As Stuart Jenks comments in his introduction to this rather weighty tome, recent commemorations of Luther's attack on indulgences as the start of the Reformation generally began from the assumption that his criticism was correct and needed no investigation. This volume, in part, responds to that disregard, ultimately asserting that the evolutionary development of indulgences—especially papal grants of plenary indulgences—responded primarily to popular demand: “In sum, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, from the beginning to the end, the papacy was driven by the laity's unquenchable thirst for grace” (40).

Essentially, the volume demonstrates such papal responses in the successive grants of plenary indulgence offered within the regnum Teutonicum, a geographic area extending far beyond current (and much of pre-1939) Germany to include Switzerland, the Benelux countries, Bohemia, Austria, and the Alpine territories of Northern Italy and Slovenia—although with little actual need to define the territory so precisely. Chronologically, the contents run from the first Jubilee indulgence of 1300 through to that offered for contributions to the rebuilding of St. Peter's, against which Luther railed. The volume's core (41–753) basically reprints (but sometimes calendars) the key documents for these campaigns (the papal bulls, the instructions for distributors), largely as unadorned texts, without detailed contexts or extensive commentary. Many of the editions are indeed reprints of previously published documents, usefully consolidated in a volume that greatly aids accessibility and comparison.

The material is arranged in twenty-seven chapters, one for each campaign. Chapters 1–4 relate exclusively to the fourteenth-century Jubilee indulgences; from chapter 5 the focus varies with the specifics of individual campaigns—the Jubilees of 1450, 1475, and 1500; Crusades against Hussites and Turks; building and rebuilding of specific churches (including St. Peter's); the Netherlandish dykes; and more. The chapter lengths vary with the number and complexity of the printed texts; the total of individual documents actually runs to 130. The practical geographic coverage is in reality much greater than the regnum Teutonicum of the volume's title. Many of these indulgence campaigns spread their net across most of pre-Reformation Catholic Europe and leave traces there. That internationalism is encapsulated in the inclusion here (nos. 20, 21) of Martin V's bulls for the Crusade of 1428 against the Bohemian Hussites. The texts are drawn from an English source; there they are associated with other documents outlining Cardinal Henry Beaufort's distribution of the same indulgence within England and associated publicity arrangements—a connection not mentioned by Jenks. Such more extensive preaching, also archivally attested for several other campaigns recorded in the volume by local instructions, publicity material, and mass-produced confessional letters, gives the compilation a value and utility beyond its avowed territorial focus.

The printed texts provide the bulk of the content but not quite all of it. The preliminaries include a brief introduction that sets out the aims of the project, and “A Brief Guide to the Uninitiated.” This is more truly introductory of the printed texts, setting out the basic mechanics of the theory and general practice of the plenary indulgence campaigns documented in the volume. It does not claim to offer a brief guide to all indulgences; but even with its explicit limitations some readers may feel that it is too brief and does not sufficiently explain some aspects. However, it does give a valuable sketch of the evolution of these papal indulgences across the fifteenth century, with the creation of a standard package of spiritual privileges and a core series of instructions for their publicity and marketing. At the volume's other extremity, the conclusion (including a brief appendix) offers an overview of the processes set out in the documents, Jenks's comment on the lingering inheritance of hostility to indulgences transmitted from Luther, and rebuts the misguided and ill-informed pseudo-economic analysis of indulgence distribution contained in a 1996 monograph that attempted to treat The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm. Its demolition implicitly challenges much other post-Reformation condemnation.

The volume is primarily a reference tool, likely to attract only specialist users. However, it would be unfortunate if the important arguments of the editor's historiographic assessments are thereby overlooked; they certainly merit broader absorption.