Medical Knowledge and Inquisitorial Practices in the Tribunal of Cartagena de Indias

This article analyses the role played by physicians and surgeons in the inquis-itorial tribunal of Cartagena throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. Its purpose is to understand the outcome of the cases prosecuted for errors in matters of superstition in its extensive jurisdictions. Thereby, it proposes a reading that intertwines the documents produced by the tribunal with the use of abundant treatises and practical manuals in the nascent field of legal medicine. This reflects the ways in which medical knowledge contributed to updating the forms of judging errors in matters of faith and with this the very functioning of the tribunal in its daily practices.