Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture (review)

192 Reviews relatively little (with the possible exception of John of Salisbury). He is attracted by the self-conscious worldliness of the Archpoet, as well as by the philosophical openness of Bernard Silvestris. At this point a genuine flow begins to emerge, as w e see how Alan of Lille transforms the open dialogue of the Cosmographia into a much more dogmatic and pessimistic synthesis, the De planctu naturae, while John of Hauvilla's Architrenius transforms Alan of Lille's vision of the concordantia artium into a work of satire. These chapters do not lend themselves easily to analysis in terms of censorship, except in a forced, artificial kind of way. This does not weaken their value. Itjust suggests that the motif ofcensorship may not have been the best way to structure the book as a whole. In his acknowledgments, Godman pays tribute to 'the incomparable Yves Congar'. It might have been helpful if, before pronouncing on heresy hunters in the twelfth century, he had spent a little more time in silent reflection on those issues of ecclesiology and theology to which Congar devoted himself with such originality. Accusations of heresy are no more than the twelfth-century equivalent of those fingers of rebuke that book reviewers like to wave in the modem day. The Silent Masters deserves to be read and discussed by all students of twelfthcentury culture. A n d of course, none of us should remain silent. Constant J. Mews School ofHistorical Studies Monash University Gordon, Stewart, ed., Robes and Honor: The Medieval World of Investiture, Ne York and Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2001; cloth; pp. xiv, 394; 31 figures, 2 maps; R.R.P. US$45.00; ISBN 0312212305. This is a remarkably thorough and ambitious discussion of the possible origi and developments of investiture and the giving of textiles over time. It not only covers a wide ranging time frame, but a wide geographical spread, covering ancient China, Mongolia, the Persian and Islamic worlds as well as western European examples. There are 18 essays included and the contributors are as varied as the areas on which they write, coming from art history, history, Women's Studies, South Asian and Iranian Studies, English and French. While it is clear that all these cultures demonstrate an awareness of the power inherent in investiture, the origins of this shared 'metalanguage' of honorific robings is less clear, although it may be traced to China in the first Reviews 193 few centuries B C E , among the nomads north and west of the Great Wall. This seems plausible as trading and cultural connections can be made between the various groups discussed. One of the aims of the collection, however, is not so much to demonstrate these c o m m o n origins but rather what the giving of garments and textiles might mean and how this was performed within the local setting. While there are very obvious similarities between the various forms of gift-giving, there were striking differences as well, as can be readily shown when the local is analysed. Clearly the veiling ofnuns, with its emphasis on simplicity, indeed austerity, was markedly different from the granting of robes of honour in Fatimid Egypt or even amongst the Cardinals in the Papal Court in the thirteenth or fifteenth centuries, although common elements can also be shown. At the same time, meanings and expectations also varied, in terms of the expectations and responsibilities that these robes conferred. Such a comprehensive and interdisciplinary collection does have its problems. For the reader, the encounter with such a range of regions and cultures requires a breadth ofknowledge that is probably extremely rare, but despite some explanations of more unfamiliar terms, little help is offered. Glossaries for the different technical words and languages included would have been helpful, and only Carl F. Perry, in his essay on late Mamluk Egypt, provides one. For those of us working on western material, the range of unfamiliar titles, names and histories is definitely a challenge, highlighting for m e how limited m y knowledge ofArabic cultures is in m y period of specialisation. More maps would also have helped. Yet at the same time, it is appropriate that...