Arbitrariedad, disputas y principios en la censura de libros por el Consejo de Castilla (1752–1808)

Abstract

The article examines the censorship activity of the Council of Castile, beginning with the laws and their interpretation, which sometimes led to disagreement with the Inquisition. Specific focus is paid to treatment of literature, the critical essay press, the period of greater openness (1785–1791), and to worries about bans aired in the Conversations of Perico and Marica (1788). As an instance of the new practice of an author being given access to negative censorship reports an analysis is presented of the banning of Frances Burney's novel Cecilia (1794–1795), rejected as not ‘useful’ by a censor specialized in Ecclesiastical Law.