111 Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (300-900) R.J.H. Collins

3.01 The Later Roman Empire and Byzantium 0. Nicholson, ‘The Wild Man of the Tetrarchy: a divine companion for the emperor Galerius’ (Byzantion, liv) advances some evidence to link Galerius to the cult of Dionysius; this is more than just confirmation of the hard-drinking habits of the Late Roman military. In H.A. Pohlsander, ‘Crispus: brilliant career and tragic end’ (Historia, xxxiii) the capabilities and the fate of the eldest son of Constantine the Great are extensively discussed, but the author is perhaps a little too keen to record the views of other historians and strangely unwilling to commit himself particularly in respect of Crispus’s fall. For those still interested in the Emperor Julian and Neoplatonism there is A. Marione, ‘L‘imperatore Giuliano, Giamblico e il neoplatonismo’ (Rivista storica itafiana, xcvi). A. Wardman, ‘Ursurpers and Internal Conflicts in the fourth century AD’ (Historia, xxxiii) makes some useful observations on political stability in the Empire at this time and on the objectives of usurpers, but can hardly be restrained from telling the Romans off for ‘allowing a taste for usurpation’. In a collection of some of the articles of the late Peter Classen, most of which concern later periods than that dealt with in this section, there are two items of note that are pertinent here: ‘Causa Imperii. Probleme Roms in Spatantike und Mittelalter’, and ‘Spatromische Grundlagen mittelalterlicher Kanzleien’ in J. Fleckenstein (ed), Ausgewahlfe Aufsutze von Peter Classen (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke’Verlag, 1983, DM 98). G. Dagron has produced a sequel to his study of the early development of Constantinople, Nuissance d’une Capitale (v. Bullefin, Ix) in Constantinople imaginaire - Etudes sur le recueil des Patria (Paris: PUF). devoted to the imagery of the capital in literary sources. On an important aspect of Late Roman political life there is C. Rouecht, ‘Acclamations in the Later Roman Empire: new evidence from Aphrodisias’ (J. Roman Studs., Ixxiv), which relates to some acclamations preserved in inscriptional form. After Constantinople, and possibly Antioch, Thessalonika is the best preserved and most fully studied of the major cities of the Eastern Mediterranean region in this period and there is now a useful and detailed account of its principal monuments in J.-M. Spieser, Thessalonique et ses monuments du IVe au VIe siPcle - contribution a l’ltude d’une ville paliochrktienne (Pans: Ecole Franeaise d’Athenes, distributed via Editions Boccard). Other studies relating to Late Roman art include J. Balty, ‘Les mosaiques de Syrie au Ve s. et leur repertoire’ (Byzanfion, liv). L.J. Wilson, ‘The Trier ivory: a new interpretation’ (ibid), and A. Cutler, ‘The Making of the Justinian Diptychs’ (ibid). In the light of the new seriousness with which the period of the reign of the emperor Justin I1 is now deservedly being taken, the re- publication of the text together with translation and short commentary of a brief and fragmentary panegyric, preserved on a papyrus, by an Egyptian poet of the time - hitherto dismissed as nothing but a contender for the title of worst poet in the Greek language - is to be welcomed: L.S.B. MacCoull, ‘The Panegyric of Justin I1 by Dioscorus of Aphrodito’ (Byzunrion, liv). A brief note relating to a society more thoroughly ‘sub-Roman’ than once recognised may be found in N. Duval, ‘Cuke monarchique dans 1’Afrique vandale: cuke des rois ou cuke des empereurs?’ (Rev. Etudes augustiniennes, xxx). Perhaps only those cognoscenti who recognise that this refers to a MS in the BibliothBque Nationale in Paris will care to peruse M. Spallone, ‘I1 Par. lat 10318 (Salmasiano): dal manoscritto altomedievale ad una raccolta enciclopedica tardo-antica’ (Italia Medioevale e Uninnisfica, xxv).

