The Trial of the Templars in Cyprus: A Complete English Edition by Anne Gilmour-Bryson (review)

BOOK REVIEWS299 The Trial of the Templars in Cyprus: A Complete English Edition. By Anne Gilmour-Bryson. [The Medieval Mediterranean,Volume 17.] (Leiden: Brill. 1998. Pp. xvii, 502. NIg 270/US$159.00.) The surviving records of the Templar trial in Cyprus in the early fourteenth century contain the testimonies of seventy-six brethren and fifty-six nonTemplar witnesses. The Templars all denied the main charges leveled against them and gave similar, though not completely identical, responses to the 122 or 123 articles on which they were questioned. The answers provided by these Templars do not differ greatly from those given in other places where brethren were not tortured, such as Lérida and Zaragoza in Spain, although in the Iberian peninsula a shorter list of accusations was used. The evidence given by nonTemplars in Cyprus was notably supportive of the order. It contrasts markedly with that provided in the British Isles, which is the other district where numerous non-Templar witnesses were questioned. But the frequently hostile testimony in the British Isles probably reflects general attitudes toward the order; it certainly cannot be accepted as proof of wrongdoing. The proceedings in Cyprus have long been known from the work of Schottmüller, who edited most of the Latin text in 1887. Anne Gilmour-Bryson does not, however, merely produce a translation of the published version: she has gone back to the manuscripts, which are in the Vatican Archives. Although many parts of these are in a poor state, she is able to rectify numerous minor errors in SchottmüUer's text, and she also inserts sections which he omitted from his edition. The present version, therefore, can be used to monitor Schottmüller's work. As most of the sections which were not included in the published Latin edition were, however, omitted because they largely duplicated earlier statements, the new material does not add substantially to what is already known. She also seeks to provide information about individuals—both Templars and others—mentioned in the proceedings, and brings together a considerable amount of material. Discussion of named Templars is, however, hampered by the frequent difficulty of relating references to individuals with the same or similar names; and about some of the Templars there is more information available, even in published works, than is utilized. The book will, however , no doubt be used mainly as a translation. As such, it is not completely free from error, although the mistakes which have been detected are of relatively minor significance; and the language is at times somewhat stilted: this is partly because a fairly literal translation is attempted, and the original Latin is not very elegant. But the book provides a serviceable translation of the proceedings. Until now, very few documents relating to the Templar trial have been translated into English and, as it can no longer be assumed that even postgraduates will have a working knowledge of Latin, translations of primary sources are to be welcomed. But it may be questioned whether, for those who are dependent on translations and therefore have access to only a limited range of primary sources, there is much justification in publishing in full very repetitive Templar testimonies from one set of interrogations. It might be argued that it would be 300BOOK REVIEWS more useful to provide a selection of more varied sources. The editor states that it was suggested to her that she should publish merely extracts of the more interesting depositions, but argues that "only a full and complete version can be truly useful." Yet the case for a full version in English has not been sufficiently made out. A.J. Forey Kirtlington, Oxford The Convent and the Community in Late Medieval England: Female Monasteries in the Diocese ofNorwich, 1350-1540. By Marilyn Oliva. [Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, Vol. 12.] (Rochester, NewYork: The Boydell Press. 1998. Pp. xiv, 271. $90.00.) This is a work of historical revision which challenges the model of late medieval female monasticism established for England by Eileen Power threequarters of a century ago. Dr. Oliva convincingly argues for a new interpretation informed by modern feminist perspectives, and more sensitive to the multifaceted service of the nunneries...