Confession and Criminal Justice in Late Medieval Italy

Lidia L. Zanetti Domingues holds a BA in History from the University of Milan, and a Masters' degree and DPhil in History from the University of Oxford. She is currently Past and Present Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research. Her main research interest is the interaction between spirituality and penology in late medieval Italy. She has published articles on communal criminal justice and Oriental Christian communities in Italy. She has been a visiting fellow at the Université du Québec à Montréal and at the Istituto Sangalli per la Storia e le Scienze Religiose.

• Introduction1: Competing Models for Approaching Violence and Conflict and their Points of Contact2: Emotions, Virtues and Vices in the Sienese Reflection on Violence and its Remedies3: Models of Emotionality in Action in Religious and Lay Sources on Criminal Justice4: Defining the Complex Relationship between Mercy, Justice and Revenge5: Communal Legislation and the Pursuit of Divine Justice6: The Development of Criminal Justice in Siena and the Influence of Religious IdeasConclusion

In its proposal of a penitential model for medieval criminal justice, and especially in its call to broaden the sources used for an understanding of medieval justice systems, this interesting book provides lots of food for thought.