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Finally, as a most valuable boon to teachers and students alike, there comes a (readable) translation of the principal chronicle of the early Byzantine period: H. Turtledove (tr), The Chronicle of Theophanes (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania U.P., 1982. f9.95 pbk).

3.02 Patristics Not surprisingly the recent discovery of hitherto lost letters of St Augustine by Professor Divjak (v. Bulletin, Ixix, 3.02) continues to have repercussions. Thus two episodes in Augustine’s career can be usefully discussed in the light of the new evidence in S. Lancel, ‘Saint Augustin et la Maurttanie Cesarienne: les annCes 418-419 a la lumikre des nouvelles lettres rtcemment publiees’ (Rev. Etudes augustiniennes, xxx), and idem, ‘L‘affaire de I’evCque Honorius (automne 419-printemps 420) dans les nouvelles Lettres 22, 23 et 23A’ (ibid). The main corpus of the Letters, to which the Divjak discoveries have now been added, continues to show its value in G. Folliet, ‘L’affaire Feventius. Examen du dossier (Aug. Epist. 113-116)’ (ibid). It features again in L.-J. Wankenne, ‘La langue et la correspondance de Saint Augustin’ (Rev. bCn., xciv). The older view that Augustine really was named Aurelius Augustinus is triumphantly reasserted on the strength of the MS evidence against the recent doubts cast on it by A.-M. la Bonnadiere (v. Rev. bkn., xci) in M.M. Gorman, ‘Aurelius Augustinus: the testimony of the oldest manuscripts of Saint Augustine’s works’ (1. Theofogicul Stlidits, n.s. xxxv). On the early diffusion of Augustine’s greatest and most influential work see A.J. Stoclet. ‘Le De Civitate Dei de Saint Augustin: sa diffusion avant 900 d’apres les caractires externes des manuscrits anttrieurs 2 cette date et les catalogues contemporains’ (Recherches Augstiniennes, xix). In V.A. Law, ‘St Augustine’s De Grammatica: lost or found?’ (ibid). two Late Latin grammars that are thought to have derived from St Augustine’s lost work are examined, but only one of them is found to have a good claim. The ‘political’ thought of Augustine’s mentor Ambrose of Milan is uncovered from two of his imperial funerary orations in F.E: Consolico, ‘L‘optimus princeps second0 S . Ambrogio: virth imperatorie e virtu cristiane nelle orazioni funebri per Valentiniano e Teodosio’ (Rivistu Storicu Ztuliuna, xcvi). A critical edition of a minor but significant monastic rule is created from the collation of the text in Benedict of Aniane’s Concordia Regularum with an adapted version to be found in a Spanish MS in H. Ledoyen, ‘La Regula Cussiuni du Clm 28118 et la Regle anonyme de I’Escorial A.I.13’ (Rev. bkn., xciv). A major new edition of the great letter collection of Pope Gregory the Great is now made available in D. Norberg (ed), Gregorii, Registrum 2 Vols (Turnholt: Corpus Christianorum vols 140, 140A. 1983, BFr 9250), but a price in the region of f120 will put it into few hands. In the midst of the three redoubtable Fathers of the Church just discussed it is probably impertinent to slip in a reference to a very late work of a contrary intellectual tradition, but H. Blumenthal, ‘Marinus’ Life of Proclus: Neoplatonist Biography’ (Byzantion, liv) should be noticed.

3.03 Italy Perhaps all sorts of little bits of groundwork need to be done before a major new study of Ostrogothic Italy can be undertaken, but it is about time that something of the sort was taken in hand and we were not just left to re-read Hodgkin. The sources are substantial in quantity and quality, not least in comparison with those available for contemporary Gaul, Spain and the Eastern Roman Empire, and the problems they raise are hardly insoluble. Amongst the more recalcitrant of them, however, is the subject of S.J.B. Barnish, ‘The Anonyniirs Valesianus I1 as a Source for the Last Years of Theoderic’ (Latomus,

