Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England (review)

Reviews 161 Mdtland, F.W., Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England, new ed., foreward by J.C. Holt, Cambridge, C U P . , 1987; pp.xxvii, 527; paperback, R.RP. A U S $46.50. 'The task of reconstructing ancient ideas is hazardous, and can only be accomplished little by little. If we are in a huny to get to the beginning we shdl miss the path'. But 'there is every reason why the explorers of ancient English history should be hopeful ... By slow degrees the thought of our forefathers, their common thoughts about common things, will have become thinkable once more'. More than any other English medievdist Frederick WiUiam Mdtland has retdned a golden reputation for his prescience over a century of enormous historiographicd change. Of dl his works, the monumentd History ofEnglish Law before the Time ofEdward I and his three essays, by-blows of the legd history, entitled Domesday Book and Beyond, stand out as enduring creations of genius. Twenty years ago Cambridge University Press reissued the History of English Law with a major new introduction by Professor Milsom. N o w the press has rendered a similar service to scholarship by a photographicreprintof the origind 1897 publication of Domesday Book and Beyond, with a concise and judicious introduction by J.C. Holt, professor of medievd history at Cambridge. The introduction demonstrates succinctly how relevant Mdtland's andysis of Domesday Book and Anglo-Saxon society still is today, while showing dso what new insights, especidly into the nature of the great census, have been achieved by historians, geographers, diplomatists and demographers. Mdtland is not just part of historiography. He is still an interpretative force to be reckoned with and in his felicity of witty expression he remdns the best exemplar for every contributortoParergon. R. Ian Jack Department of History University of Sydney Mayer, HE., The Crusades, trans. J. GilUngham, 2nd. edition, Oxford, O.U.P., 1988; pp.xii, 354; 3 maps; R.RP. A U S $34.00. This welcome second edition of Professor Mayer's The Crusades is no mere re-issue. As stated in the Preface to the Second Edition: The alterations are very substantid, ranging from nuances reflecting new shades of opinion to whole sections which have been added or completely rewritten. Chapters 4, 6, 8 and 14 incorporate the greatest changes. Chapter 15 has been deleted, dthough some of its most vivid passages survive in Chapter 14 (e.g. ...