Prospectus

Introduction

A powerful tool of rulers was to use public punishment in order to discourage behavior and to reinforce society’s perception of these sovereigns as all-powerful. The scale of violence recorded by witnesses of gladiatorial games of ancient Rome and of the Spanish auto da fe are disturbing in extent of theatricality and entertainment. In both public events, many must wonder how the murder of men can become such a fascinating social event when the forms of punishment originate in religion. By studying these two social trends, from different points in time and where blood is used as entertainment, perhaps we might find some common point in their origins. If not origins, then perhaps in how both these rituals, learn more of the reasoning for the progression of punishment of some into entertainment for the masses. More importantly, or rather, more concretely, we might be able to understand how the bloodlust in these two societies changed the society involved and their perception of entertainment.

Review of Literature

We have only just started to delve into our project, so we have yet to completely read the sources detailing religious and social justifications of the gladiatorial games and the auto da fe.  Books such as Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome  and Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World by Donald G. Kyle, and Sport in the Cultures of the Ancient World edited by Zinon Papeakonstantinou offer an excellent starting point, for these books have information that trace the gladiatorial games back to the funeral games of the Etruscans and other Italian people.

We have explored the ritual of the auto da fe through Francisco Rizi’s visual record of the auto da fe and Francisco Bethencourt’s “The Auto da Fe: Ritual and Imagery," due to the focus the religious origins of the auto da fe, and its progression into a social event with justifiable reasons for mass-deaths. Bethencourt’s article focused on the societal implications of the auto da fe, along with the consequences of the increasing violence of the ritual.

Additional articles, including Victoria Grefer’s “Metatheater in El mágico prodigioso: Defending the Auto de fe?” and Helen Rawling’s “Representational Strategies of Inclusion and Exclusion in José del Olmo’s Narrative and Francisco Rizi’s Visual Record of the Madrid Auto de Fe of 1680,” emphasize the link to theater which progressed as a result of the increased social importance of the auto da fe. Rawlings compared Rizi’s 1683 rendition of an infamous auto da fe with a written account of the event by José del Olmo, an official chronicle for the Church.

Other sources that may be of use include Henry Kamen’s The Spanish Inquisition and Maureen Flynn’s “Mimesis of the Last Judgment: The Spanish Auto da Fe.”

Methodology

As of now, our main primary source is Francisco Rizi’s painting Auto da Fe en la Plaza Mayor de Madrid (1683), which illustrates the procession of the auto da fe. We will search for more primary sources (i.e. personal accounts from the event) through specialized databases and collections. We have several secondary sources analyzing the progression of the auto da fe in Spain, the theatricality of the event, and the art of the Auto da Fe in comparison with a first-hand account of the event.

 Our aim in conducting our research is to use the secondary sources we have thus far collected in coordination with primary source accounts of the practice of the auto da fe in Counter-Reformation Spain and the ancient gladiatorial games in the context of entertainment and the social implications thereof. We will take on the approach of a social critique by linking the phenomenon of brutal religious entertainment in the Counter-Reformation period back to pagan entertainment of the same kind in ancient society. 

Speak to the Resources

To achieve the goals of our project, our most useful resources will be Florida State University’s Strozier Library, along with online databases geared towards studies in medievalism and Counter-Reformation Europe.

The primary sources necessary for the project will most likely be in Spanish. We will overcome this obstacle by finding translated sources or referring to secondary sources. Special attention will be paid to accounts of individuals who witnessed the auto da fe, along with artwork including Francisco Rizi’s painting Auto da Fe en la Plaza Mayor de Madrid (1683). 

Conclusion

Looking forward, the objective of this project is to create an analysis of the social and religious atmosphere surrounding both the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome and the Spanish and Portuguese ritual of the auto da fe between the 15^th and 17^th centuries. We aim to look into the progression of the violence of the auto da fe as entertainment in Spain over the course of the 17th century, and link it to the violent entertainment of the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome. Primarily, the auto da fe served as religious punishment of the heretics and an expression of Church power. The auto da fe evolved into a social event and symbol of Catholic preeminence, in which Spaniards crowded to witness the theatricality similar to the excitement of gladiatorial games of ancient Rome. Use of violence and mass public death for public entertainment hearkens back to the brutal entertainment experienced by the society of ancient Rome during the gladiatorial games, but with a distinct religious justification.  The final product of this research project will be an in-depth analysis and commentary on this link between the Counter-Reformation and Roman antiquity.