The very rarity of this scholarly publication by the famous historian of the Inquisition would have been reason enough to pave the way for a reprint which certainly will not be chiefly to the advance of historians of historiography; instead, Lea’s concise and thoroughly source-based expositions are of such a high quality that they still should be consulted by the present-day medievalists who have for too long ignored this excellent book mostly due to its absence in the libraries of historical institutes and seminars until now. The Studies in Church History, this collection of rather early presentations treating several central items of the history of the Church, has hitherto been neglected far and wide, given its quasi inaccessibility. The Rise of Temporal Power is an outstanding and concise overview demonstrating how, from the late Roman Empire to the epoch of Innocence III, the institution and administration of the hierarchy transformed, not without setbacks, into the function of very terrestrial feudal lords, the popes finally claiming the right to wield not only the spiritual but also the secular sword. Lea’s second study deals with the Benefit of clergy, a subject which was of utmost juridical importance during the Middle Ages because every person claiming to be a member of this group had not to answer before a secular court, but before an ecclesiastical one only, the procedures and punishments of which were much more propitious for an accused. This scholarly modus procedendi proves to be most effective in his long analysis on Excommunication throughout time. Lea shows the transmutation of this spiritual punishment into a weapon for the Church’s secular power, more often working than not during the pre-Enlightenment periods. This is nearly equally true concerning the last chapter on The Early Church and Slavery. Lea, wishing to be regarded as an impartial historian, often stated that his objective presentations of the facts would enable his readers to draw their own conclusions. His impartiality went so far that he even abstained form consulting the secondary literature published by Protestant writers because of their a priori negative view of everything connected with “popery”. The evidence Lea collected will indeed continue to be indispensable for everyone dealing with the history of the medieval Church.