A society organised for war: the Iberian municipal militias in the central Middle Ages, 1000-1284 (review)

Reviews 111 the works of Guicciardini and Machiavelli can be already detected in Parenti's mid-fifteenth-century Memoir. In the hands of Phillips, Marco Parenti and his associates come forward as flesh and blood Florentines grappling with the issues of domestic and politicd survivd. The clarity and vivid detail of the presentation gives this study the great virtue of rendering much of contemporary scholarship on Renaissance Florence accessible and attractive to the student and layperson. Roslyn Pesman Cooper Department of History University of Sydney Powers, J. F., A society organised for war: the Iberian municipal militias in the central Middle Ages, 1000-1284, Berkely, University of California Press, 1988; pp. xii, 365; 5 maps, 27 plates; R.R.P. ? A dust jacket that proclaims that a book is a 'masterpiece' arouses immediate scepticism, even when the claim is made by a well-reputed scholar. Is this work a masterpiece? Well, no! But it is certainly a very fine book destined to become a standard of reference for long to come. The literature of the Iberian Reconquista is enormous, both in Spanish and also in other languages; particularly, in recent years, in English from American scholars. It is no accident that it has been Americans who have been attracted to the study of the Iberian military frontiers. Powers' own articles on various aspects of the frontier municipal militias are well known. They complement the work of Elena Lourie, Robert Bums, Charles Bishko, Tedfilo Ruiz and other. However, Powers' new book breaks fresh ground. Its detailed analysis of the organization and operation of the municipal militias breathes life and colour into the spartan details of Reconquista campaigns familiar from other works. The book is organised in two sections. Thefirstand shorter, is a resume of the evolution of the military services of the frontier towns in campdgns of the Reconquista. Even in this section, however, Powers' attempt to lay bare the human dimensions of urban societies in conflict is successful. The account of the campdgn of the militias of Segovia and Avila agdnst the Almoravid Tashfin of Cordoba in 1127, with which the section opens, sets the tone for the rest of it The second, and more extensive, section provides the istitutional andysis of the conditions of millitary service for the citizens of the towns. Largely based on a detailed andysis of the municipal fueros, the section deals with the place of mtiitary service within the general context of urban life, conditions of services with the militias, the conduct of field operations, booty and losses, and discipline in the context of the security of the frontier. Powers' standard of scholarship is excellent The book is clearly the result of many years' painstaking research in archives and libraries. The length of the 172 Reviews bibliography (46 pages) is only too revealing. The sheer task of assimilating the material from the several hundred municipal fueros, many of which are very long, must have been daunting. Then there are the several dozen chronicles, many royd law codes and some Arabic materids. Necessarily the analysis of the frontier in conflict is Christiano-centric but Powers does make a significant attempt to let us see the impact of Christian activities on their Muslim antagonists when possible. The author's wider interests in the generd themes of frontier history underlie the development of the book. In this respect it will come to command a centrd place amongst the works of the schools of American (and other) frontier historians. There is much food for thought here for historians of all aspects of the expanding European frontiers of the central Middle Ages, particularly for Crusade historians. Powers' analysis of the aptitude of the military organisation of the Iberian towns for defence of the frontier places in stark relief the failure of their co-religionists in the Crusader states to do the same. It is the development of the book within a framework of themes of frontier history which turns what might easily have become a barren discussion of institutions into a lively analysis of the military aspects of a frontier society on a permanent war footing. John H. Pryor Department of History University of Sydney Pryor, J. H., Geography, technology...