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xlii, 1983). Prosopography has been a major source of pleasure to most of the historians who have bothered themselves with this period of Italian history. and it still has its secrets to reveal, as in J. Moorhead, ‘The Decii under Theoderic’ (Historia, xxxiii). From the same author comes a brief note on the constitutional basis of the Ostrogothic regime in Italy in idem, ‘Theoderic, Zen0 and Odovacer’ (Byzantinische Zeitschrifr, Ixxvii). A.C. Dionisotti. ‘Latin Grammar for Greeks and Goths’ (J . Roman. Studr., Ixxiv) is less intriguing than it sounds, being a long and fundamentally critical review of two recent editions of grammatical texts from the Irish-founded monastery‘of Bobbio in northern Italy. The first of these is M. de Nonno (ed), La grammatica dell‘ ‘Anonymus Bobiensis’ (G L I533-565 Keil) (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1983), providing the text of a fifth-century work. The second, M. Passalacqua (ed), Tie Teste Granitnaticali Bobbies; (G L V 555-566, 634-654, IV 207-216 Keil) (Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura), prints three brief texts, all dating to c700. the first two of which are north Italian and the third Irish. Bobbio and its Irish monks are also the subject of two items in G. Silagi (ed), Colloquium du Comitk international de Palkographie (Munich, 1982). namely J. Vezin, ‘Observations sur I’origine des manuscrits lkgues par Dungal a Bobbio’. and A.L. Gabriel, ‘The Decorated Initials of the ninth-tenth century Manuscripts from Bobbio in the Ambrosiana Library, Milano’. Also of interest in the same volume is J. Autenrieth, ‘Insulare Spuren in Handschriften aus dem Bodenseegebiet bis zur Mitte des 9 Jahrhunderts’. Lombard Italy continues to thrive in comparison with the earlier period. On the Lombards before their entry into Italy see J. Jarnut, ‘Zur Friihgeschichte der Langobarden’ (Studi Medieiwli. xxiv, 1983). and for the whole of their history up to the Frankish conquest of 774, idem, Geschichte der Langobarden (Suttgart, Berlin, Cologne, Mainz: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1982). For Lombard relations with the Italian episcopate in the early period of their establishment in the peninsula see G. Hauptfeld, ‘Zur langobardischen Eroberung Italiens. Das Heer und die Bischofe’ (Mitteiliingen tles Instiruts fiir 6sterreichbche Geschichtsforschung, xci. 1983). Finally, there is 0. von Hessen, ‘Langobardische Konigssiegel aus Italien’ (Fr~thmittelalterliclle Sntdierr. xvii, 1983) on their royal seals.

3.04 Spain After a period of relative neglect, really since the time of F. Stroheker’s studies of Euric, the Visigothic kingdom based upon Toulouse has been made the object of a monograph in the form of A.M. Jimenez Garnica, 0rigene.s y desarroflo del Reino Visigodo de Tolosa (Universidad de Valladolid, 1983 P 1300). This is concerned largely with depicting the main lines of social and administrative organisation, and at the end lapses regrettably into the search. currently fashionable in Spanish historiography, for early evidence of Feudalism. This may not be the last word on its subject, and, extraordinarily, its maps give the impression that this Visigothic kingdom never extended itself into Spain at all. but it still has much of interest in a wide range of topics. There is a new selection of articles by the veteran Spanish historian Jose Orlandis in his Hispania y Znrtigo:ci en la antigiiedad rardia (Zaragoza: Caja de Ahorros). which includes ‘Zaragoza visig6tica’, ‘El arrianismo visigodo tardio’, ‘Gregoria Magno y la Espada visigodo- bizantina’, and ‘Comunicaciones y comercio entre la Espafia visigotica y la Francia merovingia’, amongst many other pieces of equal interest. The production of a critical edition of the Hispana canonical collection. important not only for its bearing upon Visigothic Spain but also for its subsequent influence in Carolingian Francia. continues to make excellent progress with the appearance of Lo Coltwicin canbnica Hispnnu. edited by G . Martinez Diez and F. Rodriguez. Vol 111 Conrilios

