Lea's account of the Inquisition in Italy, Spain and South America was first published in 1908. Drawing on primary source material, the American historian gives a detailed account of the workings of the Inquisition and its individual tribunals in places including Sicily and Naples, Mexico, Peru and the Philippines.

Henry Charles Lea's account of the Inquisition in Italy, Spain and South America was first published in 1908. Drawing on primary source material, the American historian gives a detailed account of the workings of the Inquisition and its individual tribunals in Sicily, Naples, Sardinia and Milan. He also describes the Inquisition in Malta, the Canary Islands, Mexico, Peru, New Granada and the Philippines. According to Lea the Inquisition persisted from the sixteenth right up to the nineteenth century. He demonstrates how some of the individuals entrusted with implementing the Inquisition abused their powers, and how the Inquisition in the Spanish colonies prevented the efficient running of governmental administrations. He focuses on some of the consequences of the Inquisition: Jews were banished from Naples, there were moves to exclude new Christians from the Church in Mexico, and the mysticism practised in New Granada was considered a grave threat to the Church.