New Medieval Literatures (review)

292 Short Notices medieval codes of law. It also utilized philosophy and theology in the works of Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Boethius, Isidore of Seville, and Thomas Aquinas, amongst others, to provide the principles lying behind the Laws. Limited in its medieval influence by the fact that it was written in Castilian rather than Latin, the Siete Partidas nevertheless had great influence on the development of law in the Iberian peninsula and then throughout the Spanish and Portuguese diaspora. The 1931 translation by Samuel Parsons Scott, the only English translation, has long been extremely difficult to obtain and this reprint in five volumes will be welcomed. The three introductory essays by Robert I. Burns, S.J., 'The Partidas Introduction', Joseph F. O.'Callaghan, 'Alfonso X and the Partidas', and Jerry R. Craddock, "The Partidas: Bibliographical notes' are also very welcome. Rather than a dry and dusty law book, the Siete Partidas was a code enlivened by application to daily life. In some ways the code was more like an encyclopedia than a law book. The laws are fun to read and medievalists of all persuasions willfindmaterial in them pertinent to their own interests. John H Pryor Centrefor Medieval Studies University ofSydney Copeland, Rita, David Lawton and Wendy Scase, eds., New Medieval Literatures, vol. 2, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998; cloth; pp. viii, 282; 2 b/w illustrations; R R P £47.50; ISBN 019818476X. Rita Copeland's elegant introduction positions NML volume 2 as 'continuin critical conversations between medieval studies and the "project of the present" begun in thefirstvolume.' This volume turns readers' attention to French, AngloNorman and Latin texts, traditions and textual cultures and consequently to the disciplinary and institutional relations between, for instance, medieval French studies in US, British and European discursive contexts. Given the predominance ofAngloAmerican dialogue within medieval literary and textual studies, Copeland's recognition ofthe constitutive conditions ofsuch exchanges is refreshing. Steven Kruger's 'The Spectral Jew' takes Jacques Derrida's Specters of Marx: The State ofDebt, the Work ofMourning, and the New International as it theoretical paradigm to argue for a reconceptualisation of 'Jews, Jewishness and Judaism' as both prior to and essential to the identity ofChristianity. In 'Unmanned M e n and Eunuchs of God: Peter Damian's Liber Gomorrhianus and the Sexual Short Notices 293 Politics of Papal Reform,' Larry Scanlon clarifies Foucault's 'utterly confused category' of sodomy to unpack the intricacies of Peter Damian's desire for 'heteronormativity' and its double - homophobia. 'Bel Acueil and the Improper Allegory ofthe Romance of the Rose' allows Simon Gaunt to expose the fallacy ofC. S. Lewis's reading and logically claim Jean de M e u n as a queer writer. Helen Solterer's 'States of Siege: Violence, Place and Gender: Paris Around 1400' shifts the volume's focus to read spatial phenomena and spatialised metaphor. 'Metonymy, Montage, and Death in Francois Villon's Testament similarly locates textual meaning within cultural space; this time in metonymic chains of significance circulating around death. In 'The Trouble With Harold: the Ideological Context of the Vita Haroldi, Robert Stein produces a skilful narrative account ofthe sources of Harold's death and their contextual meanings. 'Eliding the Interpreter: John Wyclif and Scriptural Truth' shifts the preoccupation with textual context allowing Kantik Ghosh to locate the 'basic dichotomies in Wyclif's thought' at the argument's centre. Wendy Scase's '"Strange and Wonderful Bills": Bill-Casting and Political Discourse in Late Medieval England' seeks to 'erect some of the structure necessary for making an interpretive framework' for bill-casting as a 'discursive practice.' The stand-out essay is Susan Crane's brilliant 'Maytime in Late Medieval Courts' for its theoretical lucidity, intellectualrigourand convincing argumentation. Louise Fradenburg's 'Analytical Survey 2: W e Are Not Alone: Psychoanalytic Medievalism' is not only insightful as a survey but also makes a shapely return to the disciplinary concerns signalled in Copeland's introduction. Jenna Mead School ofEnglish, Journalism and European Languages University of Tasmania Kershaw, Ian and David M. Smith, eds., The Bolton Priory Compotus 12861325 , together with a priory account roll for 1377-1378, (Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series 154), Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2000; cloth; pp. viii, 636; 2 maps; R R...