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griegos y africanos and Vol IV Concilios galos, Concilios hispanos (primera parte) (Madrid: CSIC, 198211984, f17.50 each). This thus takes the sequence as far as I1 Toledo of 527. For a short study of the role of the kings and their relations with the bishops in the councils of the Visigothic church see H. Schwobel, Synode und Konig in1 Westgotenreich (Cologne-Vienna: Bohlau Verlag, 1982). Those fortunate enough to have purchased the 1959 original edition of J. Fontaine’s classic Isidore de SCville et la culture classique duns I’Espagne wisigothique (Paris: Etudes Augustiniennes) may now be congratulating themselves on not having to purchase the somewhat more expensive 1983 reprint, but they will hardly wish to avoid obtaining the new Volume 111 (f25) of revisions, additional notes and expanded bibliography. This may be purchased independently of the reprint of the two text volumes. Some of the principal articles of the leading American authority on early Iberian monasticism are now conveniently reprinted and collected in C.J. Bishko, Spanish and Portuguese Monastic History 600-1300 (Variorum, f26). This contains his ‘The Date and Nature of the Spanish Consensoria Monachorum’, ‘Gallegan Pactual Monasticism in the Repopulation of Castile’, and ‘Spanish Abbots and the Visigothic Councils of Toledo’. Even those of us who do not believe in Galician ‘Pactual Monasticism’ will benefit from reading the entirely new and hitherto unpublished first item in the collection ‘The Pactual tradition in Hispanic Monasticism’, the pugnacious restatement of the author’s views. There are some useful items in a recent Festschrift: Vivium: Homenaje a Manuel Cecilio Diaz y Diaz (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1983, f14.50); these include a major study of the earliest examples of the scripts known as Visigothic miniscule and Visigothic cursive in A. Mundb, ‘Notas para la historia de la escritura visig6tica en su period0 primitivo’. The volume also contains J. Fontaine, :Isidorus Varro Christianus?’, C. Codofier, ‘El poem 41 de Eugenio de Toledo’, U. Dominguez del Val, ‘La homilia de monachis perfectis, un tratado de teologia sobre la vida monAtica’, and L. Vizquez de Parga. ‘Por que la Dedicatio ad Sisenandum no puede ser de Isidoro de Sevilla’. From Professor Diaz y Diaz himself comes a substantial volume containing revised versions of some of his major studies of manuscripts deriving from the Kingdom of Lebn. Codices visigdticos en fa monarquia leonesa (Lebn: CSIC, 1983, €26.75). One of the principal Arabic sources for the Islamic conquest of the Iberian peninsula, the Ajbar Machmua, first published with Spanish translation in Madrid in 1867, has now been reprinted in a limited facsimile edition by the Editorial El Bibliofilo. Finally, themes of continuity in the history and society of the Basques in the first millenium of the Christian era are discussed in R. Collins, ‘The Basques in Aquitaine and Navarre: problems of frontier government‘ in J. Gillingham and J.C. Holt (eds), War and Govermenr in the Middle Ages: studies presented to J . 0 . Presfwich (Cambridge: Boydell P.).

3.05 Merovingian Francia This has unquestionably been the year of the Dagoberts, all three of whom have been thrust into unwonted prominence upon the historiographical scene; about time too, one might add. The greatest and first of the three naturally commands the greatest attention, though even he might quail at the subtitle of L. Theiss, Dagobert. Un roi pour un peuple (ParicFayard, 1982, F 65). At the level of vulgarisation the book by M. Bouvier-Ajam (v. Bulletin, Ixvi, 3.06) is distinctly to be preferred. Attention is turned more seriously to Dagobert 1’s posthumous reputation, and the cultivation of it by his great monastic foundation of St Denis. This is the subject of C. Wehrli, Mittelalterliche Uberlieferungen von Dagobert I (Bern-Frankfurt: P. Lang Verlag. 1982, SF 67). His reputation in another region of his former realm, on which he had made a

