In the wake of the canonisation of St Birgitta of Sweden by the Roman pontiff in 1391, new cults were launched and new saints were presented to the pope in the hope of similar results. In this book – originally a dissertation at the University of Hamburg in 2007 – Cordelia Hess takes a closer look at the cult of St Birgitta, as well as two others that sprang up in relation to hers in two regions bordering the Baltic Sea, the cult of Bishop Nils (Nicolaus Hermanni) in Linköping and that of Dorothea of Montau in Prussia. Bishop Nils died in 1390, and his grave in Linköping Cathedral was visited by pilgrims mainly from the diocese itself, which comprised most of south-eastern Sweden. A process of canonisation was held in 1417. His relics were transferred to a shrine in 1515 with papal permission, but he was never canonised. Dorothea of Montau died in 1394, a widow and recluse in the cathedral of Marienwerder (Kwidzyn). A process of canonisation was held in 1404–6, but she was not canonised until 1976. Cordelia Hess delves deeply into the different genres of hagiographic texts produced before, under and after the canonisation processes of the three saints. Her thorough investigation demonstrates how different images of the saints were projected onto different audiences. St Birgitta is often regarded as a political saint, conveying harsh messages to worldly and spiritual rulers. A public role was also played by St Dorothea, who functioned as spiritual advisor to women and men who visited her hermitage. The public or political role of female saints was however problematic for contemporary hagiographers, and visibly downplayed in the acts that were compiled in order to obtain their canonisations. Hess talks of censorship, but here we should not imagine a censor going through all the documents and excluding what does not fit in. The nature of a canonisation process is such that alternative images slip through, for example in many testimonies. The most elaborated alternatives are found in vernacular biographies, often intended for very specific audiences. It would be a mistake for researchers to attempt to harmonise these images. Hess finds no unifying strategy of construing a particular saint for a particular purpose (p. 301). With her, the study of hagiography enters post-modernity. The cultic landscape of Sweden and Scandinavia, marked by numerous shrines consecrated to local saints, contrasts visibly with that of Prussia with its many Marian sanctuaries, but – before Dorothea – a near total absence of local saints. Hess is brave enough to include these different cultic landscapes in a common perspective. She clearly shows that St Dorothea should not be seen as a patron saint of the Teutonic Order, as is often asserted, but of the Prussian people. Hess's knowledge of the Scandinavian cultic landscape before St Birgitta needs to be updated, however, and when the reader is told that St Birgitta in a revelation saw St Eric of Sweden in hell (p. 77), this is clearly a misinterpretation. These are minor points; Hess's book is a remarkable achievement.