Excommunication was the medieval churchs most severe sanction, used against people at all levels of society. It was a spiritual, social, and legal penalty. Excommunication in Thirteenth-Century England offers a fresh perspective on medieval excommunication by taking a multi-dimensional approach to discussion of the sanction. Using England as a case study, Felicity Hill analyzes the intentions behind excommunication; how it was perceived and received, at both national and local level; the effects it had upon individuals and society. The study is structured thematically to argue that our understanding of excommunication should be shaped by how it was received within the community as well as the intentions of canon law and clerics. Challenging past assumptions about the inefficacy of excommunication, Hill argues that the sanction remained a useful weapon for the clerical elite: bringing into dialogue a wide range of source material allows effectiveness to be judged within a broader context. The complexity of political communication and action are revealed through public, conflicting, accepted and rejected excommunications. Excommunication could be manipulated to great effect in political conflicts and was an important means by which political events were communicated down the social strata of medieval society. Through its exploration of excommunication, the book reveals much about medieval cursing, pastoral care, fears about the afterlife, social ostracism, shame and reputation, and mass communication.

"Hill briefly addresses all aspects relevant to the excommunication, as can be seen from the register, and evaluates various sources for this. Herein lies the value of the book." - Katharina Mersch, sehepunkte

"Felicity Hill's monograph on the after-effects of excommunication is a welcome addition to current scholarship on, among other topics, the practical application of canon law, political communication, and social relationships in the Middle Ages. Moreover, it is a reminder of the interpretive opportunities afforded by the meticulous analysis of a legal concept that permeated all levels of society...The author's lucid methodology provides a valuable framework for the analysis of such cases through the lens of excommunication. The book will prove vital as a comparative tool for future studies on excommunication in other periods and geographic areas, as well as other legal concepts and modes of mass communication." - Joshua Rice, Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust

"It is lucid and well-written." - Megan Cassidy - Welch, Journal of Religious History