A Survey of the Vatican Archives and of its Medieval Holdings by Leonard E. Boyle, OP (review)

REV1EWS 229 themselves to officers of equalresponsibility in the Europeantheatrewhowere fastbecoming nationalheroes. Moreover,MacArthur'sheadquarters wasfilled with jealousyand intrigue,with officersvying for the favour of their chief, whose portalswereguarded jealously by hishardbittenchiefof staff,Richard Sutherland. One of theseofficers wasGeneralRobertL. Eichelberger, commander of the I Corpsand later the EighthArmy. Eichelberger's careerbeforeWorld War n had sethim apart asonedestined for high command. A graduateof the military academy in •9o9, the sameclass asPattonand Devers,Eichelberger held a series of importantpositions beforeWorld War n. When MacArthur called for him in AugustI942 he sawtheassignment asan opportunity of a lifetime to achievedistinctionand lastingfame. In thishe wasdisappointed, not becausehe had failed, he felt, but becausehe was denied the credit for his achievement by MacArthur'stightcontrolof publicrelations. Thushe had returned home after the war not to a hero's welcome like that accorded to those who had served'underEisenhower,but to an anonymous retirementin Asheville , North Carolina.Eichelberger's bitterness overthe.failure to receivecredit for his achievement, his relationswith other officers, his view of MacArthur, and of the intriguesat his headquarters-alltheseand more come. through clearlyin thisvolumewhichconsists of hiswartimelettersto hiswife, 'Miss Em,' noteshe dictatedafter the war, a narrativeconnecting the letters,documentation ,and an introduction by the editor.It is an effortto setthe records straight,as Eichelberger seesthe record,and to give to the troopshe commandedthecredithefeelstheydeserve . Eichelberger's version of thewar in the southwest Pacific,it mustbe pointed out, is no moreobjectivethan MacArthur'sversion.In fact, onewonderswhy theseletterswerepublished at all. Eichelberger hasalreadytold hisstoryin an earlierwork (Our JungleRoadto Tokyo[New York, Viking Press, I95O]), 2o percentofwhichisduplicated here.Nor does thisvolumeaddto thegeneral's reputation. Hisconcern withpublicity, hisinvolvement in headquarters intrigue, hisjealousy ofotherofficers, andthegossip thathepasses onin these letters may beof interestto somebut reflectno crediton their author.GeneralEichelberger wouldhavebeenbetterserved had thisbooknot beenpublished. LOUIS MORTON Dartmouth College EUROPE A Survey o[ the VaticanArchives ando[ itsMedievalHoldings. LEONAI•r) E. BOYLE, OP.SubsidiaMedievalia,•. Toronto, PontificalInstitute of Medieval Studies, I972. Pp.iv, 25o.$8.oo. 'Buthowever well-prepared, a beginner mayfeelbewildered duringhisfirstdays in the Archives.'Few of his readerswill wishto deny the truth of Professor 230 THE CANADIAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Boyle's observation astheyrecalltheir firstapprehensive encounter with the overwhelming collections in the Vatican Archives.It is not just the distinctive hourswhichtheArchives keep(whichareadvertised in thisextremely practical guide,alongwith the requirements for admission); it is not just the clerical directionand its austerely classical settingin the Sala degliArchivi.The collectionitselfisboundto bafflethetyro.It hasbeenput together, dispersed, and reassembled in response to historicalhazardsand withouta consistent system. Its smallpermanentstaffisbycomparison with the collection a recentaddition, and consequently the hugevariety of calendars and indices,published and manuscript, whichhaveaccumulated overthreecenturies withoutco-operative or guidingprinciples, are oftenasbafflingasthe sources to whichtheyshould be a guide.To date, the Englishstudenthas had to do what he could to scramble throughpartsof the workdoneby hispredecessors, mostlyGermans, Italians, and Frenchmen;and in hisstruggle with, in mostcases, a provincial libraryhe hashad two lodestars: LeslieMacfarlane's invaluabledirectoryreprintedfromArchives of •959 and the earlier,fullerDas Vatikanische Archiv of Karl AugustFink (2nd ed. •95•). FatherBoyle's Surveycombines the scale of the secondwith the tabular clarity and occasional exemplaryillustration whichdistinguished the first.It is in plain English;it is the work of a scholar whose personal experience of theArchives isprobably aswideandpenetrating asany researcher's in the English-speaking world;its bibliographical guidance is up to dateat May I97o; it is reinforced by longexperience of teachingstudentsin a highly-regarded coursein diplomatic.The novicewho presents his tessera to the Archiveshereafterwill havebeenable,with the assistance of this Survey,to preparehimselfmorecompletely and with lesseffortthan hispredecessors to copewith the yearlymultiplicationof the essential literatureas well as with the basic collections. FatherBoylemusthavewrestled repeatedly with the problemof presenting his guidein the clearest and mosteconomical manner,an almostimpossible taskgiventhe overlapping categories withinthe series and the indices of the Vatican Archives. A sketch of the archive's history, whichexplains some of the peculiarities of itsarrangement, isfollowed by an extended listingof and commentaryon the main series in the collection, somewhat after the mannerof Fink. A third section, not muchshorterthan the former,givesfuller detail,includingcomparative tables,on the mostimportantmediaevalregisters-Avignon ,Lateran,Registers of Supplications, and CameralRegisters. This part dealsparticularlywith the valueof thesesources for Britishand Irish history. More precisely and completely than waspossible in Dr Macfarlane's article, Professor Boylehereexemplifies the special valueof differentclasses of record from his own interests in the...