A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume II

Family ties and municipal liberties complicate religious enforcement in Henry Charles Lea's account of the medieval Inquisition. The volume moves through Languedoc, France, the Spanish peninsula, Italy, Germany and Bohemia, tracing how the institution developed under different political conditions. Its opening describes a society in Languedoc where relatives belonged to different religious groups and shared memories of conflict strengthened bonds across divisions of belief.

Lea connects institutional power with the lives of people subject to it. The passage on Conrad of Marburg and Elizabeth of Thuringia examines charity, obedience and harsh spiritual discipline. Chapters on the Hussites follow divisions within the movement and negotiations over religious reform, while an appendix gathers documents. Readers interested in medieval history can compare the influence of church authority in different regions and consider the part played by rulers, towns and religious communities in resisting or assisting it.