The two works of Rodulfus Glaber, the Histories and the Life of St William, have always been held to be of special importance because of the supposed Cluniac origins of this writer. Glaber is commonly referred to as a Cluniac monk, as can be seen from the title of an important modern series of articles about him, while Delaruelle's famous essay about Cluny and Holy War leans heavily upon his ‘Cluniac connections’. The lack of literary sources about the history of Cluny in the reign of Odilo accounts in part for the extensive use of his Histories by the numerous corps of historians of Cluny. By contrast the Life has been somewhat neglected, and indeed the literature on St William of Dijon in English is very limited. It is important, therefore, to discover in what sense, if any, Glaber can be called a Cluniac.

The statute 4 Henry VIII, c. 2 denied benefit of clergy for particular crimes to certain offenders, and also modified due process in handling pleas of sanctuary. The statute's possible renewal in the parliament of 1515 triggered a confrontation between the crown and leading churchmen. The passage of the act through the parliament of 1512 illuminates this important episode. The law that was enacted is shown to have differed substantively from the measure that had been proposed. Extensive amendments reveal in what ways the bill provoked controversy. Positions adopted in 1512 may well have rehearsed those assumed three years later.

The years 1764-8 form a rare unity in Polish history, distinguished by an unprecedented attempt at constitutional and economic reform on a scale not to be repeated for another two decades. The fragile nature of the reforms which accompanied the election, in September 1764, of King Stanislaw August Poniatowski (1764-95) was revealed as early as autumn 1766, when internal opponents, supported by Russia and, to a lesser degree, Prussia, imposed the first serious checks on the reformers and then proceeded to try to secure their total defeat. The tensions between reformers and conservatives, compounded by large-scale Russian military and diplomatic intervention, were to plunge Poland into ungovernability and civil war by March 1768 and to drag it inexorably towards the First Partition.

I processi inquisitoriali di Pietro Carnesecchi (1557–1567). Edizione critica, I: Il processo sotto Paolo IV e Pio IV (1557–1561); II: Il processo sotto Pio V (1566–1567), I: Guigno 1566–ottobre 1566; II: Novembre 1566–gennaio 1567; III: Gennaio 1567–agosto 1567. Edited by Massimo Firpo and Dario Marcatto. (Collectanea Archivi Vaticani, 43.). Pp. cxix+577; Pp. clxxix+370; 371–956; 957–1453. Vatican City: Archivio Segreto Vaticano, 1998, 2000. 88 85042 30 9; 88 85042 34 1

The correspondence of Reginald Pole, II: A calendar, 1547–1554. A power in Rome. By Thomas F. Mayer. (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History.) Pp. xvi+410. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003. £50. 0 7546 0327 X

The judicial investigation of Pietro Carnesecchi by the Roman inquisition in the years 1546–67 constitutes a major chapter in the history of the Italian peninsula and of the Church of Rome. Thanks to the indefatigable energy of Dario Marcatto, the publication of the documents from the archives of the Roman inquisition now places all the available sources at the disposal of the scholarly world. Massimo Firpo's critical introductions to these two volumes builds securely on his previously published essays, which included an account of Carnesecchi based on the edition of 1870. What he now writes confirms and extends his earlier findings.

For English Catholics the eighteenth century has justifiably been termed ‘the age of Challoner’, because Richard Challoner, vicar apostolic of the London District between 1758 and 1781, left a distinctive mark on the character of the English Catholic Church through his long period in office at a formative period and through his many popular spiritual books and pamphlets. Challoner's pre-eminence has tended to diminish the stature of all other bishops appointed as vicars apostolic to the four districts in England and Wales during the course of the century. The only other vicar apostolic who came close to Challoner was the Benedictine monk, Charles Walmesley, a near-contemporary and coadjutor in the Western District from 1756 to 1764, when he became vicar apostolic of that district until his death in 1797. Although Walmesley's published works were far fewer than Challoner's, they demonstrated a wider range of interests and a more original mind. For, while Challoner has often been taken as the representative eighteenth-century English Catholic clergyman, the main feature of his mind, a dread of innovation, prevented him from tuning his theology to the new world of eighteenthcentury scientific and philosophical enquiry.

Cyprian's baptism is usually placed in 245–6, two to four years before he became bishop. The early treatise Ad Donatum is thus taken as a witness to the neophyte's spiritual ‘transition’. This article challenges this common biographical narrative. A date just before Cyprian's ordination in 248/9 fits the evidence better than 246. As comparison with Ad Quirinum suggests, the winsome portrait of Cyprian the true convert that Ad Donatum paints might have done more than exhort neophytes to zealous spirituality: it may also have been meant to silence the presbyters whom Pontius’ Vita and Cyprian himself portray as critics of his ordination.

The intention of this article is to examine the principal features of John Stratford's Winchester episcopal register (Hampshire Record Office, 21M65/A1/5), recently edited for the Surrey Record Society, and hence to consider Stratford's reputation as a diocesan bishop insofar as this is determinable. Frequent absences on royal business, often abroad, are meticulously recorded, necessitating competent ‘central administration’ and a well-qualified and trusted familia. Both of these are in evidence. The impression given is of an efficiently run diocese with a surprising amount of pastoral work, particularly ordinations and visitation of monasteries, being performed by the bishop in person.

This article examines the ceremonial reception of papal legates in the early Middle Ages. It offers a precise, distinctive and normative portrait of their ritualised practice well before the existence of written canonical rules and procedures. The customs, principles, gestures and symbols conditioning legatine activities in this historical era became necessary pre-conditions to political communication, interaction and exchange. Their expression and representation, it is argued, help to explain the manifestation of Roman authority in distant Christian provinces, its varied meaning to contemporaries and the formative rules of political governance and diplomacy.

In the century following the death of St Francis, the Franciscan order underwent enormously rapid changes. As Franciscans became university masters, inquisitors, royal councillors and bishops, some confronted dilemmas in reconciling their religious vows with the duties of their offices. Yet whereas some friar-bishops and archbishops might have shied away from involving themselves in their churches' finances, Eudes Rigaud, the first Franciscan archbishop of Rouen, made significant investments in landed property, seigneurial rights and rents on behalf of his archdiocese. The Franciscan archbishop's commitment to ecclesiastical reform, evident in his meticulous visitations of his clergy as recorded in his episcopal register, is also visible in his efforts to augment his archdiocese's temporalities.

Small attention has generally been paid to the activities of Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill, during his year in Scotland from September 1655 to September 1656. In particular, his negotiations with the Protester and Resolutioner ministers have not been supposed any more or less successful than those, for example, of Lillburne or Monck, but merely another stage in the Cromwellian government's ineffectual urgings towards a settlement of the dispute in the Church.