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Reviews 205 his theology. Even the passion with which Aristotle was digested, Torrell suggests, and the resulting explosion of output in the last years of his life, was understood by Aquinas to be based upon an urgent apostolic task. Robert Royal's translation from the French presents no hindrances to the reader. Likewise, one cannot but trust Torrell's scrupulous and exhaustive research. Working from a wealth of medieval material and contemporary scholarship he is circumspect but not cynical. His honesty in sifting the legendary from the historically proven is evident on the many occasions when he refrains from indulging in the satisfaction of certainties which known facts do not guarantee. One interesting area of conjecture, how to explain the sheer magnitude of Aquinas's output—at times as much as 3,500 words daily—is plausibly dealt with by considering Aquinas's use of secretaries: he would dictate, it seems, to two simultaneously. While Torrell's views are perceptive, they are neither novel nor idiosyncratic, and have been shared by others in the history of Thomistic thought. Renaissance humanists tended to exempt Aquinas from their disdain for the overly 'subtle' scholastics because his rationality was moderate and practically enacted in a personally holy life. Torrell's approach complements recent studies in moral philosophy, by Anthony Lisska, John Finnis and Alasdair Maclntyre (amongst others), w h o in their different ways perceive that Aquinas's concern with affectivity, the contingencies of human nature, and with the dynamism of human reason, precludes rigid intellectualism and gives him a valid role in modern ethics. Jean-Pierre Torrell's placing of his Dominican forebear within the circumstances, pressures and purposes of his life and times, ensures that if we are to admire Aquinas, it is primarily because as Thomas More said of his beloved Augustine, 'he was only a man'. His achievements are all the more remarkable from this perspective and his thought, once understood on its o w n terms, m a y be more accurately extrapolated to other contexts. Thomistic students will find this approach and the information in this text refreshing and useful. Pina Ford Department of English University of Western Australia Walker, Ian W., Harold: The Last Anglo-Saxon King, Stroud, Alan Sutton, cloth; pp. 240; colour plates, maps, charts; R.R.P. US$33.95. It is Ian Walker's aim to 'consider Harold and his career in its proper and to review his actions in this light' (p. xxi): here is the first much-needed academic biography of Harold Godwineson. Given the deficiency of both the primary source and twentieth-century contributions to the study of Harold 206 Reviews Godwineson, the project can be considered no small challenge. The author's intentions are clear from the start. If the laudatory tone of the blurb is not enough to alert the reader to Walker's critical stance, the author's proGodwine line becomes clear from a first glance at the text. In the introduction, Walker states his determination tofillan historiographical gap, and to answer those critics of King Harold w h o have long dictated our understanding of the Norman Conquest, and he diligently works to restore King Harold to an exalted position in the events of 1066. Harold is divided into twelve chapters, and includes two useful appendices and several maps, charts and colour plates. The work begins with the origins of the Godwine family and the careers of its leading members from Wulfnoth Cild to Harold's father, Earl Godwine, w h o reached the height of his power and influence during the reign of Edward the Confessor. The subsequent four chapters focus on Harold's o w n career as Earl of East Anglia and Wessex and include, among other things, discussion of the English 'revolution' of 105152 , and an illuminating assessment of Harold's wealth and territorial powerbases . Walker then turns his attention to each of the personalities crucial to the immediate pre-Conquest period in England: William of Normandy, Earl Tostig (Tosti) of Northumbria, Harald Hardrada and Harold Godwineson himself, to w h o m he devotes two further chapters. Harold's last stand and the fall of Anglo-Saxon England are dramatically...

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