In a time of intolerance, following your conscience is a dangerous choice... "In the meantime, a credible report caused all ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church to lament and weep." -Prudentius of Troyes, Annales Bertiniani, anno 839 On Ascension Day May 22, 838, Bishop Bodo, chaplain, confessor, and favorite of both his kin, Emperor Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, and Empress Judith, caused the greatest scandal of the Carolingian Empire and the 9th century Roman Church. Bodo, the novel, dramatizes the causes, motivations, and aftermath of Bodo's astonishing cause célèbre that took place during an age of superstitions, a confused Roman Church, heterodoxies, lingering paganism, broken oaths, rebellions, and dissolution of the Carolingian Empire.