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Purgatory and Piety in Brittany 1480-1720. By Elizabeth C. Tingle. [Catholic Christendom, 1300-1700.] (Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing. 2012. Pp. xvi, 308. $134.95. ISBN 978-1-4094-3823-6.)
Nowadays it is hard to remember the excitement provoked in their time by the pioneering researches of French historians like Philippe Ariès, Michel Vovelle, François Lebrun, and Pierre Chaunu on attitudes-and the practices to which they gave rise-toward death and the afterlife during the 1960s and 1970s. Their methods and vocabulary have given way to different questions and approaches, but as so often, such historiographical turns leave many loose ends when the newest fashion takes over. Elizabeth C. Tingle's new book on purgatory and piety in early-modern Brittany reconsiders those early works with fairness and economy, and incorporates their findings within the framework of a study that is much more wide-ranging and interesting than its title alone would suggest.
Her book focuses on three dioceses (Nantes, Vannes, and Saint-Pol-de-Léon) in western Brittany, rather than on the eastern or central parts of the province, which Bruno Restif studied a few years ago. A key point here is the reputation of west Brittany in particular...