The Medieval Theatre (review)

Reviews 165 Waley, D., The Italian city-republics, 3rd ed., London, Longman, 1988; pp.xvii, 212; 17 plates, 7 maps, 2 tables; paperback, R.RP. A U S $21.95. Daniel Wdey's classic textbook account of the development of the Itdian urban republics from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries was first published in 1969. A second edition appeared in 1978 and the third edition has now been issued. The issue of the third edition is to be welcomed greatly since, together with J.K. Hyde's Society and politics in medieval Italy (London, 1973), this book is by far and away the best and most convenient introduction for students to the history of the Itdian urban republics. N e w features of this edition include an enlarged and updated bibliography, a short historicd gazetteer of thirty-six of the most important towns, thirteen new Ulustrations and an added chapter on the historiography of the city repubtics. The maps and tables are unchanged and there are few changes in the notes. The illustrations are now dispersed through thetextin appropriate places instead of being grouped at the end; a welcome feature. However, the historiographicd chapter is very disappointing. It concentrates dmost exclusively on Italian scholarship with just a few references to some English, French and German works. American scholarship is ignored; as indeed it is virtually in the bibliography dso. But the revision of the text itself is the most disappointing aspect of the new edition. Enormous strides have been made in Itdian urban history in the past decade but the dterations to the text are limited to minor clarifications, oceasiond new pieces of evidence to support existing arguments, a few deletions of less relevant data and debatable ideas, and a handful of new thoughts. By and large there is no change to the thrust of the argument and page dter page is virtudly identicd to the second edition. The work of revision is more cosmetic than red. John H. Pryor Department of History University of Sydney Wickham, G., The Medieval Theatre, 3rd ed., Cambridge, C U P . ; paperback, R.RP. A U S $28.50. Professor Wickham's vduable work on the medievd theatre m Christian Europe wasfirstpublished in 1974. The discussion covers thereligious,socid, poUticd and financid influences which shaped theatricd traditions in the period The only major new materid in this revised edition is a chapter which discusses the changes from the medievd traditions towards new traditions and developments in the seventeenth century. This chapter begins with a discussion of the Itdian theatre and theriseof the opera seria and the Comedia dell'Arte 166 Reviews and considers the Itdian influence on the drama of other continentd countries. It dso includes a section on the British medievd theatre up to the close of the playhouses in 1642. N e w materid has been added to the Bibliography and to the Cdendar of Twentieth Century revivds of Medievd English plays. This is useful to the student as it brings the references up to date and takes into account recent trends in scholarship. Margaret Rogerson Department of EngUsh University of Sydney B O O K S RECEIVED Aers, D., Community, gender and individual identity: English writing 13601430 , London, Routledge, 1988. Astill, G. and A. Grant The Countryside of medieval England, Oxford, Blackwell, 1988. Aston, T.H., ed., Landlords, peasants and politics in medieval England (Past and Present PubUcations), Cambridge, C U P . , 1987. Beilin, E.V., Redeeming Eve: women writers of the English Renaissance, Princeton, P.U.P., 1987. Braswell, M.F. and J. Bugge, eds., The Arthurian tradition: essays in convergence, Tuscdoosa and London, U. of Alabama P., 1988. Burton, T.L. and J., eds., Lexicographical and linguistic studies. Essays in honour ofG.W. Turner, Cambridge, Brewer, 1988. Campbell, S., The mosaics of Antioch (Subsidia mediaevdia 15), Toronto, Pontificd Institute of Medievd Studies, 1988. Canning, J. The political thought of Baldus de Ubaldis, Cambridge, C U P . , 1987. Clunies Ross, M., Skaldskaparmal: Snorri Sturlson's ars poetica and medieval theories ofgrammar, Odense, Odense UP., 1987. Davies, W . and P. Fouracre, eds., The settlement of disputes in early medieval Europe, Cambridge, C U P , 1986. Davis, R.H.C, A...