The subtitle of this learned and thought-provoking book captures a central problematic of Tridentine Catholic Reform as experienced by one of its most impressive exponents, Giovanni Morone. Adam Robinson has wisely chosen to confine his attention to the extensive range of printed sources, and a small number of manuscript sources, rather than seeking to track down Morone's manuscripts in toto (that would be a task for a team of scholars working over several generations). His examination of the known material, in the light of the publication by Massimo Firpo and Dario Marcatto of the documents surrounding the trial of Morone by the Roman inquisition, makes for a compelling narrative. It is accompanied throughout by a fresh evaluation of the historiographical problems arising from the tension between the ‘reformers through the Council’ the spirituali or concilianti, following the tradition of Cardinal Pole, and those who sought to wrest the narrative of reform away from them – the zelanti, for whom the memory of Cardinal Carafa, Paul iv, was sacrosanct. This book is a study of the major bearer of that tension, Cardinal Morone.

The author traces Morone's promotion in the Church from a family facing potential political disgrace under Clement vii, to his advance to the reform commission of cardinals in 1537 under Paul iii. Morone's time as nuncio in Germany and his role in the reunion negotiations at Regensburg in 1541 established him as possessing a pastoral sensitivity and a diplomatic clear-headedness which marked him as the papacy's essential guide to Germany. His commitment to achieving reconciliation and reform through a general council, and his association with the spirituali of the 1540s in seeking a formula of concord with the Lutherans; his conspicuous inability to accomplish that ideal in his own diocese of Modena in 1542–3; and his response to the aftermath of the early sessions of the Council in Trent (1547), take up the early part of the book. The story of Morone's arrest in 1557 and his subsequent rehabilitation under Pius iv, is followed by an examination of the renewed attempt to reopen his trial under Pius v. Robinson considers that Morone's survival throughout these years was in part due to his indispensability as adviser on the affairs of Germany. He also considers, and demonstrates, that Morone's uncertainties about the theology of justification and its implications were never such as to distance him from the faith of the Church that he served so conscientiously.

Robinson is unconvinced by the present reviewer's opinion that Morone sought to reconcile the spirituali to the conciliar decree on justification in 1547. He notes that Morone wanted to see the decree reconsidered. To the present reviewer that was highly compatible with a realisation, doubtless shared with Vittoria Colonna, that the influence of the Spanish government at Trent and the voice of Cardinal Carafa (uniting from opposite ends of the political spectrum) would guarantee the destruction of the spirituali were they to withhold assent: better to follow the path of patience, obedience and waiting. That was always Morone's way. This book illustrates it time and again. In everything Morone submitted to providence. That was why the spirituali were never a party, and could never become one. That is what made them incomprehensible to their contemporaries, and subsequently elusive to historical analysis. The great achievement of this book is to show, none the less, their continuing influence over a period of twenty years, especially in the conclusion and aftermath of the Council of Trent.

Theologically, Morone and those who, like Seripando, thought like him, were within their rights in looking for a reconsideration of the decree on justification, aligning Protestant insights with the Catholic doctrine of the sacraments. The decrees of Trent remained open for review until such time as the pope would finally confirm them. That did not happen until 1564. The question for the spirituali in the circumstances of 1547 was, however, the safety of their rights under the frown of the Spanish ambassador and the supporters of Carafa in the newly-established Roman inquisition. Morone lived with that frown for the remainder of his life. It accounts for the correspondingly severe expression in the contemporary medallion reproducing him in profile on the cover of this book . In the tension of the enduring war waged by the zelanti on the spirituali there unfolded the drama of the years after 1547. Robinson makes a distinguished contribution to the elucidation of that drama.

Morone's arrest and imprisonment from 1557 to 1559 by the Roman inquisition under Paul iv; his release by Pius iv; his redeployment as papal legate, manager and diplomatic saviour of the council in its final reform phase (1562–3); his endurance of a fresh assault on his supposed complicity in heresy during the trial of Pietro Carnesecchi in 1567 – his position as papabile driving the fears of his enemies – have led to historiographical differences which, in the light of this balanced reexamination, are now capable of reconciliation in a spirit which indicates that the subject of this book has found an interpreter worthy of his talents.

Robinson is to be congratulated for writing a book which will encourage the uninitiated, and should calm the initiated, into exploring afresh an epoch of church history deserving of the careful attention and balanced spirit which informs his own measured reconstruction of the passions of an age, the prejudices of party, and the exemplary courage of his subject. One might wish to see in his discussion of the spiritual tensions of the epoch some reference to the work of Anne Overell and Camilla Russell, along with one or two more obscurely published contributions to a subject on which Richardson has established himself as a reliable master and sure guide. This is a book which will be read for a long time to come.