Chapter 15 Summary

The Fulda monks gather to confess their faults and report any faults in each other, receiving rather harsh punishment from Abbot Raban for relatively minor infractions. A fellow thinker in the monastery, Brother Gottschalk, wants to leave the abbey even though his father has dedicated him to God. He is lashed until his rib breaks through. Joan remembers Hippocrates' treatise saying that warming the body helps it heal, and, in addition to treating him with herbal salves and medicines, Joan and Benjamin surround Gottschalk with warmed stones, encouraging his body to start healing. Joan is a natural, adept healer.

Joan has read the law and found a passage that might get Gottschalk released from the abbey by the church council, which can legally overrule the abbot. Her letter to the council works, and Gottschalk goes free, unsure what he will do with his...