Repertorium Poenitentiariae Germanicum: Verzeichnis der in den Supplikenregistern der Ponitentiarie vorkommenden Personen, Kirchen und Orte des Deutschen Reiches, Iv: Pius' II, 1458-1464.(Review)

Text edited by Ludwig Schmugge, Patrick Hersperger and Beatrice Wiggenhauser; indices by Hildegard Schneider-Schmugge and Ludwig Schmugge. (Deutsche Historische Institut in Rom.) Pp. xxxvi + 534. Tubingen: Niemeyer, 1996. DM 158. 3 484 80 145 X

The penitentiary was the department of the papal Curia responsible for issuing spiritual favours, mainly dispensations of different types. It is aptly described in these volumes as 'eine Zentrale der Verwaltung des Gewissens'. The penitentiary has its own historical archive, which has been generally accessible to scholars since 1983. The earliest records in it are registers of petitions, which begin in the fifteenth century …