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614BOOK REVIEWS the view of a male writer about what he thought was significant in the life of the woman. To what extent this corresponds to the woman's self-understanding is problematic. But despite this sort of problem, it seems in the long run that such co-operation between male and female mystics led to the enrichment of both. A third element in this historical period is the development of new literary forms and the expanded use of the vernacular. There were academic forms of theological development characteristic of the emerging universities. In that context, one moves from the common monastic lectio of the sacred text with a running commentary to new forms such as the quaestio drawn out in a highly dialectical fashion. The language of the university culture was Latin. During the same period, the developments in the area of mysticism led to new literary forms that were less dialectical in nature and to the more extensive use of the vernacular. These two factors contributed much to the variety to be found in the mystical literature. Beyond these general observations, the treatment of individual persons with samples of texts is exceptionally rich and diverse. The treatment of the Franciscans , for example, ranges from Francis himself to the highly speculative theologian , Bonaventure; and then to David of Augsburg, and on to the poetic style of Jacopone da Todi and the theological, analytical concern of Ramon UuIl. The discussion of women covers the early Franciscan women such as Clare of Assist , Douceline of Digne, Margaret of Cortona, and Angela of Foligno; and three great béguines, Hadewijch, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Marguerite Porete. The final chapter discusses women mystics in a number of monastic Orders and among the Dominicans. The next volume in this series will move on to the speculative mysticism that appeared later in the century, for example, in the work of Meister Eckhart. This study is richly researched and documented with primary and secondary literature as evidenced in 143 pages of footnotes and a forty-page bibliography. It is truly a monumental work, and without doubt will be a standard source for any serious study of the Western Christian mystical tradition for many years in the future. Zachary Hayes, O.F.M. Catholic Theological Union Chicago, Illinois The Letters and Charters of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri, Papal Legate in England , 1216-1218. Edited by Nicholas Vincent. [The Canterbury and York Society Volume LXXXIII.] (Rochester, NewYork: The Boydell Press. 1996. Pp. xcvi, 193. $45.00.) The thirty-month-long legatine mission to England of Guala Bicchieri certainly coincided with political events of considerable consequence: the deepening of baronial revolt against King John, foreign invasion by the rebels' ally book reviews615 (Louis of France, the future Louis VIII), John's death and his son Henry's disputed succession, the creation of a viable minority government for the new child-king, royalist victory in the ensuing civil war, and the pacification of the country. Historians have long known that Guala's activities to assist the royalist cause—for such was the job assigned him by his superiors, Popes Innocent III and Honorius III—had been considerable. Now Nicholas Vincent of Christ Church College, Canterbury, has exhaustively quarried the letters and other written notices regarding this legation, thereby contributing considerably to our understanding of the politics and diplomacy of the time as well as the relationship between the papacy and English church. The volume comprises two large parts: a sixty-four-page-long introductory essay, which reviews Guala's biography and the history of his English legation, and the acta (letters to and from Guala, contemporary written references about him by others) relating to his mission (including appendices one and two). In the former part Vincent ranges through a comprehensive variety of topics: the nature of papal legation during the early thirteenth century, Guala's peacemaking activities in England, the legate's relations and interactions with the local episcopate and religious houses, his legitimate—albeit controversial— levying of taxes (procurations) on individual English churches and prelates to finance his mission, his harsh punishment of those English clergy who rebelled against John and young Henry, Guala's contribution to the later practice...

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