monopolize activities related to the printing press.[38] According to the Inquisition, the book was perceived as an object with “an almost totemic quality as a carrier of depravity”.[39] Despite the fact that the Inquisition occasionally granted licenses to print,[40] it was later prohibited to do so.[41] In the 1550s the cross-fertilisation of powers in censorship appears to have been finally settled.[42] While secular censorship relied on bureaucratic and administrative filtering requirements prior to publication, ecclesiastical censorship was concerned with the circulation and consumption of books.[43] If preventive censorship examined the formal properties of the publication in order to solely assess their potential damage, punitive censorship constantly attempted to trace heretical, depraved and other “bad books” which were already causing damage. Hence the spheres of censorial action overlapped. While pre-publication censorship focused on writing and publishing, post-production censorial practices covered other dealings with “bad books”, thus loosely resembling contemporary forms and ingredients appearing in secondary infringements of copyright. Additionally post-publication censorship also extended to non-pecuniary activities related to the consumption of books such as reading and possession.[44] In order to apprehend these areas, the Inquisition relied on suspicion, investigation and denunciation[45] and developed a “dense network of surveillance” in order to identify and prohibit heterodoxy.[46] In an attempt to mimic the movement of the books, the Inquisition traced their plausible access routes into the Iberian Peninsula.[47] A cursory glance at inquisitorial activities reveals regular visits to bookshops and libraries,[48] ports and borders,[49] ships and cargoes[50] and houses and printing presses.[51] More importantly, a book could be prohibited by the Inquisition even after having been licensed by the civil authority.[52] In this sense, the Inquisition had supremacy over prior approvals given by the Royal Council.[53]

Of the flexible censorial instruments developed by the Inquisition, the use of indexes was perhaps the most remarkable.[54] Indexing helped to define, guide and update the scope of prohibitions[55] and therefore sustained the mechanism of surveillance.[56] As already mentioned, the emergence of this activity coincided chronologically with the organisation of royal licensing practices in Spain.[57] Paradoxically, the two systems operated at different but interconnected levels. While licensing served to grant authorisations for printing,[58] the main purpose of indexing was to prohibit titles. It is because - as Loewenstein noted, “one can only securely index heretical books by title”.[59] Occasionally writers used the index as a means of rejecting titles attributed to them. Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) was one of these authors who denied and requested the prohibition of works falsely attributed to him.[60] It is thus not surprising that Fernando Bouza ironically suggested that this case opened up a “new perspective” for the study of the inquisitorial index as “an intellectual property watchdog”.[61]

In 1551 the first of the Spanish indexes, the well-known catalogue compiled by the jurist and Inquisitor-, General Fernando de Valdés (1483-1568), was published.[62] It introduced a singular innovation in comparison to other indexes appearing in Europe at the same time. Not only did the index prohibit books, it also expurgated them, “so that some works could circulate if the relevant passages cited in the Index were excised”.[63] However, the most repressive index compiled was probably the index of 1559, considered “as the cornerstone of all subsequent indices”.[64] It did not only include religious works but also poetry and literature.[65] A curious form of licensing emerged under these prohibitions was definitively banned: the possibility of having privileged readers,[66] or readers with a “license to read prohibited books”.[67]

However, the repression and prohibition of certain books paradoxically helped to produce a number of literary sensations in the Spanish and European literary underground. For instance, the ban and expurgation of works such as Lazarillo de Tormes did not prevent their commercial success.[68] To a certain extent, knowing (and reading) what the Inquisition had prohibited was at once a dangerous and tempting experience. Blanco White (1775-1841) once suggested that a good library was made up exclusively from books listed by the Inquisition.[69] That could explain why Inquisitorial Indexes, despite being privileged, were also affected by piracy. Pirate copies of this type frequently appeared with additional material such as offensive introductions.[70]

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Bouza, F. Del Escribano a la Biblioteca. La civilización escrita europea en la Alta Edad Moderna (Siglos XVI-XVIII) (Madrid, Sintesis, 1992)

