First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This is the first comprehensive study in English about the medieval imperial abbey of Farfa, which played a key role in the Papal Patrimony and in the competition between the Empire and the Papacy.

This book analyses the theological, medical and scientific critique of enthusiasm claims to direct divine inspiration in early modern Europe, and the contribution of that critique to a more secular culture on the eve of the Enlightenment.