The making of the English nation from the Anglo Saxons to Edward I (review)

136 Reviews Thetitleof Edith Brayer's important paper 'Catalogue destextesliturgiques et des petits genresreligeux'is omitted on p. 39 and in the bibliography. The reader may evaluate the omissions: no. 1, add FDTMA, 1, no. 3473 and III, p. 10 (3 other mss. and the A.N. origin cast into doubt); 2, PS, pp. 98-9 (new light by Ruth Dean on this poem); 4, Ker, Facsimile; 6, PS, p. 33 (another ms.); 8, ed. by R6zeau, II, pp. 321-2; 9, PS, p. 98 (new mss., varied prosody weakens comments on structure); 10, FDTMA, I, no. 2470 (3 new mss.); 19, the eds do not refer to the scribe's tide turris sapientie, cf. PS, p. 119, how is a Pater Noster accommodated in such an edifice?; 23, the commentary on the rarity of the hymn Veni creator spiritus (p. 115) needs revising in the light of the discovery of ten other renderings (FDTMA, I, nos 3567, 3569, 3838, II, nos 5057, 5318-21; III, nos 5677, 6317, 6811-13; 24, PS, p. 41 (Baltimore codex); 33, D. A. Trotter, Medieval French literature and the Crusades (1100-1300), Geneva 1987, p. 205-6; 34, FDTMA, I, no. 3489; 35, PS, p. 29, it is important to state that this text is derived from a Latin original occurring in Books of Hours; 37, Sonet, no. 1732; 39, Sonet no. 373 and J. C. Russell, Dictionary of 13th C. Writers, London 1936, p. 148; 43, Ker, Facsimile. In the matter of translations, the proverb selection (no. 42) has been rendered notionally, e.g. 'Life teaches more than the book' is far off the mark for Meus vaut nature qe noreture, which I would translate 'Nature is stronger than nurture'. The remainingfifty-onerenderings are for the most part satisfactory, but Ifindthe following unacceptable: pp. 33/42 pris = 'price', read 'worth'; p. 49/1 sire = 'sir', to be omitted in English since we do not address saints as 'Sir' or 'Sire'; pp. 52/5 sauve sa virginite is a nominative absolute and cannot be related to an act by God 'preserving the virginity of the maiden', read 'her virginity intact'; pp. 118/4 venge a perdicioun, from venir which is far removed from 'condemn', read 'come to ruin'; pp. 146/46 counte were never 'dukes', read 'counts' and so preserve the punning around the verbs 'account' and 'count'; pp. 205/11 carson is not 'carson' but 'watercress'. I hesitate to recommend that this volume be put in the bands of students. K.V. Sinclair Emeritus Professor of French James Cook University Loyn, H. R., The making of the English nation from the Anglo Saxons to Edward I, London, Thames and Hudson, 199T, cloth; pp. 191; 51 plates; R.R.P. AUS$52.95. Many teachers of history in universities have fond memories of books in the Library of European Civilization published by Thames and Hudson. They were reasonably priced and interestingly written, lavishly illustrated in such a way that Reviews 137 the pictures genuinely illuminated the texts, and supplied with helpful bibliographies. It would be good to be able to report that the present volume stands in these traditions, but this is not the case. Henry Loyn offers an account of English history from the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to the reign of Edward I, providing a summary of events structured around the activities of important people. In general the approach is conservative. The account of the conversion to Christianity, for example, closely foUows Bede. But there are problems here. Loyn has Bede describing a Synod of Aust Yet even accepting the identification of the place, it was certainly not a formal synod (Bede merely describes it as a 'colloquium'). Bede does not say that Ethelbert issued a law code according to the Roman example but 'according to the examples of the Romans'. Ifindnothing in Bede's account of the synod of Whitby on the overpowering majesty of the pope. Later we find Charlemagne inviting Alcuin to join the community of scholars at the royal court at Aix-la-Chapelle in 782. There was no such community there at that time. And, a book which gives wrong regnal dates for both Clovis...