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considerable impact is treated in I. Eberl, ‘Dagobert I und Alemannien. Studien zu den Dagobertiiberlieferung im alemannischen Raum’ (Zeitschriff fiir Wurttembergische Lundesgeschichte, xlii, 1983). The two lesser Dagoberts have. unfortunately, to share an article: A. Dierkens, ‘Note sur un passage de la Vira Dagoberti: Dagobert I1 et la domaine de Biesrne’ (Rev helge rfe philologie ef d’histoire, Ixii), which argues that cc. ix-xi of the Vita. which deal with the restoration of Biesme to S Gereo of Cologne, are not a reminiscence of an action by Dagobert I11 (711-715), as some historians have thought, but rather record an actual deed of Dagobert I1 (676-679), the subject of the Life. This is rather bad luck on Dagobert 111, who thereby becomes even more fuin6onnt than before. The Life itself of the improbable saint Dagobert I1 is subjected to renewed scrutiny in C. Caroui, ‘La vie de saint Dagobert de Stenay: histoire et hagiographie‘ (ibid). who is able to take a more optimistic view of it than its editor for the Monittnenra series, Bruno Krusch. Dr Caroui argues in favour of a late ninth-century date for it, and he also prints the text of a Merovingian royal genealogy from one of the MSS. 3.06 Enthusiasm for the Dagoberts has led us out of strict chronological sequence. This can be remedied by perusal of a short history of Fratzcia, which covers both Merovingian and Carolingian periods: R. Schneider, DNS Franketrreicli (Munich- Verlag: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1982, DM 56). Equally chronologically wide ranging are the studies collected in K.F. Werner. Vorn Frurzkenreich z w Erzrfalfirrly Deutschlunds und Frunkreichs (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke Verlag, DM 120). which include ‘ConquEte franque de la Gaule ou changement de regime?’, a very pertinent perspective on the creation of the Frankish monarchy, and also a series of papers on Carolingian topics, which will be considered later. To remain in the early Merovingian period, the evidence of the principal source for its history and society in the sixth century is subjected to a substantial analysis in M. Weidemann. Kulturgeschichte der Merowingerzeit nach den Werken Gregors von Toitrs (Mainz: Verlag des Rdmisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums in Komrnission bei Dr Rudolf Habelt, 2 vols, 1982). The major study of M. Reydellet on La royaicre dons la littkruture latine continues to generate interest, and is the subject of a review article in N. Staubach, ‘Germanisches Konigtum im Spiegel lateinischer Literatur des 5 bis 7 Jahrhunderts’ (Fruhmirtelulterliche Studien, xvii, 1983). One of the subjects of Reydellet’s investigation is also treated of in B. Brennan, ‘The Image of the King in the Poetry of Venantius Fortunatus’ (J . Med. Hist., x). One interesting sidelight on early Merovingian local devotion is cast in G.M. Oury, ‘Un “Martyr” mtrovingien. Saint Flovier’ (Analecru Bollundiuna, cii), which concerns a cult, centred on the Lochais, on the borders of the dioceses of Tours and Bourges, of a Saint Flodoveus (cf. Chlodoveus i.e. Saint Clovis), a youth supposedly killed by his relatives when he refused to go to school! The intellectual life of a major Burgundian monastery in a generally rather dark period is studied in J. Marilier, ‘Le scriptorium de I’abbaye de Flavigny au VIIIe siecle’ (Annales de Boiirgogne. Iv, 1983). An important regional study that concentrates on two of the Franks most powerful rivals, the Alamanni and the Bavarians, appears in W. Hartung. Siiddeutschland in der friihen Merowingerreit (Wiesbaden: F . Steiner Verlag. 1983. DM 48). Attention should also be drawn to a number of generally archaeological works that have a wider bearing on early Frankish society and its history. In a series of articles publishing texts, most of which concern the Late Middle Ages. in B. Bischoff (ed), Anecdora Novissitira: Texte des \ierrrti bis sechrelirirrri Juhrhunderts (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann Verlag). m a y be found the important series of episcopal inscriptions from St Amand. ’Syllogr Elnorzrrrsis: Grabinschriften