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Escolano de Arrieta, P. Práctica del Consejo Real. Vol 1 (Madrid, Viuda e Hijo de Marín, 1796)

Fragnito, G. “The central and peripheral organization of censorship” in Fragnito, G. (ed) Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001)

Friede, J. "La censura española delsiglo XVI y los libros de historia de América," Revista de Historia de América 47 (1959): 45-94

Gacto Fernández, E. “Inquisición y censura en el Barroco” in Tomás y Valiente, T. et al. (ed) Sexo barroco y otras transgresiones premodernas, (Madrid, Alianza 1990) pp. 153-173

Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44

Gacto Fernández, E. “Sobre la censura literaria en el s. XVII. Cervantes, Quevedo y la Inquisición” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 1, 1991, pp. 11-61

García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en material de imprenta durante la edad moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación 6 (2), 1996, pp. 125-190

García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2003)

García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995)

García Oro, J. & Portela Silva, J. La monarquía y los libros en el siglo de Oro (Alcalá, CIEHC, 1999)

García Oro, J. & Portela Silva, M. J. Felipe II y los libreros (Madrid, Cisneros, 1997)

Criffin, C. Journeymen-Printers, Heresy, and the Inquisition in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005)

Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985)

Lea, C. H. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. Vol. 3 Chapter 4 (New York, Macmillan, 1907)

Leonard. I. A. Books of the Brave. Being an Account of Books and of Men in the Spanish Conquest and Settlement of the Sixteenth-Century New (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1992)

Loewenstein, J. The Author’s Due. Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (Chicago,University ofChicago Press, 2002)

Lucía Megías, J. M. Imprenta y Libros de Caballerías (Madrid, Ollero & Ramos, 2000)

Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980)

Martínez de Bujanda, J. "índices de libros prohibidos del siglo XVI" in Escandell Bonet, B., Pérez Villanueva, J. (dirs.) Historia de la Inquisición en España y América. vol III (Madrid, Centro de Estudio de la Inquisición 2000) pp. 773-828

Martínez Millán, J. “Aportaciones a la formación del Estado moderno y a la política española a través de la censura inquisitorial durante el periodo 1480-1559” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 537-578

Moll, J. “Problemas bibliográficos del libro del Siglo de Oro” Boletín de la Real Academia Española 59, 1979, pp. 49-107

Moll, J. “Valoración de la industria editorial española delsiglo XVI” in Livre et Lecture en Espagne et en France sous l’ancien regime (Paris, ADPF, 1981) pp. 79-84

Nesvig, M. A. Ideology and Inquisition. The world of the censors in Early Mexico (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2009)

Osorio Pérez, M. J., Moreno Trujillo, M.A. & de la Obra Sierra, J. M. Trastiendas de la cultura: Librerías y libreros en la Granada del siglo XVI (Granada, Universidad de Granada, 2001)

Paredes Alonso, J. Mercaderes de Libros. Cuatro siglos de historia de la Hermandad de San Gerónimo (Madrid, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez & Pirámide, 1989)

Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991)

Pascual, P. “Las pragmáticas y la industria editorial española en el reinado de Felipe II” Congreso Internacional "Felipe II (1598-1998), Europa dividida, la monarquía católica de Felipe II (Madrid: Parteluz, 1998) (tomo 4) pp. 403-423

Pérez García, R. M. La imprenta y la literatura espiritual castellana en la España del Renacimiento (Gijón, Trea, 2006)

Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320

Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983)

Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188

Pinto Crespo, V. “Institucionalización inquisitorial y censura de libros” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 513-536

Pollard, A. W. Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates and the problems of the transmission of the Text (London, Alexander Moring, 1971)

Prieto Bernabé, J. M. Lectura y lectores. La cultura del impreso en el Madrid del Siglo de Oro (1550-1650) vol. 1 (Mérida, Junta de Extremadura, 2004)

Ruan, F. “Market, Audience, and the Fortunes and Adversities of Lazarillo de Tormes Castigado (1573) Hispanic Review, vol. 79, n. 2, 2011, pp. 189-211

