Notes and Comments

1 56NOTES AND COMMENTS d'archiviofino al 1530 (Arezzo, 1996), recently published in The Catholic Historical Review [LXXXIV QuIy, 1998), 541-542]. The reviewer, Paul Grendler, states,"As Black informs the readers, he has not uncovered anything new of significance before 1384." However, I wrote on page 4:"I1 periodo dal 1300al 1384 era di minor interesse per Pasqui e Wieruszowski: non sorprenderá quindi che nuove ricerche di archivio abbiano portato alla luce un certo numero di document ! non conosciuti e per noi interessanti in Arezzo." My statement here is confirmed by pages 185-194 and 305-333, where I publish twenty-one documents from the period before 1384 which no previous scholar had either referred to or published; I also publish thirteen documents which had been previously referred to by scholars but which had never been either published or published in full. Grendler also states,"On the whole, the communal Latin and abbaco schools were successful and continuous." However, I wrote on page 159,"In Arezzo ci furono pochi insegnanti di abaco prima della meta del Quattrocento ed un incarico regolare inizia solo verso Ia fine del secólo."This statement is supported by the fact that,before 1480,there are only twenty-eight documents referring to abacus teaching in Arezzo published in my book, in contrast to more than five hundred referring to grammar (Latin) teaching. There is also a significant internal contradiction in his review: on the one hand, he states, Arezzo's "university . . . flourished in the early thirteenth century "; on the other, he writes, "The university . . . probably was very small, perhaps eight professors in 1255. . . ." Robert Black School ofHistory University ofLeeds Reply dated November 4, 1998: "Professor Grendler suggests that interested readers should read the book, the entire review, and then reach their own conclusions ." Correction Errors occurred in the address of the ReverendJames Connelly, CS.C.,in the issue for April, 1998 (Vol. LXXXIV, No. 2, p. 370),where his appointment to the chairmanship of the committee organizing the spring meeting in 2002 at the University ofPortland was announced. It should read: telephone: 503-943-7343; fax: 503-943-7399; e-mail: connelly@up.edu. NOTES AND COMMENTS Association News At its meeting held in Seattle onJanuary 8, 1998, the Executive Council of the American Catholic Historical Association gratefully accepted the invitation of VUlanova University and Cabrini College to hold its spring meeting on their campuses next year. The dates wiU be March 19-21, 1999- Thomas Greene wUl be the chairman ofthe organizing committee. Proposals for sessions or individual papers should be sent to Professor Greene by October 1, 1998, in care ofthe Department of History, VUlanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, VUlanova, Pennsylvania 19085-1699; telephone: 610-519-4677; fax: 610-519-6200. At the same meeting the Executive CouncU also accepted with equal gratitude the invitation of the president of the University of Portland, the Very Reverend David T.Tyson, CS.C,to hold its spring meeting at his institution Ln 2002, when the university will be celebrating the centenary of its founding. The university was founded by the Archbishop of Portland, Alexander Christie, as Columbia University in 1901 and was confided to the direction of the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1902; Ui 1935 the name was changed to the University of Portland. The chairman of the organizing committee wUl be James ConneUy, C.S.C. The dates of the meeting will be March 22-23. Although no date for the submission of proposals has yet been fixed, members of the Association are welcome to write to Father ConneUy at any time in care of the Department of History, University of Portland, 5000 North Willamette Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97203-5798; telephone: 503-283-7100; fax: conneUy@up.edu. The Executive CouncU, moreover, decided to increase the dues in all categories as follows: for ordinary members forty doUars; for retired members (after twenty consecutive years of membership) thirty doUars; and for student members twenty-eight doUars. The fee for IUe membership wUl remain six hundred dollars untU June 30, 1998; beginning on July 1 it will be seven hundred and fifty. These increases were necessitated by the higher prices being charged by the...