Words and deeds in Renaissance Rome : trials before the papal magistrates /

The Cohens successfully apply "thick description" to nine verbatim trial transcripts from the (secular) papal courts in late 16th-century Rome. The introduction to this study neatly sets background and context for skillfully edited texts of the interrogations, readably and even wittily translated into contemporary idiomatic English. After each transcript a "Commentary" opens the text in ways for which most readers lack training and knowledge. "How to find truths in lies told under oath" might well be the subtitle. Planned for classroom use, these accounts tell a rich and varied story of Rome's "other side," which is accurately compared with Boccaccio's Decameron. Though many transcripts contain repetitions that make boring reading, these may contain small but meaningful shifts, as the commentaries note. Most of the prisoners were skilled storytellers. Many were women, and the commentaries indicate ways they used to break through harsh social restraints. "Camilla the Go-Between" contrasts wonderfully, for example, with Marie de France's 12th-century ballad, Yonec. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the Renaissance. Glossary, illustrations, useful footnotes, excellent format. All levels.