Profile

José Pedro Paiva is Full Professor at the University of Coimbra and Scientific Head of the Centre for History of Society and Culture.
He was visiting professor at the University of São Paulo, fellow of the John Carter Brown Library and of the Nederlanse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, and director of the University of Coimbra Archive (2011-2019) and dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the same university (2013-2019). He his fellow oc the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon and of the Portuguese Academy of History.
He coordinated and was involved in various Portuguese and international research projects, namely the European Scientific Foundation Cultural Exchange in Europe 1400-1700 (group 1 Religion, cultural differentiation) (1999-2003), the Dizionario Storico dell’Inquisizione, directed by Adriano Prosperi (2005-2010), and the Project ReligionAJE: Religion, Ecclesiastical Administration and Justice in the Portuguese Seaborne Empire (1514-1750),PTDC/HAR-HIS/28719/2017 sponsored by FCT.
His research focuses on Religious History, Inquisition, Portuguese Early Modern Empire, Iberian Union (1580-1640) and Early Modern Witchcraft.
He authored Bruxaria e superstição num país sem caça às bruxas: 1600-1774 (1996); Os bispos de Portugal e do império 1495-1777 (2006); Baluartes da fé e da disciplina. O enlace entre a Inquisição e os bispos em Portugal (1536-1750) (2011) and with Giuseppe Marcocci The History of the Portuguese Inquisition (Lisboa: 2013). He also edited Portugaliae Monumenta Misericordiarum (10 vols), História da Diocese de Viseu (3 vols) (2016) and together with Carlos Fiolhais and José Eduardo Franco The Global History of Portugal (2022).