Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order, c. 1130-c. 1300 by Brian Golding (review)

782book reviews dispersed texts. Hence the volume The Medieval Church in Scotland, skillfully edited by James Kirk, consisting oftwelve essays in which Professor Cowan had concerned his exploration of the institutional evolution ofthe Church from the twelfth untU the fifteenth century.There is also a Foreword from the pen of Professor Gordon Donaldson, friend and mentor of Ian Cowan, and a "Bibliography of his Works," contributed by PeterW Asplin, which in itsetf offers an eloquent testimonial to his prowess as a scholar. This selection offers the reader grass-roots material concerning certain key features ofthe organization and structure of the Scottish Church throughout the MiddleAges. Separate essays treat the development ofthe parochial system (Scottish HistoricalReview, XL, 43-45);the appropriation ofparish churches (An HistoricalAtlas ofScotland, cAOO-c. 1600, pp. 37-38); the emergence ofthe urban parish (The Scottish Medieval Town, pp. 82-98); vicarages and the cure of souls (Records ofScottish Church History Society, XVI, 111-127);the reUgious and the cure of souls (Records ofthe Scottish Church History Society, XlV, 215-230); the organization of secular cathedral chapters (Records ofthe Scottish Church Society , Xiy 19-47); the Church in the Diocese ofAberdeen (Northern Scotland, I, 19-48); the Church in ArgyU and the Isles (Records of the Scottish Church History Society, XX, 15-29); the Church in the Highlands (The Middle Ages in the Highlands, pp. 91-100); the monastic history of the diocese of St Andrews (Medieval Art and Architecture in the Diocese of St Andrews, pp. 7-15); Church and Society in the Fifteenth Century (Scottish Society in the Fifteenth Century, pp. 112-135); and lastly, patronage, provision, and reservation, in other words, pre-Reformation appointment to benefices (The Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland:Essays in Honour ofGordon Donaldson, pp. 75-92). It was no easy task to select from a bibliography of 163 titles (of which haU are reviews ofworks by others) the essays linked by a common theme, but the result is this eminal volume which wiU be treasured by generations of scholars. Charles Burns Archivito Segreto Vaticano Gilbert ofSemptingham and the Gilbertine Order, c. 1130-c. 1300. By Brian Golding. (New York: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. 1995. Pp. xvi, 508. $95.00.) The GUbertine Order has finaUy received the extensive study it deserves with Golding's exhaustive work.Within the last decade, several scholars have treated this English order for nuns, lay sisters, lay brothers, and canons from its midtwelfth -centuiy origins through the canonization of its founder, GUbert of Sempringham , in 1202. Using this literature and the primary sources, Golding offers his own interpretation of the order's early years. In addition, he provides what book reviews783 has been lacking in the recent studies: a history of the order that extends to the beginning of the fourteenth century and a discussion of each of the twentyseven GUbertine foundations. Golding's book wiU become the standard reference work on the Gilbertines. In Part One, Golding treats St. GUbert, the GUbertine Rule, and IUe in the GUbertine communities. Since Gilbert's Vita and the Gilbertine Rule are the most extensive surviving documents for the order, they have already received significant attention from other scholars. But after re-examining the evidence, Golding proposes new interpretations, some of which are debatable. For instance , he decides that the first seven women who in 1 131 accepted enclosure at Sempringham under Gilbert's supervision had more in common with anchoresses than with nuns. WhUe Golding is right to emphasize that many monasteries for women begun in England at that time had eremitic origins, Golding's decision to call these women anchoresses is questionable. Golding also reconsiders crucial developments that occurred after GUbert's 1 147 visit to Cîteaux.When Gilbert was unsuccessful in his attempt to persuade the Cistercians to assume responsibUity for the nuns, lay sisters, and lay brothers he had established at Sempringham and Haverholme, he decided to add canons to his communities and devise his unique system of "double monasteries." Although Golding's theories about the reasons for GUbert's decisions are plausible , too little documentation survives to prove Golding's hypotheses over those ofthe other scholars he critiques. Particularly helpful, however, is Golding...