The Vacant See in Early Modern Rome: A Social History of the Papal Interregnum: 200 (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 200) - Tapa dura

"This book will quickly and deservedly become required reading for students of early modern crime, protest, elections, and ritual, as well as, of course, the papacy, Rome, and Italy."
Emily Michelson, University of St Andrews. In: H-Italy, H-Net Reviews (February, 2017).

"In The Vacant See in Early Modern Rome John Hunt has produced a remarkable work of social history which excavates all the papal interregnum's murky and nefarious currents. [...] This book is a far more comprehensive and nuanced account of the Vacant See as a social phenomenon than anything yet published elsewhere. [...] Hunt has done us a great service in publishing this material and in recalibrating debate about such an important subject."
Miles Pattenden, Wolfson College, Oxford. In: Renaissance Studies, May 2017.

"This is social history of the best kind as Hunt literally fleshes out the daily life of Romans of all walks of life and the many forenses either permanently living in the city or having gone there as part of the complex machinations involved in the death of one pontiff and the choice of another. The book makes for a gripping, delightful read and asks many questions regarding popular political expression and consciousness in early modern Europe, ritualized violence and Rome itself. Drawing upon a staggering amount of published and unpublished sources of the period the book successfully depicts this unique context in all of its complexity and contradiction. [...] Meticulously researched but highly readable at the same time, it is thought provoking and delves into the wider questions at the heart of the social life of Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."
James Nelson Novoa, University of Ottawa. In: Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 48 (2017), pp. 214-216.

"This volume is a fascinating perspective on the city of Rome and the groups that vied for power and honor within the chronological and social confines of a limited and liminal moment. [...] It fills a need and also acts as a nexus pointing the reader towards research on other social issues connected with the vacant see, including pasquinades, rumor, gambling, and banditry. [...] A valuable introduction to the social, ritual, and judicial life of papal Rome."
Jennifer Mara DeSilva, Ball State University. In: Church History and Religious Culture, Vol. 97, No. 2 (2017), pp. 283-285.

"a fresh perspective on the sede vacante [...] readers of this journal should take note of Hunt's book, since its wealth of detail will undoubtedly help scholars better to understand the early modern vacant see."
Charles Keenan, Boston College. In: Journal of Ecclesiastical History, Vol. 68, No. 4 (October 2017), pp. 876-878.

John M. Hunt offers a social and cultural history of the papal interregnum from 1559 to 1655 that concentrates on Rome’s relationship with its sacred ruler.