Rueda Ramírez, P. J. “La vigilancia inquisitorial del libro con destino a América en el siglo XVII” in González S. C. A. & Vila Vilar, E. (comps) Grafías del imaginario. Representaciones culturales en España y América (México, FCE, 2003) pp. 140-154

Rumeu de Arras, A. Historia de la censura gubernativa en España (Madrid, Aguilar, 1940)

Simón Díaz, J. El Libro español antiguo (Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1983)

Tena Tena, P. “Censuras Literarias: 1492-1505” Medievalismo, n. 7, 1997, pp. 139-150;

Torre Revello, J. El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española (New York, Burt Franklin, 1940)

[1] Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) p. 22; Pérez García, R. M. La imprenta y la literatura espiritual castellana en la España del Renacimiento (Gijón, Trea, 2006) p. 127; Torre Revello, J. El libro, la imprenta y el periodismo en América durante la dominación española (New York, Burt Franklin, 1940) pp. 21-24; García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) pp. 37-38.

[2] Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 80; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 96-100; Cendán Pazos, F. Historia del derecho español de prensa e imprenta (1502-1966) (Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1974) p. 29; García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) p. 39.

[3] Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188; 178; Cayuela, A. Le Paratexte au Siècle d’Or (Geneva, Droz, 1996) pp. 15-16;

[4] García Cuadrado, A. “Aproximación a los criterios legales en material de imprenta durante la edad moderna en España” Revista General de Información y Documentación 6 (2), 1996, pp. 125-190; 143; Paredes Alonso, J. Mercaderes de Libros. Cuatro siglos de historia de la Hermandad de San Gerónimo (Madrid, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez & Pirámide, 1989) p. 20.

[5] Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 80; Rumeu de Arras, A. Historia de la censura gubernativa en España (Madrid, Aguilar, 1940) p. 16.

[6] See S_1558 [Pragmática dada en Valladolid en el año 1558 por la princesa doña Juana en nombre de Felipe II]

[7] Bujanda, J. M. “Literary Censorship in Sixteenth-Century Spain” CCHA Study Sessions, 38 (1971), pp. 51-63; 53; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) p. 186.

[8] García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2003) pp. 156-159.

[9] Escolano de Arrieta, P. Práctica del Consejo Real. Vol 1 (Madrid, Viuda e Hijo de Marín, 1796) p. 407

[10] Lucía Megías, J. M. Imprenta y Libros de Caballerías (Madrid, Ollero & Ramos, 2000) p. 328; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) p. 186.

[11] Pérez García, R. M. La imprenta y la literatura espiritual castellana en la España del Renacimiento (Gijón, Trea, 2006) p. 149;

[12] García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) p. 77; Pérez García, R. M. La imprenta y la literatura espiritual castellana en la España del Renacimiento (Gijón, Trea, 2006) p. 149; Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 312.

[13] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 122-124; Osorio Pérez, M. J., Moreno Trujillo, M.A. & de la Obra Sierra, J. M. Trastiendas de la cultura: Librerías y libreros en la Granada del siglo XVI (Granada, Universidad de Granada, 2001) p. 25; 133.

[14]              Fragnito, G. “The central and peripheral organization of censorship” in Fragnito, G. (ed) Church, Censorship and Culture in Early Modern Italy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). p. 15

[15] García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2003) p. 155; García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) p. 38; Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188; 178; Pascual, P. “Las pragmáticas y la industria editorial española en el reinado de Felipe II” Congreso Internacional "Felipe II (1598-1998), Europa dividida, la monarquía católica de Felipe II (Madrid: Parteluz, 1998) (tomo 4) pp. 403-423; 404.

[16] Simón Díaz, J. El Libro español antiguo (Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1983) p. 7 [secular]; Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) p. 87.

[17] Cayuela, A. Le Paratexte au Siècle d’Or (Geneva, Droz, 1996) p. 16.

