4to, [10]-CCLXXXIX - [1 bl.] ff. Printed in 2 columns, in gothic type of 45 lines. Capital spaces (some with guide-letters). Slightly age-toned, minor marginal dampstaining. Old bind-stamped calf over wooden boards, covers with floral patterns and central roll-stamps frame, blind-stamped title at top of front cover, spine with 3 raised bands, vellum manuscript strips at inner joints (ends of spine worn, slightly rubbed, endpapers and front flyleaf gone)
This ""Fortress of the Faith, against all the enemies of the Christian religion, restraining the rage of Jews and Muslims"", written c. 1458, is the principal work of the baptized Spanish Jew de Spina. It is considered the ""methodical and ideological foundation of the Inquisition. The book, divided into five chapters, targets chiefly Jews and Muslims"" (cf. Lexikon des Mittelalters I, 408f.) Part 3, on the iniquities of the Jews, is a veritable encyclopedia of medieval antisemitic libel, containing numbered lists of Jewish ""cruelties"" and refutations of the Jews' supposed anti-Christian arguments. The section on Islam lists the numerous Saracen wars, while the fifth book is devoted to the battle to be waged against the Gates of Hell and its resident demons, whose population the author calculates at over 133 million. Ref. ISTC ia00543000 ; GW 1578 ; Goff A-543 ; BMC II, 438 ; Coumont - Demonology and Withchcraft S.84.5
