This is the first book-length study of the four penitentials composed in Old English. This book argues that they are also important to our understanding of how

Some of the earliest examples of medieval canon law are penitentials - texts enumerating the sins a confessor might encounter among laypeople or other clergy an

Edition and translation of prognostic guides and calendars, intended as an effort to foretell the future.

Alfred the Great's domboc ('book of laws') is the longest and most ambitious legal text of the Anglo-Saxon period. Alfred places his own laws, dealing with ever

Penance in the ancient church -- The penitentials -- The condition of the texts -- Early Irish penitential documents -- Early Welsh penitential documents -- Pen