[18] Andrés Escapa, P., Delgado Pascual, Domingo Malvadi, A. & Rodríguez Montederramo, J.L. “El original de imprenta” in Rico, F. (ed) Imprenta y Crítica Textual en el siglo de Oro (Valladolid, Universidad de Valladolid, 2001) pp. 29-64.

[19] Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188.

[20] García Oro considers that this type of licensing refers to the quality of the printed book (thematic integrity, technical execution, etc) in García Oro, J. & Portela Silva, J. La monarquía y los libros en el siglo de Oro (Alcalá, CIEHC, 1999) p. 45.

[21] Lucía Megías, J. M. Imprenta y Libros de Caballerías (Madrid, Ollero & Ramos, 2000) p. 329; Moll, J. “Problemas bibliográficos del libro del Siglo de Oro” Boletín de la Real Academia Española 59, 1979, pp. 49-107; 52-53.

[22] Tena Tena, P. “Censuras Literarias: 1492-1505” Medievalismo, n. 7, 1997, pp. 139-150; 141.

[23] García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2003) p. 20.

[24] Pollard, A. W. Shakespeare's Fight with the Pirates and the problems of the transmission of the Text (London, Alexander Moring, 1971) p. 11.

[25] For a commentary, see Deazley, R. (2008) ‘Commentary on the Stationers' Royal Charter 1557', in Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900), eds L. Bently & M. Kretschmer, www.copyrighthistory.org; see also Loewenstein, J. The Author’s Due. Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (Chicago,University ofChicago Press, 2002) pp. 58-59.

[26] García Oro, J. and Portela Silva, M. J. La Monarquía y los libros en el siglo de Oro (Alcalá, Centro Internacional de Estudios Históricos “Cisneros”, Universidad de Alcalá, 1999) p. 45; Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 81.

[27] However the Spanish institution limited this obligation to “important works” see Lucía Megías, J. M. Imprenta y Libros de Caballerías (Madrid, Ollero & Ramos, 2000) p. 329; Lea, C. H. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. Vol. 3 Chapter 4 (New York, Macmillan, 1907) p. 483; García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) p. 77; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) p. 186; Eguizábal, J. E. Apuntes para una historia de la legislación española sobre imprenta: desde el año de 1480 al presente 1873 (Madrid, Imprenta de la Revista de Legislación, 1879) p.8.

[28] Martínez de Bujanda, J. "índices de libros prohibidos del siglo XVI" in Escandell Bonet, B., Pérez Villanueva, J. (dirs.) Historia de la Inquisición en España y América. vol III (Madrid, Centro de Estudio de la Inquisición 2000) pp. 773-828; 774.

[29] Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) p. 94; García Martín, J. El juzgado de imprentas y la utilidad pública (Bilbao, Universidad del País Vasco, 2003) p. 114 [public domain].

[30] Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188; 178.

[31] Cendán Pazos, F. Historia del derecho español de prensa e imprenta (1502-1966) (Madrid, Editora Nacional, 1974) p. 30; Martínez Millán, J. “Aportaciones a la formación del Estado moderno y a la política española a través de la censura inquisitorial durante el periodo 1480-1559” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 537-578; 559-560; Moll, J. “Problemas bibliográficos del libro del Siglo de Oro” Boletín de la Real Academia Española 59, 1979, pp. 49-107; 82; Friede, J. "La censura española del siglo XVI y los libros de historia de América," Revista de Historia de América 47 (1959): 45-94; 50.

[32] Criffin, C. Journeymen-Printers, Heresy, and the Inquisition in Sixteenth-Century Spain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) @@@

[33] Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 25.

[34] Lea, C. H. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. Vol. 3 Chapter 4 (New York, Macmillan, 1907) p. 483; see also García Oro, J. Los reyes y los libros. La política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro (1475-1598) (Madrid, Cisneros, 1995) p. 77; García Oro, J. & Portela Silva, M. J. Felipe II y los libreros (Madrid, Cisneros, 1997) p. 9; Gacto Fernández, E. “Inquisición y censura en el Barroco” in Tomás y Valiente, T. et al. (ed) Sexo barroco y otras transgresiones premodernas, (Madrid, Alianza 1990) pp. 153-173; 153

[35] Nesvig, M. A. Ideology and Inquisition. The world of the censors in Early Mexico (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2009) p. 229.

