The Divine Office in the Latin Middle Ages: Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography (review)

Reviews 235 English on the themes raised in the book makes a comprehensive contextual and historiographical overview all the more necessary. The individual bibliographies at the conclusion of each chapter are very useful, but, for the reasons outlined above, a selected bibliography is also required. Such a fine collection of articles should be a stimulus to further research and hopefully an English-reading public will one day have access to even more stimulating works by the authors in this collection and/or by others, so that Duke Cosimo I's political and cultural agenda will become as well known as those of bis Medici ancestors w h o m he chose to emulate as well as to supersede. Natalie Tomas Monash University Fassler, Margot E. and Rebecca A. Baltzer, eds., The Divine Office in the La Middle Ages: Methodology and Source Studies, Regional Developments, Hagiography, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000; cloth; pp. xxiv, 632; 5 b/w illustrations, 29 tables, 55 musical examples; R R P £50.00; ISBN 0195124537. The Divine Office remains an area of medieval studies which is still a 'grea relatively unexploredfrontier'as the Preface of this fine book reminds us (p. viii). Although not included in the title above, a further subtitle indicates that this is a festschrift 'written in honor of Professor Ruth Steiner'. Steiner is a leading musicologist in thefieldof chant studies and more specifically in studies of the Office. Her contributions have been wide-ranging and significant as is demonstrated in part by the bibliography of her writings given in the book, and also in her vision and leading role in the establishment of C A N T U S , a computerised database for the study of Office manuscripts now available on-line through the University ofWestern Ontario (http://publish.uwo.ca/~cantus), as well as in her roles as teacher and mentor based for many years at the Catholic University ofAmerica. Study of the Office can present many problems and complications to the beginner and to the experienced scholar. This book will offer assistance to both. Those ofus who have struggled to grapple seemingly in the dark with some detail or larger issue related to the Office and its sources m a y well wish w e had had the book available years ago. Its contents are diverse, covering many different aspects of recent research into the Office, and also pointing in new directions. 236 Reviews As is to be expected in a volume dedicated to a musicologist and edited by musicologists, there is certainly and rightly a prominence given to music. The volume will nevertheless be of interest and value to scholars in a diverse range of areas of medieval studies. The contributors represent the international field of Office and chant studies, and they have endeavoured, although with perhaps mixed success, to make the often complex subject matter accessible to the nonspecialist , whether this complexity be in regard to music or liturgy. The book opens with a useful Prelude by Lila Collamore, introducing the divisions and content ofthe cycle ofthe Office and clearly explaining differences between the parts of the Office. Following this the 23 chapters the book are arranged into sections which reflect the aspects named in its subtitle. Thus i t begins with 'A Methodological Introduction' with articles by Margot Fassler and Laszlo Dobszay intended to demonstrate ways of studying and interpreting the manuscripts and how they can be used in researching problems. Section two is full of interest and focuses on the pre-Carolingian office pointing at directions for developing research. The late James W . McKinnon's paper sets out to offer 'the viewpoint of a music historian' on the origins of the Office in the Western church, and Joseph Dyer studies psalmody in the monastic rule of the Master. The section also includes a substantial study of the Office of the little understood early Irish church. 'Eastern and Western Elements in the Irish Monastic Prayer of the Hours' is by Peter Jeffery, w h o has written extensively on the early eastern church and is able to bring wide insight to this intriguing study, one of the most interesting in the book. Section three titled 'Manuscript...