Medieval English romances (review)

Reviews 225 medieval thinking about the powers of rulers and the rights of subjects. However, the ius commune was constrained by a common set of assumptions about princely authority, according to which the princeps must bridle his own will, and hencerespectthe proper liberty of bis subjects, for moral and religious reasons. This is the heart of medieval 'constitutionalism', and distinguishes it from the institutionally-oriented modem version of constitutional doctrine. Pennington does not acknowledge tbe significance of this moral andreligiouscontext. Hence, writing of Azo, he states that: 'Subservience to the law is a virtue of the soul; when the prince observes the laws, he does nothing that is not licit and honest, and he represses the pull of his desires' (p. 81). Pennington ventures no further remark on the matter. Yet the orientation of the ruler's soul, and thus his will, formed the core of Azo's approach to political power. Tbe use or abuse of power could not be detached from the character of the person who wielded it and, hence, safeguards on the misuse of power pertained to moral andreligioustraining and the good advice of counsellors. For Azo and his fellow medieval lawyers, this personalized conception of authority formed the c o m m o n currency of distinctively medieval constitutional thought uniting philosophers and theologians with lawyers. Pennington's interpretation, then, is incomplete, and perhaps misleading. The study of legal treatises is surely helpful to understanding medieval political thought but they ought not to be read in a vacuum, as though an 'internal' history of European legal thought is desirable, or possible. Failure to appreciate the context of the writings of the lawyers generates an anachronism implicit in positing a straight line that extends from the schools of Bologna to the time of Bodin and beyond. Cary J. Nedeiman Department of Political Science University of Arizona Speed, Diane, ed., Medieval English romances, 3rd ed., (Durham medieval texts, No. 8), Durham, Durham medieval texts, 1993; 2 vols; paper; pp. 460; R.R.P. £10.00. The third edition, andre-issuein the Durham medieval texts series, of this excellent anthology of six medieval romances indicates that it is achieving its aim of being a valuable tool for students and scholars alike. Six of the shorter romances are presented, the well-known Havelok and Sir Orfeo, and 226 Reviews the much less so and much less accessible Sir Cleges, Chevelere Assigne, and The Grene Knight, which have no recent critical editions and which have not received much critical attention either, but which deserve more. They, along with Rauf Coiljear, arranged chronologically, exemplify the range of Middle English romance in matter and form. The third edition has added two maps, presumably for the benefit of students ignorant of English and European topography. The bibliography has been brought up to date; although, A. C. Spearing's superb article on Orfeo in his Readings in medieval poetry could profitably be added. Dr Speed could not change her format to answer Mills's charge in a 1991 review that there should be more indication alongside thetextsas to where they have been altered, but she has tried to signal those alterations even more clearly than before in both introductions and textual notes. Unlike most of her predecessors, she does not believe in emendation for the sake of regularity of rhyme or metre, and commendably tinkers as little as possible with the linguistic forms of base texts, or of readings supplied from elsewhere. Therefore, some well-known romances emerge looking refreshingly different. Particularly pleasing is 'W shal nou mi doubterfare ?' (Havelok, 120), which might momentarily flummox students unaccustomed to Middle English before the full and helpful glossary enlightens them. The textual notes make us well aware of scribal variants and of the significance of some of these, such as the English setting of Orfeo appearing only in the Auchinleck manuscript. The explanatory notes provide a wealth of information, such as the constant comparisons of Chevelere Assigne with its French and Latin sources. It is still a matter for regret, however, that the numeration of Havelok from 1444 to the end is so out of kilter with every other edition of the poem. Speed's general...