The Liber Gersumarum of Ramsey Abbey: A Calendar and Index of B. L. Harley MS. 445 (review)

Reviews 143 but ignores Leckie's more recent argument of 1981 for a reading of the latter kind in The Passage of Dominion. Jennifer Strauss Department of EngUsh Monash University DeWindt, E. B., ed., The Liber Gersumarum of Ramsey Abbey: A Calendar and Index ofB. L. Harley MS. 445 (Subsidia mediaevalia, 7), Toronto, P.I.M.S., 1976; pp. 455; 2 plates; R.R.P. C A N . $45.00. The reviewing of a calendar is not an enviable task. Ideally, in order to make a judgement as to the accuracy of the contents, the reviewer should take random entries and check them against the original manuscript. Since this is not possible in the present context the general accuracy of the material has to be accepted as read, although it should be pointed out that in n. 5 there are two errors of transcription from the plate facing p. 22: there is no in posterum after Et non licebit three lines from the end, nor does Thomam appear in parentheses in the original. The plate itself, incidentally, relates to entries 12 and 13, and not 13 and 14. Attention, therefore, needs to be turned to the author's Introduction, Index, and justification for publication. The Liber Gersumarum of Ramsey Abbey is a record of fines (gersumae) paid to the abbot's seneschal on the occasion of land transfers, marriage and exodus licences. Its 256 folios contain 4372 entries relating to a total of 42 villages spread across the five counties of Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and Northamptonshire for the years 1398-1402 and 1404-1458. DeWindt argues unconvincingly against the view that these entries were extracted from court rolls on the grounds that they do not represent the normal variety of material expected in such rolls and that where court rolls survive for the places and dates recorded the Liber's entries are not to be found. First, extracts by their very nature are likely to be selective in their material; in this case restricting concern to land transfers, marriage licences and exodus fines. Secondly, the lack of correspondence between surviving court rolls and the Liber Gersumarum appears to apply to only 30 cases, all of which fall within the period 1398-1410, or thefirst894 entries. There are other less than satisfactory aspects to the short Introduction. The author claims that: ' . . . the actual arrangement of entries in the manuscript is haphazard' and that 'There was apparently no attempt to group vills according to any plan - alphabetical, geographical or topical'. A closer study of each year's entries, however, reveals a fairly persistent chronological order from Michaelmas to Michaelmas. Quite clearly the Calendar is capable of being put to use in a variety of ways, largely in conjunction with other records, such as accounts, surveys and, of course, court rolls. This De Windt does with three or four 144 Reviews examples, but in none of them does he give precise references to the relevant court rolls, preferring instread to refer the reader to the Regional Data Bank at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. As for the audience to which this tome is directed, it is difficult to be certain. There is far too litde guidance for the amateur or the undergraduate, whilst the professional historian would undoubtedly prefer to have at his or her disposal the full Latin text and all the formulae with their minimal variations that DeWindt considers superfluous and unnecessary. Changes in diplomatic over a period of sixty years or so may be quite significant to the nonquantitatively minded historian. History can and should be more than the endproduct of the collection and analysis of summaries of data, all of which in this case have been admirably indexed in the final 76 pages. John Walmsley Department of History Macquarie University Ferriera, A., The Tragedy oflnes de Castro, trans. J. R. C. Martyn, Coimbra, Universidad de Coimbra, 1987; pp. 382; R.R.P. £12.00 John Martyn's translation with introductory essays of Antonio Ferriera's Tragedy oflnes de Castro is a valuable addition to the critical literature on this affecting drama of personal sacrifice for the nation's good. More importandy, perhaps, it provides a detailed source...