author
Henry Charles Lea
1825–1909
A leading American historian of the medieval Church, he brought unusual energy and independence to subjects like the Inquisition, clerical celibacy, and ecclesiastical law. Working from Philadelphia, he built an international reputation for deeply researched books that shaped historical study on both sides of the Atlantic.
10 Audiobooks
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 2
by Henry Charles Lea
The inquisition in the Spanish dependencies Sicily—Naples—Sardinia—Milan—the Canaries—Mexico—Peru—New Granada
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 4
by Henry Charles Lea
An Historical Sketch of Sacerdotal Celibacy in the Christian Church
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume III
by Henry Charles Lea
Superstition and Force Essays on the Wager of Law, the Wager of Battle, the Ordeal, Torture
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume II
by Henry Charles Lea
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
by Henry Charles Lea
About the author
Born in Philadelphia in 1825, Henry Charles Lea grew up in a prominent publishing family and was educated privately rather than through formal schooling. He joined the family business as a young man, but poor health pushed him toward scholarship, and over time he became one of the best-known American historians of medieval Europe.
Lea is especially remembered for major works on the Inquisition, auricular confession and indulgences, clerical celibacy, and the broader history of the medieval Church. His books were known for their huge range of sources and serious archival research, and his personal library became an important scholarly resource that was later associated with the University of Pennsylvania.
He was more than a writer alone: he also took part in civic and reform causes in Philadelphia and was widely respected in learned societies during his lifetime. He died in 1909, leaving behind a body of work that still marks him as one of the most important American medieval historians of his era.