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The martyred inquisitor. The life and cult of Peter

of Verona (†1252). By Donald Prudlo. (Church,
Faith and Culture in the Medieval West.) Pp. xviii
+300 incl. 3 maps and 10 gs. Aldershot–
Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008. £60. 978 0 7546
6256 3

Aidan Nichols

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History / Volume 60 / Issue 02 / April 2009, pp 348 - 348
DOI: 10.1017/S0022046908006696, Published online: 24 March 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0022046908006696

How to cite this article:

Aidan Nichols (2009). The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 60, pp 348-348
doi:10.1017/S0022046908006696

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348 JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY
The martyred inquisitor. The life and cult of Peter of Verona (#1252). By Donald Prudlo.
(Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West.) Pp. xviii+300 incl. 3 maps
and 10 figs. Aldershot–Burlington, VT : Ashgate, 2008. £60. 978 0 7546 6256 3
JEH (60) 2009 ; doi :10.1017/S0022046908006696
This study of the early Dominican ‘Peter Martyr ’, an exceedingly professional
contribution to the Church, Faith and Culture in the Medieval West series, provides the first
overview of materials for the life of Peter of Verona since a major article of 1953,
and the first ever integrated survey of the evidence, not least iconographic (ex-
emplified in ten well-reproduced images), of his cult. Though discussion of the
sources is relegated to an appendix (a companion appendix contains pertinent texts
in translation), the judicious manner of Prudlo’s handling of evidence inspires
confidence throughout. Interest in the life of Peter of Verona, beyond the confines of
the Order of Preachers, centres on his unique claim to fame: the only medieval saint
whose personal origins were Catharist. The complex politics of the north Italian
cities, necessary background for the life, are indicated briefly but convincingly. His
cult deserves the space it receives. That is in part owing to the circumstances of the
canonisation. Peter exemplifies the kind of candidate typically chosen in early papal
canonisations: he was one who had struggled against heresy and the state. He also
inspired a theology of the ‘ triple crown ’ : a saint who was virgin, doctor and martyr.
Peter scooped the lot, and so became ‘ the Dominican’s ideal Dominican’ ( p. 124),
sometimes to the point of marginalising the founder himself.
BLACKFRIARS, AIDAN NICHOLS
CAMBRIDGE

Marking the hours. English people and their prayers, 1240–1570. By Eamon Duffy.
Pp. xiv+202 incl. colour frontispiece and 114 black-and-white and colour
plates. New Haven–London : Yale University Press, 2006. £19.99. 0 300 11714 0
JEH (60) 2009 ; doi :10.1017/S0022046908007240
Even in modern times the family Bible for many is a precious possession, not always
primarily as a sacred object as much as a vital link with the past, recording births,
baptisms, marriages and the deaths of succeeding generations. Often idiosyncrasies
of handwriting, or a casual comment, can bring this past momentarily to life. In the
medieval and early modern period, the book of hours, described as the biggest
bestseller of its age, functioned in much the same way. The survival of more than 800
manuscripts of these Latin prayer books from the English Middle Ages and of
thousands more from the age of print indicates their prevalence and popularity.
Although mainly owned by well-off laity before the invention of printing, most
families ‘aspiring to respectability’ possessed at least one in the more ‘ democratic ’
early sixteenth-century. In the course of his extensive research into late medieval
religion and in an attempt to find clues to the beliefs and habits of individual lay folk,
Eamon Duffy became aware of the book of hours as a rich resource not only on
account of the record of personal data, but also for the prayers, portraits, recipes and
other notes often inserted or added to fly-leaves and margins. In this copiously
illustrated and beautifully presented book, Duffy offers a generous sampling of his
findings after more than fifteen years of research.