Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages by Richard Marks (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 259 Even for France, moreover, the abundant evidence that still lies fallow in other types of documents, notably in the poorly explored records of the French ecclesiastical courts, might well present quite a different picture of the family structures that prevailed, not only among the aristocracy, but also among peasants and city dwellers during the thirteenth and following centuries. The third part of Love and Marriage presents a medley of seven studies, mostly brief, on grand themes that range from the history of value systems to Duby's report on trends in French historical research. Duby quite properly compares the studies in this volume to "the pages of a workshop notebook." They constitute a progress report on work that he was engaged in over roughly two decades. Readers may differ widely in their reactions to these fragments from Duby's workbench, but many will find them stimulating and suggestive, although even their author would be reluctant to claim that they present definitive solutions to the problems that they explore. James A. Brundage University ofKansas Stained Glass in England during theMiddleAges By Richard Marks. (Buffalo, New York: University of Toronto Press. 1993· Pp. xxvi, 301; 30 color plates, 200 black and white figures. $85.00.) Earlier in Ulis century a number of general histories of stained glass in England were published; these were followed by numerous detailed treatments of windows in one or more locale, including five titles that have been published in the international Corpus Vitrearum series. A book that draws this material into a lengthy and probing new synthesis is, therefore, timely, and the author is eminently qualified for the task. One ofthe great merits ofhis book is the space given—the first 100 pages— to general topics ofcurrent interest to social historians. "Donors and Patrons," "Technique . . . and die Organization ofWorkshops," "Iconography," and "Domestic Glass," before embarking on a "Chronological Survey" in Part II (pp. 105—246). The scant published documents that shed some light on the ways in which pre-fourteenth-century glazing was financed are drawn together (pp. 3-4), followed by a discussion of the abundant donor 'portraits' and documents from the later periods. The author rightly alludes to the "English connections " of the early representations of Henry II and Eleanor ofAquitaine as donors in the east window of Poitiers Cathedral, but cautions against taking all later royal arms as an indication of royal donations (p. 10). Under "Technique ," centers of glass production are discussed, and the conclusion supported that colored glasses were at all times imported from the continent (pp. 29—31). The author gives valuable surveys of records of individual glass 260 BCX)K REVIEWS painters, guilds, and wages (pp. 40-47), and of prices for glass and windows (pp. 48-51). The late medieval documentary evidence for the spiritual functions ofwindows and for donors' specific wishes in the selection ofsubjects is emphasized in the section on iconography (pp. 59-91). The case is well argued that didactic themes in windows had a powerful effect on their medieval viewers, despite the frequent modern quibble that windows are hard to see (pp. 5961 ). This section takes particular note of subjects that have some claim to be "English," such as the life and miracles of Thomas Becket, and even St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read (p. 75). Themes from catechism are very clearly laid out in relation to the Church's mission to instruct the laity (pp. 78—81 ). In Part II we learn that recent archaeological finds, in addition to the famous fragments from Bede's monastery at Jarrow, have served to carry a well established and continuous history of glass painting in England back to the seventh century (pp. 105—1 12). Fully utilized throughout are documents and drawings that often survived iconoclasm and neglect better than the windows themselves (Pl. XXX, figs. 104, 109, 114, 117, 121, 124, 129, 150, 176, 180, 197—200; notable among these are the superb mid-nineteenth-century watercolor tracings by Charles Winston). These are of especial assistance in a valuable section on "The Reformation and After," in which the effects of iconoclasm and restoration are discussed (pp. 229—246). Also notable are the number...