Abstract
Beginning with the transition from the informal penitential practice of the earliest Middle Ages to the tariffed system of sacramental confession institutionalized by the ninth century (Price), they cover its reaffirmation in the age of Gregorian reform (Hamilton), its role in efforts to bring churches of the East back into the Roman fold (J°nschky)/ its oscillating accents on reconciliation to God in some formulas, to earthly neighbors in others (Campbell), and its late medieval role in ecclesiastical justice-illustrated by the case of the Durham priors tasked as archdeacons to supervise village morals through periodical sessions of public penance (Harvey). Among entries dealing with Reformation and early modern themes, John Bossy writes insightfully on the meanings of "satisfaction" and its military use, notably by Gustavus Adolphus, as a rationale for armed aggression; David Bagchi recounts Luther's transformation of penance from a series of sacramental actions to a lifelong state of mind; and M. A. Overell examines the uses in Tudor and Caroline England of the tragic tale of Francis Spira, the Italian Protestant whose recantation of reform and misguided return to Rome made him the paradigm of ultimate despair, dying in full prospect of his own damnation.
