E. William Monter

A thorough-going study of the way the Inquisition dealt with a variety of offenses,including relapsed converts from Judaism and Islam, witchcraft and sodomy. i bought it chiefly for the chapter on witchcraft, which makes clear that both before and after the career of the famous Salazar "the witches' advocate" the inquisition had no enthusiasm for pursuing witches. in general it was not strong on convicting anyone, apparently, and very strog on limiting torture and execution --it spent a lot of time handing out penances and other minor penaltes. On te other hand, some of the local authroties were very zealous in pursuing, torturting and urming witches, a condition Salazatrs famous report did nothing to stop.… (mere)

I spent my early career working at two major universities and part of that time assisting PhD candidates with their dissertations (primarily crunching data). I recognize the formula when I run across it in academic non-fiction. William Monter tried to fill an empty niche in academic research with his book by analyzing the reigns of thirty women who ruled as kings: jointly with their spouses, singly as heiresses or widows, and married with husbands as subordinate consorts. It's a fascinating array of women from the little known St. Jadwiga of Hungary, to Juana "the Mad" of Spain, to the flamboyant cross-dressing Christina of Sweden, to Catherine II the Great of Russia. He sprinkles in a good number of women who ruled as regents which bridge a number of the reigns, but admits, women were a distinct minority during the five hundred years covered.

Monter did his research and presents it in a logical straightforward way, which makes the book readable, but on the dull side for the casual reader. Another problem with a "survey" book of research is that it is impossible to get into much depth on any one subject. Each women merits a few pages putting her accomplishments in context, but you must turn to the sources listed in the bibliographic essay at the end to go deeper. This book works as a survey of a niche in history, but it's not gripping. If a historical fiction writer is looking for inspiration, or a history buff wants an introduction to this topic, this is a useful book.… (mere)