Ill Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Agcs (300-900) 33

;IUS merovirigische Zeit (urn 600)'. Also of interest are the studies of funerary practices in B.K. Young, Qirtrtre citneriPres mirovitigietu de I'c~st cle IN Frwice (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, S208. f 13). Finally. in a major enquiry into the basis of the relittionship between the Frankish monarchy and the aristocracy. that spans both Merovingian and Carolingian periods. J. Hannig. 'Consetisiis Ficleliiini ': Friiiifeudule Ititerpretationen des Verliultnksen von Koriigtiitii t i r i d Aclel liti Beispiel tles Frmikenreiches (Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann Verlag. 1981. OM 198). the author argues that a belief in such consensus was the product of the working of a Christian ethic and that it came into being only in the ninth century. and thus had nothing to do with notions of a primitive Germanic 'tribal democracy'; quite right too!

3.07 Carolingian Francia Possibly the most valuable contribution of the year on this period is the long article of R.-H. Bautier. 'La chancellerie et les actes royaux dans les royaumes carolingiens' (BibliothPqire de I'Ecole des Cliarres, cxlii). in which ii distinguished editor of several of the series of Carolingian royal rliplotiium distills his views on the nature and functioning of the Chancery. There is a study of a perennially controversial topic in M. Kerner. 'Die fruhen Karolinger un das Papsttum' (Zeitsclirifi des Aucliener Geschichtsvereins. Ixxxvii/lxxsix. 1982). This is also one o f the many areas fruitfully investigated and subjected to re-interpretation in T.F.X. Noble, The Repiihlic of Sf Peter: the birth of fhe Pupcil Sfare, &?0-83 (Philiidelphia: Pennsylvania U.P., f33.50). The fundamental thesis of this book. thnt thc Popes and their advisors worked consistently throughout this period to create nnd sustain i1n independent political entity, the Republic of St Peter. is utterly misconceived, and in part depends upon an extraordinarily insensitive approach to the Late Roman and Early Medieval usages of the term Respirhlicu. However. tiawed as the main line of argument may be, the book abounds in interesting points of detail, and extremely valuable re-assessments of the significance of episodes and of documents, not least the Litdoviciritium. So, very well-worth reading. but watch o u t for the dangerously alluring central thesis! The collection of essays by K.F. Werner, referred to in the previous section. Vot~ Fr(itikcnreicli a i r Enlfnltitrig Deittschlands iind Frankreichs (Sigmaringen: Thorbecke Verlag, DM 120) contains several pieces of Carolingian interest, notably 'Alisms - hfurchio - Comes. Entre I'adrninistration centrale et l'administration locale de I'empire carolingien', 'Gauzelm von Saint-Denis und die Westfrankische Reichsteilung von Amiens (Marz 880)', and 'La gentse des duchds en France et en Allemagne'. Another collection of essays of interest, though this time of mixed authorship. is U.-R. Blumenthal (ed), Carolingian Essays: Andrew W. Mellon lectiires in early Christian studies (Washington D.C.: Catholic U. of America. 1983. $25.9S), which includes D. Bullough, 'Alcuin and the Kingdom of Heaven: liturgy, theology and the Carolingian age', J.J. Contreni, 'Carolingian Biblical Studies', R.E. Reynolds, 'Unity and Diversity in Carolingian Canon Law Collections', and two papers on Eriugena. The latter also gets himself a short note in G. Madec, 'Jean Scot j, I'ordinateur' (Rev. des itudes augustiniennes, xxx). G.B. Blumenshine has followed up his recent edition of the text (v. Bulletin, Ixvi, 3.07) with an article on 'Alcuin's Liber c o m a Haeresitn Felicis 'and the Frankish Kingdom' (Friilir~iittelalterliclie Stiidien. xvii, 1983). By way of texts, there is now a new edition of the letter collection of Lupus of Ferritres, Servarus Liipiis, €pistollre, edited by P.K. hlarshall (Leipzig: Teubner. f12.15). It is strange that the editor should haw retained the anachronistic Servatus name. and it must be confessed that the scope for testual emendation in a tradition contained in only one medieval

