The Grail: From Celtic myth to Christian symbol (review)

Abstract

Short notices 255 Lewis, Archibald R., Nomads and crusaders A.D. 1000-1368, rpt; Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1991; paper; pp. x, 224, 8 maps; R.R.P. US$10.95 Professor Archibald Lewis was a major historian, author of fifteen books on medieval and early m o d e m history, and a speciatist in maritime history. In this ambitious book (reviewed in The American Historical Review, 95 (1990), p. 799) now reissued in paperback, Lewis attempted the impossible: to outline in 224 pages the early development of Byzantine-Russian, Islamic, Indie, East Asian, and Western European history in order to determine why the other societies 'failed to match the medieval performance of Western Europe' (p. vu). Lewis asserts that two forces were at work influencing these societies during this period: the nomads and the crusaders. The important Mongol empire, by the end of the thirteenth century, began to crumble under the weight of heavy taxation and a lack of social cohesion. The Latin West at the same time forged ahead due to impressive naval strength and the more forceful national governments which developed out of the papal weakness caused by the Avignon exile and internal corruption. It cannot surprise us that Lewis credits the West's maritime strength with itsfinalsuccess at out-classing the achievements of other societies he studies, at least by certain somewhat arguable standards. With its generally successful coverage of areas usually ignored in medieval works of this sort, Lewis' book is recommended for use by undergraduates in any related area of medieval studies. The lack of footnotes render it less useful for post-graduates or scholars in the field. A. Gdmour-Bryson Department of History University of Melbourne Loomis, Roger Sherman, The Grail: From Celtic myth to Christian symbol, rpt Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1991; paper; pp. xiv, 287; 3 illustrations; R.R.P. AUS$12.95. Among the elements of the Authuriad, that grandly ramshackle product of the European Middle Ages, the Grail particularlyretainsa capacity to fascinate and to generate highly speculative, sometimes bizane, theories. In terms of serious scholarship, however, there has been little that supersedes or countervenes this work from a major Authuriad scholar at the height of his powers. Loomis' scholarly and critical affiliations have been very much with those who reasserted the Celtic mythic origins of the Arthuriad and continued to do so in the face of pressure for internationalized exegetical Christian readings. This full-scale treatment allowed him to expand his contribution of a chapter on the origins of the Grati legends to Arthurian literature in the Middle Ages (1959) 256 Short notices and also to enter into discussion on works (Chr6tien de Troyes, the Vulgate Cycle, Robert de Boron) entrusted to other contributors in the earlier volume. This is not a revised or updated edition, but the reprinting offers a good opportunity for a first-time buyer. Jennifer Strauss Department of English Monash University Moote, A. Lloyd, Louis XIII, the just, Berkeley/Los Angeles/London, University of California Press, 1991; paper; pp. xiv, 401; 16 plates; 5 maps; R.R.P. US$14.95. Professor Moote's 'political' biography' of Louis XIII was published in 1989 and has now been reissued in paperback with the obtigatory chorus of cover endorsements and extracts from favourable reviews. Even without these it is possible to recognize in it a highly serious contribution to the debate about a reign that continues to fascinate historians. Moote's introduction 'Interpreting Louis XIII' sets out the problems he faced, not least a residual bad conscience vis-d-vis the anti-biographical tradition associated with the Annales tendency. However, historical biography is now all the rage, as Roland Mousnier's L'Homme rouge ou la vie du cardinal de Richelieu (1585-1642) (Paris, 1992) demonstrates. Louis XIH's childhood, as documented in particular by the Journal of his physician H6roard, has proved to be antiresistiblebait in recent decades for specialists in psychohistory, Moote tries to distance his own interpretations from the excesses of that school. Nonetheless, evidence drawn from his subject's early life bulks large in his attempt to establish Louis XIII as the ultimate source of the policies followed by his...