Medieval political thought in Europe, 1250-1450 (review)

138 Reviews Longer notes are placed at the end of the book, and while on the whole these are succinct and useful they exhibit at times a kind of fussy pedantry. Take, for example, the narrator's sententia concerning Dorothy's covert infidelities: 'The heart never grieves what the eye sees not' (p. 233). Though grammatically odd, this is perfectly intelligible in its context. The reader w h o nevertheless takes the trouble to seek out the endnote will scarcely feel rewarded to be told that 'Cranfill (p. 290) records that the more common form of the proverb was "what the eye seeth not, the heart rueth not" ' . This note will seem even more pointless to one who recognizes the phrase as idiomatic contemporary British English (as the chef in Fawlty Towers remarks philosophically, 'What the eye don't see, the 'eart don't grieve at'). Given this editorial redundancy, it is curious that there is no note on Riche's remark that the lawyer (one of Dorothy's lovers) 'so handled the matter that he had entered his action in her common place' (p. 239). No doubt the obscenity is self-explanatory, but its particular wit requires an elucidatory note for the m o d e m reader. But it is easy and ungracious to carp at details in a work of this scope. This is, on the whole, an excellent edition of a much undervalued writer. Peter Groves Department of English Monash University Black, Antony, Medieval political thought in Europe, 1250-1450 (Cambridge medieval textbooks), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992; rpt; paper; pp. xii, 211; R.R.P. AUS$29.95. The past few decades have seen an explosion in the study of medieval political thought. Although it is still underappreciated, it can hardly still be said to be 'strangely neglected', as Antony Black declares. What has been lacking is a general account of the entire field that includes all the recent work. Since Black's book attempts this, and also the equally laudable goal of presenting it in a form suitable for students, it must be evaluated on how well it succeeds in both of these areas. As the esteemed author of many publications, most notably in the areas of conciliarism and guilds, Black seems singularly qualified. But while his attempt is noble, the book's deficiencies prevent it from being definitive as either summary or text. The commencement date of 1250 is artificial, as Black himself tacitly acknowledges when he points out that the translation of Aristotle's Politics Reviews 139 around that date provided a new vocabulary but did not initiate a revolution in political thought. With earlier canon and civil lawyers, and thinkers such as John of Salisbury, left out, it is impossible to provide a coherent account. In fact, Black generally neglects ecclesiology and its role in secular political thought. Curiously, he does not even cite Brian Tierney's Religion, law, and the growth of constitutional thought, which covers this very subject, and he seems unaware of the existence and importance of corporate theory, as opposed to practice, another of Tiemey's themes. It is always possible to quibble with the organization of a book with such wide coverage. Black's division into thematic parts, such as 'Church and State' and 'Empire and Nation' works for the most part, although in fragmenting the views of major thinkers and assembling a bewildering array of views in a few paragraphs, it is hard for readers, especially for those unfamiliar with the subject, to build up a coherent picture. This is aggravated by his tendency to refer to thinkers without identifying them until much later and by his non-standard use of a person's place instead of name, such as 'Admont' for Engelbert of Admont. The book is marred by a number of small errors. Black also sometimes ascribes an idea to a particular thinker or camp without realizing that it was common earlier or was used by all camps. More significant are a series of misreadings and misleading treatments. For example, Black muddles Marsiglio of Padua's views. First, by giving an incomplete quotation, he leaves the impression that 'weightier part' means majority. Later...