Religious Intolerance in the Cortes of Cadiz

In recent years there has been no shortage of studies on religious intolerance in the Cadiz Cortes, but many of them are burdened by two critical errors. The first one is to focus the arguments on article 12 of the Constitution, without paying attention to other parliamentary debates in which the intolerant policy of the Cortes was more clearly expounded. The second common mistake is to ignore the circumstances which prevented some deputies from freely speaking their minds on religious matters. Through a detailed analysis of the proceedings of the Cortes, as well as other sources of the period, this article is intended to remedy both shortcomings, and thus to question certain common assumptions in current historiography. This approach leads to the conclusion that, while some deputies may had hidden his penchant for freedom of conscience, the decrees and speeches of the Cortes were more intolerant than many suppose. Not only they ordered to punish all dissenters from the Church's doctrines, but they decreed death penalty for anyone who dared to suggest the introduction of religious freedom in Spain.