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MS is not great. More down to earth in its utility is the translation of the works of Sedulius Scottus contained in ‘On Christian Rulers’ and ‘The Poems’, translated by E.G. Doyle (State U. of New York at Binghampton, 1983, f17.25), which makes these interesting verse texts available in a pleasantly fluent rendering. A facsimile of one of the finest Carolingian manuscripts deriving from Late Antique prototypes is now available in Utrecht-Psalter (Graz: Codices Selecti, lxxv, Akadernische Druk-u Verlagsanstalt). This is accompanied by a companion commentary volume that discusses the genesis of the MS in the region of Reims c820/840. Two mid- ninth-century works of compilation are described and assessed in R. Etaix, ‘L’homeliaire composC par Raban Maur pour l’empereur Lothaire’ (Recherches Arrgustinicnnes, xix), a study of its sources and diffusion, and P.4. Fransen, ‘Description de la Collection HiCronymienne de Florus de Lyon sur l’Ap6tre’ (Rev. bCn., xciv), which lists the contents of this florilegium. Carolingian monarchs are curiously neglected this year, and even Charles the Bald does not seem to have been given an airing. On the other hand, probably the most insignificant of all the Carolingians, Louis the Younger (879-882) has been given a memorial volume all to himself J. Fried, K h i g Ludwig der Jungere in seiner Zeit (Lorsch: Verlag Laurissa), to mark, a little,late, the 1100th anniversary of his death -but even this can only be stretched to 32 pages. One of the principal Carolingian palaces is discussed in P. Lamair, Recherches sur le palais Carolingien de Thionville (VIlle- d&buf dic XIe sikle (Luxembourg: Institut Grand Duc de Luxembourg, 1982). The monastic blue-print from St Gall continues to fascinate, and the status and purpose of the document are usefully analysed in A. de VogiiC, ‘Le Plan de Saint-Gall, copie d’un document officiel? Une lecture de la lettre h Gozbert’ (Rev. bCn., xciv). Finally there are two studies of cultural connections across the Carolingian world in J. Vezin. ’Reims et Saint-Denis au IXe sitcle. L‘ancEtre du manscrit 118 de la Bibliothkque Municipale de Reims’ (ibid), and H. Houben, ‘Benevent und Reichenau: suditalienisch-alemannische Kontakte in der Karolingerzeit’ (Quellen litid Forschungen a u italienischen Archiven und Biblioteken, lxiii, 1983).

3.08 Britain More of the exegetical works of Bede have become available in new critical editions in Bedae Venerabilis Opera Exegetica 2B: In Tobiam, In Proverbia, 111 Canfica Canticorum, In Habacuc, edited by D. Hurst and J.E. Hudson (Turnholt: Corpus Christianorum, cxix B, 1983, f62.60) and Bedae Venerabilis Opera Exegetica 4: Expositio Actuum Apostolorum, Retractatio in Actus Apostolorum, Nomina Regionum atque Locorum de Actibus Apostolorum, In Epistofas V f f Catholicas (Turnholt: Corpus Christianorum, cxxi, 1983, f51.65). The latter reprints the text of the earlier edition by M.L.W. Laistner, except in the case of the Catholic Epistles, for which this is a new version by D. Hurst. Alas for the price, but these are good to have. The final phase of Roman Britain provides the subject matter of a highly controversial book: E.A. Thompson, Saint Germanus of Arlxerre and the End of Roman Britain (Woodbridge: Boydell P., f19.50). This may well fail to convince, and there are points where mildly abusive if generalised rhetoric takes over from argument, but, as with all of Professor Thompson’s works, it provides the reader with much to ponder on. However, the notion of Britain in the early fifth century being run by a pagan proletariat, disdainful of the theological squabbles of the uprooted Christian former ruling class, may make the mind of even the most fervent admirer boggle! Moving into the safer waters of the early Anglo-Saxon period, this year has seen a very distinguished Jarrow Lecture in the form of P. Wormald. Bede and the Conversion of England: the Charter Evidence (Jarrow: St Paul’s Church. f1.25), a fine study of the earliest Anglo-Saxon charters,

