The New Cambridge Medieval History, Volume II: C. 700-c. 900 ed. by Rosamond McKitterick

Abstract

302BOOK REVIEWS and R. L. Storey analyzes the relationship between anticlericaUsm and the maUcious indictment of clergy. Rosalind HUl offers a brief narrative on Bishop Sutton 's estabUshment of a chantry. The volume is handsome, weU bound and printed, but the too-frequent typographical errors tarnish the whole sUghtly and demonstrate a laxity Ui editorial vigUance that contrasts with the quaUty of the contributions themselves. It is unfortunate to find in Harper-BUl's very fine essay that Celestine II responded to the appeal of the 'minks' of Norwich (p. 100). The coUection is prefaced by three brief and informative reflections on Dorothy Owen's career and contributions at Lincoln, Lambeth, and Cambridge. These, together with the essays and bibUography, constitute for the current academic community a fitting tribute to a respected archivist, scholar, and teacher, and for the new student an informative introduction to a Uvely area of research. Timothy S. Haskett University of Victoria The New Cambridge Medieval History,Volume II: C. 700-c.900. Edited by Rosamond McKitterick. (NewYork: Cambridge University Press. 1995. Pp. xxxi, 1082. $95.00.) Constituting the middle one ofthree volumes that wUl eventuaUy replaceVolumes II and III of the "old" CMH (published Ui 1913 and 1922), this massive work represents the efforts of twenty-seven currently active scholars with academic attachments Ui ten dUferent countries (six from the United States). In her prefatory remarks Rosamond McKitterick, the editor of the volume, makes it clear that the work is intended to be "new" not only in chronological terms but also conceptuaUy, methodologicaUy and substantively.This aspect of"newness" wUl result from the distinctive features of the work: an interdisciplinary approach , a pan-European rather than nationaUst perspective, a reconfigured approach to the poUtical dimension of the human enterprise, and an emphasis on social and cultural history. A proper review should assess how weU these objectives are realized, but the space avaUable here precludes such a pursuit. Only a brief description of the volume's organization and content is possible, intended to serve as an invitation to readers. Part I (14 chapters; 380 pages) is devoted to "PoUtical Developments."After an opening chapter discussing the problems surrounding the sources and new approaches to their decoding,this segment ofthe book presents summaries ofpoUtical activities in the major "states" of eighth- and ninth-century Europe: the British Isles (including separate sections on England, Ireland-Scotiand-Wales, and England and the Continent); the Frankish kingdom (three chapters); Scandinavia ; the Balkan Slavs and Bulgars;the Muslims Ui SicUy, south Italy, and Spain; Christian Spam and the Basques; Lombard and Carolingian Italy; and Byzantine BOOK REVIEWS303 Italy Interspersed are chapters on the Vikings in Francia and England, on the Carolingianymes imperii, and on Byzantium and theWest. WhUe the diversity of approaches to poUtical affairs taken by the authors of these chapters may confuse the average reader seeking the "new" way of understanding the poUtical order, these chapters provide a reliable, readable picture of what happened to all of Europe's poUtical entities between 700 and 900. Offsetting this bounty is a troublesome lack of cohesion. Readers wiU find themselves asking whether there was a center around which political developments in the eighth and ninth centuries gravitated and,U so,where and/or what it was. Perhaps there was none, but that admission raises a question about treating the two centuries from 700 to 900 as a discrete historical era. Some traditionalists may insist that a more coherent picture of Europe's poUtical development during this period would have emerged had the discussion been organized in a fashion that aUowed readers to move outward from a Frankish "center" to the "peripheral" political entities whose histories are told so thoroughly . Perhaps such an approach could have been given new dimensions by bringing to bear on political history told this way the new conceptual and methodological approaches that Uluminate the way power was utilized and how it affected people. One suspects that the main barrier to such an approach was a predetermination to avoid "the emphasis ofthe old history ... on the creation and maintenance of imperial domination" (p. xviii).The avoidance of that "preoccupation with empire" (p. xviii) very likely also led to...