The inner workings of a judicial tribunal are often the subject of intense speculation, as those outside the chambers try to divine the motivation and rationale of the judges within. Every June, for example, watchers of the U.S. Supreme Court await the annual flurry of decisions from the high court and then parse the results. Historians of early modern Europe have examined both secular and ecclesiastical courts with similar fervor, from Elizabethan England and Tridentine Italy to Enlightenment France. Thomas B. Deutscher's study examines the episcopal tribunal of the northern Italian diocese of Novara in two distinct periods: the reformist decades following the Council of Trent (1563–1615) and the half-century preceding the Napoleonic invasions of the late eighteenth century (1745–1799). Populating his book with dozens of anecdotes and case studies drawn from the bishop's voluminous records, Deutscher explains the scope and effectiveness of the ecclesiastical legal system in Novara. The book is based upon extensive archival investigation of trial records and an intimate familiarity with the religious history of early modern Italy.

Located just to the west of Milan, the diocese of Novara included about 186,000 souls in the early seventeenth century, making it a large diocese by Italian standards. Novara was dominated by the arch-diocese of Milan, particularly when the energetic Carlo Borromeo and his cousin Federico Borromeo held the cattedra in Milan. Nevertheless, Deutscher shows how Novara has its own story to tell, and his detailed narration of the bishop's tribunal provides both vivid examples and a concrete foundation for comparative analysis. The protagonist of the story is clearly Carlo Bascapè, who served as bishop of Novara from 1593 to 1615 and who embodied Tridentine zeal and orthodoxy.

The book begins with an overview of the history, geography, and conditions of the diocese of Novara. The second chapter considers the jurisdictional battles fought between the Lombard bishops and the secular officials of Milan, particularly around the concept of privilegium fori or the right of ecclesiastical officials to be tried exclusively in church courts. The third and fourth chapters consider the role of the bishop's tribunal in disciplining the clergy and the laity, respectively. Deutscher argues that the episcopal court acted vigorously in its attempts to professionalize the clergy, and he lays out myriad examples of efforts to punish priests and chaplains who engaged in violence, sexual activities, and other crimes. Yet, Deutscher says, one must not be swayed by the sometimes sensationalist descriptions of rogue ecclesiastics, for the bishop and his staff were too often overworked, challenged by competing authorities, or inclined to clemency—all of which allowed these misbehaving priests to continue in their positions. With regard to the laity, Deutscher claims that the episcopal curia focused primarily upon matters of faith, even though that led directly to conflict with the Holy Office. The final chapter jumps ahead to the eighteenth century, when the tribunal had a much-diminished role in persecuting both secular and religious figures. Deutscher attributes this transition partly to the muscularity of the Savoyard state, which assumed control of Novara in this time and sought to establish more royal control.

The principal conclusion of Deutscher's painstaking research is that “the bishop's tribunal of Novara was limited in its impact on both the clergy and the laity” (141) and that this impact declined even more dramatically toward the end of the Old Regime. Deutscher notes that the evidence from Novara does not support the thesis of “confessionalization” that has been so popular in the last couple of decades; this historiographical theme is explored briefly in the opening chapter. Perhaps the most surprising element of the stories compiled by Deutscher is the inability of the episcopal tribunal to effectively prosecute and expel misbehaving priests. Today's concept of a “zero-tolerance” policy is far removed from the world of the Novarese bishops in the seventeenth century. Deutscher admirably explains why the bishops retained many clergy despite such poor behavior: there were few well-qualified religious to replace them, the clergy were often intimately embedded in the parish and its activities, and the tendency toward forgiveness meant that a second (or third) chance could often be found.