In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviews 155 Justinian doing set within a Frankish disc brooch of c. 600 now found at Trier? Literary evidence is also used in suggestive ways: the juxtaposition of the negative evaluation of King Chilperic found in Gregory of Tours with Venantius Fortunatus' panegyric of him, and the discussion of Marculf s formulary are particularly effective. Occasionally Homer nods: the Ostrogoths were sent to Itdy by Zeno, not Anastasius (cf p. 95), and I would prefer to see Parthenius as the grandson, rather than son, of bishop Ruricius (p. 107). But these are smdl qdbbles which in no way diminish the enthusiasm with which this book is to be welcomed. John Moorhead Department of History University of Queensland Johnson, P. A., Richard Duke of York 1411-1460, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988; pp. xii, 270; R.R.P. A U S $ 95.00. A politicd biography of Richard duke of York has been a desideratum for some time. H e must certdnly rate as one of the most important politicalfiguresof English history to lack any extended biographical treatment. The problem is not stricdy one of documention. There is a great ded of materid that bears, at least obliquely, on his career. The main difficulty is finding evidence about the man himself, or even discerning any clear thread which unifies a public career which began in Normandy and Ireland, included two terms as Protector of the redm, and ended as an uncrowned king at the batde of Wakefield. In this scholarly monograph P. A. Johnson gives Richard, Duke of York the attention that is his due. True enough, he was able to build on the work of others: J. Rosenthd's and C. Ross's surveys of York's estates and finances, R. L. Storey's pioneering use of the King's Benchfiles,and R. A. Griffiths's monumental study of the reign of Henry VI. Still, Johnson has done an impressive amount of research. His careful sifting through the public records, in particular, has added much new detail and precision to York's biography and to English politics in the 1450s. His readings of crucial episodes in York's career, from his shift into opposition in the late 1440s to his bid for the crown in 1460, will not easily be displaced. It must be said that Johnson does not meet all the chdlenges inherent in his subject. His book bears all the hallmarks of an excellent doctoral thesis. Though well polished for publication, it retains some of its original genre. There is an evident lack of balance. Too often Johnson gives cursory treatment to matters which are central to his topic but on which perhaps he feels he has nothing new to contribute. Sometimes, too, his concern to make an original contribution has lead him to adopt a rather negative tone to his predecessors' findings. Yet he rarely moves beyond them in such a way as to offer lines for 156 Reviews reinterpretation. There is no extended or systematic exploration of the key issues regarding York's career; such as, for example, M . K. Jones has recendy provided with regard to the nature of York's bitter feud with Somerset Perhaps Johnson is justified in his scholarly caution. Perhaps, knowing so much, he appreciates better than most both the complexity of the man and the limits to our knowledge of him. Yet he should have made his views on such matters plain. It is somehow symptomatic that his book has neither an introduction nor a conclusion. It begins with a birth in 1411 and ends with a death in 1460. Richard, Duke of York, still awdts his crown. Michael Bennett Department of History University of Tasmania Kendrick, L., The game of love: Troubadour Wordplay, Berkeley, U. of California P., 1988; pp. xiv, 237; 37 plates; R.R.P. ? This is an important book because the author points scholars and students towards a new way of reading troubadour poetry, searching for the equivocd, be it pun, vulgar innuendo, burlesque, rich rhymes, or scribal transcription as discerned in spelling and word division. The scribe, who reproduced a text from aural images which he heard, rather than from visual images which he read, gave...

pdf

Share