En rémission des péchés. Recherches sur les systèmes pénitentiels dans l'Eglise latine by Cyrille Vogel (review)

640BOOK REVIEWS kept in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. Further, Diaz deals with the interesting problem to what extent the survival of the rule was actual or literary as new monastic rules, such as the Benedictine, came to the Iberian peninsula. In his treatment of the manuscripts of the Regula, Díaz noted a lost Lerins manuscript mentioned by Mabillon, whose supposed origins in Lerins and more likely in Narbonne Diaz examines in another article in the collection. Among the articles on miscellaneous subjects is one repeatedly cited for its information on the circulation of manuscripts and Spanish texts from the eighth through the eleventh centuries both within and outside the Iberian peninsula. Especially enlightening is the treatment of the social, economic, and political contexts explaining why and how the manuscripts circulated. The conclusions of this long article, first published in the Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale, have been confirmed frequentiy by subsequent discoveries since its appearance in 1969. Many of these are cited in the supplemental notes after the articles and at the end of the collection, and to these can be added several others. For example, Diaz's treatment of Lucca as a center for early manuscripts written in Visigothic script, such as the renowned Lucca Biblioteca capitolare 490 with its text of the canon law Epitome hispánica, has recently been confirmed by this reviewer in several discoveries in that Italian city: folios of a great Visigothic pandect Bible in three columns of the ninth or early tenth century, and a folio of a large Visigothic codex of the Collectio canonum hispana. Another surprising conclusion of Diaz, that the works of the Venerable Bede were very early in circulation in the Iberian peninsula, has also recently been confirmed by this reviewer with the discovery in Utrecht oftwenty-nine new fragments and offsets in Visigothic script, some with the works ofBede. In short, although this article was written nearly a quarter-century ago, it retains its significance for research in manuscripts written in the Iberian peninsula. Few scholars in medieval studies work with such ease as Diaz across as many disciplines: palaeography, codicology, literary analysis, transmission of classical texts, liturgy, monasticism, and canon law, to name but a few. This collection of articles is a tribute to the broad learning in a multiplicity of disciplines of this distinguished Spanish scholar. Roger E. Reynolds Pontifical Institute ofMediaeval Studies, Toronto En rémission despéchés Recherchessur lessystèmespénitentiels dans l'Eglise latine. By Cyrille Vogel. Edited by Alexandre Faivre. [Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS450.] (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, Ashgate Publishing Co. 1994. Pp. x, 354. »99.95.) Cyrille Vogel (1919-1982) was an outstanding historian of the medieval liturgy who wrote extensively on the early history ofpenance and confession. BOOK REVIEWS641 This Variorum collection reprints twelve of Vogel's articles written between 1952 and 1982. As is the practice of the series, the articles are identified by Roman numerals (I-XII) and each article retains its original pagination. The scholarly articles are bracketed by the first and last, which address general audiences. They are valuable reflections on the relevance of the history of confession to contemporary developments in the Roman Catholic Church. The ten scholarly articles deal with different aspects ofmedieval confession, with an emphasis on the sanctions and penances that were inflicted on wrongdoers (e.g., prayers, fasts, pilgrimages, and excommunication). Some of the articles are quite substantial, originally written in several parts. Of particular note is the informative account of the sanctions inflicted on clerics and the laity by early Gallo-Roman and Merovingian councils (II), the lengthy account of the provisions made for enabling penitents to alleviate the often harsh penances prescribed by the penitentials (V), and the detailed examination of early hagiographical literature for evidence of penitential practices (VI). Virtually all the articles reflect Vogel's guiding thesis that the institution of medieval penance developed in three stages: ancient penance, tariffed penance (penitentials), thirteenth-century reorganization. The editor (p. viii) claims that he has respected the classification ofVogel's studies that was found among the author's papers. That may be the case, but I believe a collection of this sort would be more...