Abigail Firey, Ph.D. (1995) in Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, is Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. She has published articles on Carolingian canon law and its cultural and intellectual contexts, and is directing the digital Carolingian Canon Law project . She edited A New History of Penance (Brill, 2008).

• List of Illustrations List of AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The Protection of Privacy: Secrets and SilenceWhose Truth? Rumours and ReportsReligious Dimensions of Confession: A Pure and True Confession of ConscienceLegal Dimensions of Confession: Signed, Sealed, and DeliveredHerod’s TearsSusannah: A True Heart2. The Public Welfare: Pollution and PurgationTacit Law: The Mouse in the SoupThe Discourse of Pollution: Pathologies and MutationsThe Politics of Pollution and PurgationBlood Libel and the Disembodied SoulPurgative Justice: Tears Extinguish Fire3. Authority and PietyThe Prosecution of Heresy, c.750: The Little CrossesIsrael in Goatskins: Boniface and the Limits of Ecclesial JurisdictionThe Prosecution of Heresy, c.850: “Lest the Baths Collapse”Angels and Messiahs: The Religious Cosmos of Popular Belief4. Empire and EducationLiutberga’s Confessions: The Court of Conscience in the Carolingian Rhineland“Fear is the Beginning of Wisdom”: Penance at the Frontiers of Empire“They do not cure, but bathe and stroke”: Debates over Penitential Authority5. Contestation, Co-operation, Coercion, and ResistanceThe Decisions of the Hearts: Confessors and JurisdictionRod and Staff: The Exercise of Pastoral Power“Non insanio sed sanum sapio”: Meritorious Penance and ResistanceConclusionBibliographyIndicesIndex locorumIndex personarumIndex rerumIndex locorum Sacrae Scripturae