Book Reviews and Notices : Medieval Political Ideas. By EWART LEWIS. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1954. 2 Vols. Pp. xii, 661. $12.50.)

• Author: Francis D. Wormuth
• Published date: 01 December 1956
• Date: 01 December 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295600900424
• Subject Matter: Articles

1009

generation,

and

if

so

why

Green

hasn’t

been

more

forthright

in

separating

the

wheat

from

the

chaff.

Frequently,

too,

the

narrative

is

incomplete

because

&dquo;there

is

no

need

to

dwell

on

the

complicated

sequence

of

events.&dquo;

The

result

of

such

an

approach

is

mention

but

not

description

of

Crecy

and

Poitiers,

and

the

omission

of

occasional

items

that

might

not

be

pleas-

ing

to

an

English

reader,

for

example,

the

massacre

of

Limoges.

On

the

other

hand,

John

Coke

achieves

such

measure

of

immortality

as

historian

Green

can

confer

on

him

simply

because

he

was

a

typical

Sunday

back-

slider

who

went

fishing.

Political

problems

receive

major

attention;

and

kings,

their

councillors

and

the

&dquo;magnates,&dquo;

rather

than

Parliament,

are

treated

as

the

prestige-

bearing

political

element

of

the

day,

even

though

the

monarchs

were

debt-

ridden,

forced

to

dissemble

to

achieve

their

goals,

dismissed

officials

to

please

the

Commons,

faced

endemic

disorder,

and

in

a

couple

of

cases

were

deposed.

Clearer

pictures

of

several

of

the

councillors

such

as

Humphrey,

duke

of

Gloucester

and

William

de

la

Pole,

duke

of

Suffolk,

emerge

than

in

the

case

of

the

monarchs.

The

great

earls

and

several

of

the

baronial

families

are

given

vitality

by

the

treatment

they

receive

in

the

text,

by

the

use

of

numerous

geneological

tables

and

by

a

map

showing

their

scattered

estates.

Commerce

overshadows

agriculture

in

the

economic

section

of

the

nar-

rative.

However,

no

significant

account

is

given

of

the

company

of

the

staple;

and

when

an

attempt

is

made

to

depict

the

extent

of

the

wool

and

broadcloth

trade

on

a

chart

the

statistics

there

given

fail

to

agree

with

those

of

the

text.

Literature

and

fine

arts

receive

almost

no

mention.

Indeed,

as

the

author

states:

&dquo;England

has

been

seen

’through

a

glass

darkly.’ &dquo;

A

good

picture

has

been

painted,

but

a

definitive

treatment

of

the

subject

has

not

been

achieved.

W.

HAROLD

DALGLIESH.

University

of

Utah.

Medieval

Political

Ideas.

By

EWART

LEWIS.

(New

York:

Alfred

A.

Knopf.

1954.

2

Vols.

Pp.

xii,

661.

$12.50.)

Mrs.

Lewis

has

undertaken

an

enormous

task

and

has

discharged

it

well.

She

has

prepared

-

in

most

cases

translated

-

selections

from

thirty-eight

authors

or

tracts

in

the

period

from

the

eleventh

century

through

the

fifteenth

and

has

grouped

them

in

eight

chapters:

The

Idea

of

Law;

Property

and

Lordship;

The

Origin

and

Purpose

of

Political

Authority;

The

Individual

and

the

Community;

The

Structure

of

Government

in

the

State;

The

Structure

of

Authority

in

the

Church;

The

Problem

of

the

Empire;

Regnum

and

Sacerdotium.

Several

authors

appear

in

more

than

one

chapter:

William

of

Occam,

in

six;

Aquinas,

Egidius,

and

Marsiglio

in

five.