Eduardo Benítez-Inglott y Ballesteros
Postdoctoral Associate Member
Email: eduardo.benitez-inglottyballesteros@history.ox.ac.uk
Leave to Supplicate Granted: February 2026
DPhil Research Topic: In an Age of Uncertainty: Inquisition in Castile and Aragón (1425–1504)
Eduardo is a historian of medieval and Renaissance Europe, specialising in the social, religious and cultural history of the Iberian Peninsula and medieval Britain, with a particular specialism in art, religion, and society.
He completed a DPhil in History at the University of Oxford, where his doctoral research examined the origins of the Spanish Inquisition. He also holds an MSt in Medieval Studies from Oxford and a BA in History from King’s College London.
Research Interests
Eduardo’s current research interests lie at the intersection of history, art, and material culture, with a particular focus on artistic production and cultural exchange in late medieval and Renaissance Spain and medieval Britain.
He is especially interested in the development of Spanish art from the Hispano-Flemish Gothic tradition, exemplified by artists such as Bartolomé Bermejo, through to the emergence of Mannerism in the sixteenth century. A particular area of interest is also Mudéjar art and architecture, especially the interaction of Islamic and Christian artistic traditions in fifteenth-century Iberia.
More broadly, Eduardo’s interests extend to the reception and reinterpretation of historical artistic traditions, including questions of forgery, anachronism and the appropriation of the past. He is particularly interested in how modern and contemporary artists engage with, challenge, and reimagine the Old Master tradition.
In the field of religious and social history, Eduardo continues to investigate the relationship between the Spanish Inquisition and the papal Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, often referred to as the ‘Tribunal of Mercy’. His particular emphasis is on how individuals subject to inquisitorial investigation circumvented local inquisitorial tribunals by petitioning the papal tribunal in Rome directly for absolution and religious pardon, a subject on which his doctoral thesis undertook pioneering research.
Teaching
Eduardo has tutored for the following courses:
The Global Middle Ages, 500–1500 (EWF 5).
The Late Medieval British Isles, 1330–1550 (BIF 3).
The Trial of the Tudor State: Politics, Religion and Society, 1540–1560
Conquest and Colonisation: Spain and America in the 16th Century.
Publications
To be added in due course.
Further Information
You can also follow his work and interests on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Academia.edu
