Anglo-Gascon Aquitaine: Problems and Perspectives by Guilhem Pépin (review)

As the editor suggests in this volume's introduction, 'this field of historical research is still somewhat badly understood in France and in England' (p. 12). In remedy, he offers a lengthy historiographical survey, with the sort of author-by-author detail that is reminiscent of biblical begetting. Highlighting the evidentiary significance of the English-held Gascon Rolls, an increase in bilingual studies, and the liminal position of the subject relative to French and English national surveys, Anglo-Gascon Aquitaine is introduced as a field of study ready for further investigation and better integration into relevant national histories. The essays that follow provide something of a historiographical buffet or tasting platter, allowing readers to test portions of the wider subject.

The volume's structure is essentially chronological, moving from the thirteenth century to the fifteenth over ten substantive chapters. The first two mostly address questions of authority and rituals of power. Frédéric Boutoulle charts the increasing appearance and importance of provosts in the early thirteenth century, which he sees as shifting and diminishing the role of traditional local elites by undermining their authority. Through examining oath-taking processes as part of the constitutional framework of English-controlled Aquitaine, Guilhem Pépin points to deep continuities in local practice and culture being utilized for political effect.

The next four chapters test the limits of documentary evidence, plumbing the potential for further research along the methodological lines they deploy. Examining royal pardons in connection with military recruitment, and focusing on 'a war that tends to be largely forgotten by historians' (p. 49), Simon J. Harris provides early information about an ongoing research project and affirms that 'this study has revealed the potential for further study' (p. 74). Addressing slim documentary evidence for the transfer of sovereignty, Françoise Lainé uses a case study to focus on the importance of reading such documentation in context, although ultimately admitting that the limited evidence really only offers 'a partial view' (p. 94). Covadonga Valdaliso introduces, contextualizes, and translates segments of a Castilian chronicle, offered as a useful comparison with the English and French sources in which she identifies much confusion about Castilian names and events. Through a case study of a fifty-two point list of demands, Nicolas Savy argues that security concerns were paramount for local communities during transfers of sovereignty in the mid-fourteenth century.

Old notions of a late medieval decline get tested by the following two chapters, which turn about certain phenomena that have been assumed to flow from political dysfunction. Robert Blackmore's study of the Anglo-Gascon wine trade reveals that characterizations of 'the later fourteenth century as an era of overall collapse in trade' (p. 139) is an oversimplification, as 'islands of prosperity'(p. 139) and evidence for continuing trade belie earlier suppositions about the economic situation based on the political one. By closely analysing accounts, variously partial and in duplicate, Guilhem Ferrand identifies payments to routiers and explores the meaning of such payments in context to good effect, highlighting some of the nuances of governance in the late fourteenth century.

Finally, the volume ends by pairing two interesting surveys of foreign military service. Andy King explores the role of and evidence for English soldiers in Gascony between 1369 and 1450, highlighting the unique elements of this circumstance, while also situating this as part of a wider picture of overseas English service. Pierre Prétou unveils in some detail the fascinating story of 'Scottish Guyenne' (p. 171), exploring the role of Scottish forces in the service of the French Crown. Both would make useful references for comparative analysis in other regions. A detailed bibliography closes the volume.

As evident from the above summary, the contributors reflect a transnational academic interest in their shared subject, although, as the editor admits, it is an under-resourced field dominated 'by individuals, not by institutions' (p. 12). Collectively, these essays convey the interesting phenomenon that...