O lionês Gaspar Trechsel na Inquisição de Lisboa: O livro como veículo de difusão do luteranismo

The importance of the printed book in the dissemination of new ideas in the 16 th century can be evaluated by the uneasiness experienced by inquisitors with the discovery of a single suspicious new book arriving on a ship to the city’s port from countries where Lutheranism was rampant. Even worse, therefore, was when the Holy Office received information that a Frenchman living in Lisbon had tried to introduce Lutheran books into Spain.
Gaspar Trechsel was the nephew of an important book merchant from Lyon who came to Portugal after the financial downfall and death of his uncle, as un agent for several publishing houses from his home city. A denouncement was enough to get the bookseller imprisoned in June 1559 for over a year. Having confessed to having professed Protestant ideas and owning and selling forbidden books, he asked for forgiveness, whereby his detention was shorter and his punishment less serious. This happy outcome was certainly due in part by the fact that Gaspar Treschel belonged to a well-known French family of booksellers.