Historiens et Archéologues: actes de la 3e session d'histoire médiévale de Carcassonne, 28 août—1 septembre 1990 (review)

178 Short notices Reprints of good books are always useful. But they can be twice as useful If they are accompanied by a few pages telling the reader what advances have been made since the date of first publication. John Melville-Jones Department of Classics and Ancient History University of Western Australia Gouzy, Nicolas, ed., Historiens et Archiologues: actes de la 3e session d histoire midiivale de Carcassonne, 28 aout—1 septembre 1990 (Heresis: collection d'birdsiologie ntedievale. Editions de textes— Recherche, No. 2), Berne, Peter Lang, 1992; paper; pp. 437; R.R.P. SF56.00. O n fhst consideration, it might seem curious that archaeology could offer much information about heresy. However, the present volume, clearly and excellently edited, with numerous fine monochrome illustrations and appropriate diagrams, will answer any doubters. The Centre P"n6 Nelli is active in researching and encouraging interest in the history of Catharism in southern France. Its journal Heresis, in association with which the present volume is published, amply reports its industry and research activity. There are twenty four papers in this collection, devoted to a wide variety of topics concerning southern French Catholic and Cathar life in the later Middle Ages. Five papers offer general reflections on the interconnections between archaeology and history. A similar number contribute to various projects seeking to establish more firmly the physical dimensions of life in the fortified residences of Languedoc in the later Middle Ages, with one essay on the urban topography, architecture, and art history of medieval Narbonne. Other papers cover the physical history and role of churches in the formation of medieval villages, funerary archaeology and anthropology, physical anthropology, the role such sciences as pollen analysis and the study of carbonised wood can play, subterranean food and water storage, pastoral activity, and transhumance. Perhaps more interesting to historians may be thefiveessays devoted to Montsegur, celebrated in connection with its mysterious lost treasure (see W . Birks and R. A. Gilbert, The Treasure of Montsigur: a study of the Cathar heresy and the nature ofthe Cathar secret [1987]) and the intriguing view that it might have been a Cathar 'last days' temple, rather than a fort as such (Femand Niel, Les Cathares de Montsigur [1973]). Several authors, by Short notices 179 way of asides, indicate then antipathy towards Niel's views. Careful sociological and physical examination confirms the normal function of a fort, but one at the centre of the clandestine resistance of the Cathars in the last days of the persecution (see esp. pp. 345, 352, 359, 382, 423). The detailed picture presented in this volume of the activity associated with the citadel of Montsfigur in its last agonies is a valuable and intriguingly concrete addition to the source materials avaUable to those interested in the saga of Catbarism in medieval Europe. The collection as a whole should appealto.thegrowing number of scholars interested in sources for medieval social conditions that go beyond the written word. John O. Ward Department of History Sydney University Lewis, Bernard, ed., 77je- world of Islam: faith, people, culture, London, Thames and Hudson, 1992; rev. ed.; paper; pp. 360; 490 illustrations; R.R.P. AUS$49.95. This is a reissue of the 1976 edition. Most of the contributors are first-rate scholars and well-known experts in thenfieldsand their treatments have, on the whole, stood the test of time. It is, however, unfortunate, that more extensive additions and/or revisions have not been made for the 1992 edition in view of the many new developments in Islamic studies symbolized by the new Encyclopaedia of Islam. Thus Roger M . Savory's contribution on Iran entided 'Land of the lion and the sun: the flowering of Iranian civilization', which relies on the unifying concept of the monarchy as one of the distinguishing features of the Iranian tradition within Islam, has been 'updated' awkwardly by adding a paragraph on the Shah's deposition and death in exile, and mentioning the establishment of the Islamic republic of Iran, but leaving out any discussion of the profound changes of the 1980s. This is clearly inadequate. H e concludes that: 'one of the most striking features of the Khumayni (sic) regime has been its policy of...