LLORENTE, lyo-ren'tề,
JUAN ANTONIO: Historian
of the Spanish Inquisition; b. at Rincon de
Soto (90 m. n.w. of Saragossa) Mar. 30, 1765; d. in
Madrid Feb. 5, 1823. He studied at Saragossa and
became both doctor and priest before he had
reached the canonical age. He was appointed a
commissioner in 1785, and secretary general of the
Inquisition in 1789. The opportunity that was
thus presented for becoming acquainted with the
functions and the archives of those in authority
was well utilized by Llorente. His endeavor to
make the procedure public throughout was frustrated on the fall of his like-minded patrons, the
Grand Inquisitor Manuel Abad y la Sierra, and
the Minister Jovellanoa. Llorente became so far
involved in the latter's fall that he, too, was subjected to prosecution, which resulted, however, in
his acquittal. Upon the downfall of the Bourbon
Government in 1808, Llorente took the side of the
followers of King Joseph. As member from 1808
of the Council of State, Llorente assumed the supervision of the abrogation of the cloisters, at
which time he began to write the history of the
Spanish Inquisition. This highly important work
was first published in French,
Histoire critique de l'Irtquisition d'Espagne
(4 vols., Paris, 1817-18);
then is Spanish (10 vols., Madrid, 1822); then in
German, English (London, 1826), Dutch, and
Italian. The reactionary Government succeeded
in punishing the author, for his ecclesiastical functions were annulled, and at the university there was
even issued an order forbidding him to give instruction in his mother tongue, and when the
Portrait
polilique des Pages (2 vo1s., Paris, 1822) appeared,
he was banished. But being included under the
universal political amnesty of 1820, he returned to
Spain; he had scarcely reached Madrid, however,
when his death occurred. The value of his principal
work lies in the fact that it supplies extracts from
documents no longer accessible.
K. BENRATH.
BIBLOGRAPHY Sources for a biography are his own statements in the Notice biopraphique, Paris, 1818, and the life by his friend Mahul in Revue eneyelopedique, xviii. (1823). Consult further: C. J. von Hefele, Der Cardinal Ximenea, Tubingen, 1851, Eng. tranel., London, 1860;
P. Gams, Zur GeachichG der apauiachen Inquisition,
Regensburg, 1878; idem, Die KirehengeaehichG van Spanien,
iii., part 2, ib. 1879; KL, viii. 56-59. The German transl.
of Llorente's history of the inquisition appeared in 4 vols.,
Gmund, 1819, and after the 3d ed. of the original, Stuttgart, 1824. The 2d ed. of the Italian transl. appeared, 8 vols., Milan, 1854.