[36] Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) p. 94; Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p. 181; 160.

[37] Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188; 178-181; Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) p. 94; Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 205; Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 81; Prieto Bernabé, J. M. Lectura y lectores. La cultura del impreso en el Madrid del Siglo de Oro (1550-1650) vol. 1 (Mérida, Junta de Extremadura, 2004) p. 384; ; Paredes Alonso, J. Mercaderes de Libros. Cuatro siglos de historia de la Hermandad de San Gerónimo (Madrid, Fundación Germán Sánchez Ruipérez & Pirámide, 1989) p. 22.

[38] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) p. 126; Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; Lea, C. H. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. Vol. 3 Chapter 4 (New York, Macmillan, 1907) p. 482.

[39] Pinto Crespo, V. “Thought Control in Spain” in Haliczer, S. (ed) Inquisition and Society in Early Modern Europe (New Yersey, Barnes & Noble, 1987) pp. 171-188; 177; see also Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 23.

[40] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 126-133; Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 309; Lea, C. H. A History of the Inquisition of Spain. Vol. 3 Chapter 4 (New York, Macmillan, 1907) p. 483; Martínez de Bujanda, J. "índices de libros prohibidos del siglo XVI" in Escandell Bonet, B., Pérez Villanueva, J. (Dirs.) Historia de la Inquisición en España y América. vol III (Madrid, Centro de Estudio de la Inquisición 2000) pp. 773-828; 776.

[41] Martínez Millán, J. “Aportaciones a la formación del Estado moderno y a la política española a través de la censura inquisitorial durante el periodo 1480-1559” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 537-578; 559.

[42] Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 309

[43] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 142-145.

[44] Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44; see also Loewenstein, J. The Author’s Due. Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (Chicago,University ofChicago Press, 2002) pp. 55-57.

[45] Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 305; Prieto Bernabé, J. M. Lectura y lectores. La cultura del impreso en el Madrid del Siglo de Oro (1550-1650) vol. 1 (Mérida, Junta de Extremadura, 2004) p. 390; Pinto Crespo, V. “Institucionalización inquisitorial y censura de libros” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 513-536; 520.

[46] Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 305.

[47] Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 29.

[48] See, generally, García Oro, J. & Portela Silva, M. J. Felipe II y los libreros (Madrid, Cisneros, 1997); Gacto Fernández, E. “Sobre la censura literaria en el s. XVII. Cervantes, Quevedo y la Inquisición” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 1, 1991, pp. 11-61; Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 33; Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44; 9.

[49] Rueda Ramírez, P. J. “La vigilancia inquisitorial del libro con destino a América en el siglo XVII” in González S. C. A. & Vila Vilar, E. (comps) Grafías del imaginario. Representaciones culturales en España y América (México, FCE, 2003) pp. 140-154; Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 29.

[50] Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 87.

[51] Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 309; Pinto Crespo, V. Inquisición y control ideológico en la España del siglo XVI (Madrid, Taurus, 1983) pp. 91-93; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 136-142.

[52] Moll, J. “Valoración de la industria editorial española del siglo XVI” in Livre et Lecture en Espagne et en France sous l’ancien regime (Paris, ADPF, 1981) pp. 79-84; 82.

[53] Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 27; Gacto Fernández, E. “Sobre la censura literaria en el s. XVII. Cervantes, Quevedo y la Inquisición” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 1, 1991, pp. 11-61; 12; Martínez Millán, J. “Aportaciones a la formación del Estado moderno y a la política española a través de la censura inquisitorial durante el periodo 1480-1559” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 537-578; 559; Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44; 9.

