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Reviews 179 Robin Cormack's Byzantine eye is a valuable collection of studies drawn from relatively obscure sources. These studies also herald a new direction in Byzantine art history. A. D. Grishin Department of Art History Australian National University Davis, R. H. C, A history of medieval Europe from Constantine to St. Louis, 2nd ed., London, Longman, 1988; paperback; pp. xv, 408; 5 plates, 9 maps; R. R. P. AUS$29.95. The covers of this paperback state that it is a 'Second Edition ... the first fullscale revision of the text since its initial appearance in 1957', in which 'Professor Davis has added important new postscripts to all those chapters which he would now tackle differendy were he writing the book from scratch'. In fact two of the postscripts to chapters in the book are virtually unchanged appendices to the 1970 edition. This leavesfivenew postscripts among seventeen chapters. Otherwise the text of the book is Uttle changed, although references and reading tists have been updated. This is a pity, because a second edition offered an opportunity to fiU in gaps. Most notably, one suspects that this is a history of medieval Europe defined as excluding the British Isles, which enter only infrequently in general or comparative contexts. Spain and eastern Europe don't receive much attention either. A worldwide audience for a textbook such as this deserves better. Also, there is not one sentence reflecting new perspectives on w o m e n in history, even though, within the minimalist policy of change governing the edition, the postscript on demography would have provided a suitable context. In the absence of Longman's long-awaited book on the early Middle Ages, this clear and sensible book will have to do. However, Robert S. Lopez's The Birth ofEurope (sadly out of print) is a more interesting and more balanced treatment with a conceptually sounder tide. Lynette Olson Department of History University of Sydney Rossiaud, J., Medieval prostitution, trans. L. G. Cochrane, Oxford, Basil BlackweU, 1988; cloth; pp. ix, 213; R. R. P. £22.50. Rossiaud's Medieval prostitution is an easy book to read and enjoy. It has an easily definable subject matter: the limited activity of prostitution in a clearly defined geographical area, namely the network of towns and cities of south-east France, from Burgundy to Provence, between 1440 and 1490. One might quibble that the later fifteenth century is hardly the Middle Ages but Rossiaud relies on earlier sources for his theoretical discussion of the status of 180 Reviews prostitution. Having originally appeared in Annates in 1976, this book is a fine example of the Annaliste technique of intense analysis of a particular subject for social analysis. It is enriched by reference to R. C. Trexler's studies of Florentine prostitution and town ritual. Rossiaud knows his prostitutes weU and allows us to become familiar with their world. Although prostitution was legal and even encouraged by municipal authorities in thirteenth century Dijon, Rossiaud makes it clear that legality can in no way be taken as a sign of prostitutes' acceptance within the community. If you buy this book do not think of ignoring the extraordinary documents assembled from municipal legal sources in the appendices. They are the best part of the book. This is not to demean Rossiaud's fine scholarship but academic prose can hardly compete with the human dramas of women such as Jeanne, raped as a servant and then 'hunted by the young men of the city' when she was forced to leave her seducer's service. Pack rape by the gay youth of the towns was the penalty for any woman who crossed the invisible line which separated the woman whose favours could be demanded by one man and the woman who was owned by all men. Rossiaud writes of the 'cult of the good time' and the lawlessness of journeymen in even smallish settlements. Sometimes he can be accused of a certain disregard for the powerlessness of women which his work uncovers, a certain delight in the vigorous antics of the youth of the towns. They were the enforcers of a bnttally misogynistic moral code. This whole study serves as a useful antidote...

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