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111 Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (3(X)-YOO) 35

their role in that society and the continental influences that gave them their distinctive shape. There are also two most valuable appendices categorising the charters and providing a substantial bibliography. N. Brooks, The Eurly History of the Cliiirch of Canterbury (Leicester U.P., f28) studies the monastery and cathedral church of Christ Church Canterbury throughout the period from 597 to 1066. and as such cannot fail to be a major contribution to Anglo-Saxon studies. Inevitably. this is not the same as a history of the Archbishops in these centuries, though particularly for the earlier periods it also comes close to being that as well. St Augustine's, though, receives short shrift. These are obviously points of detail or speculation on which i t is possible to question the author's views, but the overall achievement is solid and remarkably impressive when it is appreciated how much technical groundwork, not least in the difficult charters of Christ Church. underlies the fluent and magisterial survey. For once Scotland in these centuries can have more than a token representation: with the appearance of A.P. Srnyth, Wrzrlortls t i r id Holy Metr: Scotlund A D 80-1000 (Edward Arnold, pbk f6.95), the confused and confusing early history of the north of Britain is subjected to a treatment that combines an outline account with radical and far-reaching reappraisal of many of the traditional interpretations. This is a book that at times may seem to be a unique blending of logic with lunacy; this is the price to be paid for so challenging a series of reviews of former verdicts. That Pictish matrilinear inheritance customs should not be regarded as axiomatic is a valuable antidote to the mental torpor that dogma can induce if insufficiently queried, but then to present the hapless Picts a s submitting to a system of alternating rule by the dynasties of their two hostile and rival neighbours is to stretch imagination to breaking point. With this book, valuable despite and because of its oddities, should also be read E.J. Cowan, *Myth and Identity in Early Medieval Scotland' (Scottish Hist. R . , Ixiii), and the fruits of some recent archaeological work on the Picts - with no bearing one way or another on Dr Smyth's theories - may be found in J.G.P. Friell and W.G. Watson, Pictisli Stirdies: Settlement, Burial and Art.in Dark Age Northern Britain (Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 125, f 12). Some other archaeological work of interest to Anglo-Saxonists will be discovered in J. Hines, The Scandinavian Character of Atigliun England in the pie-Viking period (Oxford: BAR 124, f20), C.D. Morris, 'Aspects of Scandinavian Settlement in Northern England: a review' (Northern Hist., xx), and for coinage there is a useful collection of essays in D. Hill and D.M. Metcalf (eds), Scearras in England and on the Continent (Oxford: BAR 128. f 13). Brief accounts and plans of the archaeology of the principal Anglo-Saxon towns of the southern half of the country have been collected in J. Haslam (ed), Anglo- Su.von Towns in Sorcthern England (Chichester: Philimore, f20), a useful survey of current information. Bracteate enthusiasts will not wish to miss S. West, 'A new Bracteate from Undley, Suffolk, England' (Friihmittelulterliche Studien, xvii, 1983). Finally, in a quiet year for Ireland, which has not seen the expected publication of Peritin, iii. there is a good short piece on a subject to which rather a large number of recent volumes of essays have been devoted in R. Schieffer, 'Die Iren und Europa im friiheren Mittelalter' (Deutsches Archive., XI). And, really finally. after a decade of writing this section this reviewer takes this opportunity of bidding his devoted readership (if any) a fond farewell.