The medical economy of salvation. Charity, commerce, and the rise of the hospital. By Adam J. Davis. Pp. xviii + 317 incl. 6 ills. Ithaca, NY–London: Cornell University Press, 2019. $39.95. 978 1 5017 5210 1

Abstract

Brasington modestly pass over in silence: how difficult it is in many cases to establish the Latin base text for these documents. For, in the absence of critical editions, one often has to compare a number of both manuscript and printed versions to establish with some certainty what the original Latin may have been. The authors spare the reader the details of this sometimes cumbersome work, and instead present very good translations based on the sound editorial choices they have made. The result is an elegant book which can be used as a primary source reader, but likewise be read as a short introduction to medieval canon law history. Like the first edition, it will be very welcome to anyone teaching canon law history at university level. Specialists and non-specialists alike will profit from the new, enlarged edition of this wonderfully useful book.