[54] Simón Díaz, J. El Libro español antiguo (Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1983) p. 21; De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 145-162; Pinto, V., “Los Índices de libros prohibidos” Hispania Sacra n. 35, 1983, pp. 161-191l Gacto Fernández, E. “Sobre la censura literaria en el s. XVII. Cervantes, Quevedo y la Inquisición” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 1, 1991, pp. 11-61; 13; Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p. 141.

[55] Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 49; Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44; 9.

[56] Pinto Crespo, V. “Censorship: A System of Control and an Instrument of Action” in Alcalá, A. (ed) The Spanish Inquisition and the Inquisitorial Mind (New Jersey, Social Science Monographs, 1987) pp. 303-320; 311; Prieto Bernabé, J. M. Lectura y lectores. La cultura del impreso en el Madrid del Siglo de Oro (1550-1650) vol. 1 (Mérida, Junta de Extremadura, 2004) pp. 393-394

[57] De los Reyes Gómez, F. El libro en España y América: Legislación y censura (Siglos XV-XVIII) vol. 1 (Madrid: Arco/Libros, 2000) pp. 143-145; Pascual, P. “Las pragmáticas y la industria editorial española en el reinado de Felipe II” Congreso Internacional "Felipe II (1598-1998), Europa dividida, la monarquía católica de Felipe II (Madrid: Parteluz, 1998) (tomo 4) pp. 403-423; 407.

[58] “Licensing is specifically, and quite consequentially, a press censorship” in Loewenstein, J. The Author’s Due. Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (Chicago,University ofChicago Press, 2002) p. 56.

[59] See the general comments in Loewenstein, J. The Author’s Due. Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (Chicago,University ofChicago Press, 2002) pp. 54-66.

[60] Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p. 161.

[61] Bouza, F. Del Escribano a la Biblioteca. La civilización escrita europea en la Alta Edad Moderna (Siglos XVI-XVIII) (Madrid, Sintesis, 1992) p. 61.

[62] Prieto Bernabé, J. M. Lectura y lectores. La cultura del impreso en el Madrid del Siglo de Oro (1550-1650) vol. 1 (Mérida, Junta de Extremadura, 2004) p. 394; Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 50; Gacto Fernández, E. “Inquisición y censura en el Barroco” in Tomás y Valiente, T. et al. (ed) Sexo barroco y otras transgresiones premodernas, (Madrid, Alianza 1990) pp. 153-173; 155; Martínez de Bujanda, J. "índices de libros prohibidos del siglo XVI" in Escandell Bonet, B., Pérez Villanueva, J. (Dirs.) Historia de la Inquisición en España y América. vol III (Madrid, Centro de Estudio de la Inquisición 2000) pp. 773-828; 782-788.

[63] Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 81; Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p. 142.

[64] Leonard. I. A. Books of the Brave. Being an Account of Books and of Men in the Spanish Conquest and Settlement of the Sixteenth-Century New (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1992) pp. 74-75.

[65] Kamen, H. Inquisition and Society in Spain in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985) p. 83; Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p 151.

[66] Gacto Fernández, E. “Libros venenosos” Revista de la Inquisición, n. 6, 1997, pp. 7-44; 21-23.

[67] Martínez Millán, J. “Aportaciones a la formación del Estado moderno y a la política española a través de la censura inquisitorial durante el periodo 1480-1559” in Pérez Villanueva, J. (coord.) La Inquisición española. Nuevas visiones, nuevos horizontes (Madrid, siglo XXI, 1980) pp. 537-578; 574; Pardo Tomás, J. Ciencia y censura. La Inquisición española y los libros científicos en los siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid, CSIC, 1991) p. 41.

[68] Ruan, F. “Market, Audience, and the Fortunes and Adversities of Lazarillo de Tormes Castigado (1573) Hispanic Review, vol. 79, n. 2, 2011, pp. 189-211.

[69] “Quien desee formar una biblioteca, debería escoger exclusivamente sus libros en el índice de obras prohibidas” quoted in Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) p 141.

[70] Márquez, A. Literatura e Inquisición en España, 1478-1834 (Madrid, Taurus, 1980) pp. 149-150.