Europe: Ancient and Medieval
about the pro-Nazi sentiments of German scholars in
the 1930s (p. 41), and a dozen other topics, germane or
not so germane.
Key elements in the author's story are the purported
shift of aristocratic family structure in the eleventh
century toward primogeniture, the enserfment of the
rural population, technological advances of various
kinds, commercialization, and the so called "northwest-European" pattern of late marriage. His approach is an integrative one, a characteristic assertion
being "These processes were all of a piece. They were
part and parcel of the massive energy thrown out in all
directions by the social explosion which occurred after
the year 1000" (p. 176). His chronology is elastic, the
year 1000 serving at various moments as a rough
indicator of any period from 800 to 1300, but his
geography is limited; the bulk of the book is actually
about England.
The author's standpoint amalgamates much Marxism, a little feminism, a fair amount of "bottom-up"
populism, and a strand of the technological determinism associated with the name of Lynn White, Jr. A
paragraph on the penetration of the fertile but difficult
soils of northern Europe by the heavy plough concludes, "The European miracle of mastering the physical world began to take form" (p. 177). Such comments, as well as the book's title, suggest that its
central topic is the rise of a distinctively modern
society, in Europe, in the medieval period. Yet how
different Europe was from other preindustrial societies is a question that is scarcely addressed, and there is
little attempt to establish clear links between the long
discussion of the medieval peasant family and these
wider Eurocentric and technologist assumptions.
Stylistically the book is an amalgam of middle-level
sociological generalities and overheated cliche: "The
transition from tribalism to early modernization was
forged in the crucible of warfare" (p. 43). A particular
shortcoming is repetition. Levine asserts that the Black
Death "destroyed all bonds of community in a maelstrom of fear and loathing" (p. 327); five pages later he
does so again, in identical words (p. 333). It is hard to
count the number of occurrences of that tired adjective
"massive," but it is certainly found three times in one
paragraph and has been so drained of meaning that it
is possible to talk of "a significant massive increase" (p.
187), while the author's penchant for the exotic verb
"imbricate" gives us sentences like "the seigneurial
relationship ... became imbricated within the skin of
everyday life" (p. 216). The terminology is as idiosyncratic as the vocabulary. The development of "the new
kind of society" after 1000 is labelled "early modernization," not only creating a chimera but then giving it
a misleading label.
Levine is a historical demographer who has undertaken detailed empirical analyses of several English
local communities in the period immediately prior to
and during industrialization. He has also published
more general, and more polemical, books, such as
Reproducing Families: The Political Economy of English
AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW
265
Population History (1987). It is not clear why he has
undertaken the present work. In some sense, of course,
it is unfair to ask what a book is for, but this one
prompts the question. It is certainly not an introductory textbook for students; nor is it a work of primary
research (as the author freely admits). Bizarrely, although written with the confidence and drive of a
well-established professional historian, its underpinnings are a reading list that could be mastered by a
hard-working sophomore: English-language publications, mainly of the 1970s and 1980s, especially those
of a left-liberal bent. The book's lack of focus, digressiveness, and narrow empirical foundation mean that it
has not succeeded as an interpretive synthesis. Those
looking for a cogent neo-Marxist analysis of medieval
society by a nonmedievalist can continue to turn to
Perry Anderson's Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism
(1974).
ROBERT BARTLETT
University of St. Andrews
C. WARREN HOLLISTER. Henry I. Edited and completed
by AMANDA CLARK FROST. (Yale English Monarchs.)
New Haven: Yale University Press. 2001. Pp. xvii, 554.
$39.95.
Henry I, king of England 1100-1135 and duke of
Normandy from 1106, has always been regarded as an
important historical figure. The youngest son of William the Conqueror, who won the kingdom by the
battle of Hastings in 1066, he unexpectedly succeeded
his two more cavalier older brothers, Robert Curthose
and William Rufus, and became a key figure in the
transformation of the immature Anglo-Norman kingdom into the assured Angevin monarchy of his grandson Henry H. This long-awaited biography has a
checkered history. Commissioned by Eyre and Spottisw09de in 1962, Hollister demonstrated his continuing
interest in the project by publishing a stream of articles
on Henry I's reign. But the book seems to have been
nowhere near completion in 1990, when a fire destroyed his first draft, his research notes, and his entire
research library. He started rewriting in 1994, and
before his untimely death three years later he had
composed a provisional draft of eight and a half
chapters, together with an outline of the remainder.
On his deathbed, removing his oxygen mask, Hollister
gave instructions on how the book was to be finished.
The work of editing the chapters in draft and completing the rest was undertaken by his former research
student, Amanda Clark Frost, assisted by Hollister's
former colleague and friend, Jeffrey Burton Russell.
And the task was completed in three years.
This extraordinary history explains some of the
features of the book: its great length and leisurely
pace, compounded by masses of detail and much
repetition. It has, however, many sterling virtues. It is
based throughout firmly on the primary sources, and
the footnotes reveal very extensive reading of secondary works, especially in the periodical literature, both
FEBRUARY 2002
266
Reviews of Books
English and French. Hollister refers as well to unpub- with the French king and with his own vassals, over the
lished theses and quotes and discusses the views of Angevin possessions on the wntinent. Richard's cruother historians, always courteously, usually with com- sading activities and his reign in England received only
pliments, sometimes effusive. Mter a long introduc- secondary attention in that book. Richard Coeur de
tory chapter on the sources and setting, Hollister Lion: Kingship, Chivalry, and War in the Twelfth Cenprovides a linear account of his hero's deeds, inter- tury, a collection of Gillingham's previously published
rupted by three thematic chapters, one on the king and articles and papers on a variety of topics associated in
magnates, one on law and government, and the third one way or another with Richard's career, followed in
on the king and the church (this a completely posthu- 1994. One might naturally wonder what else Gillingmous construct). These chapters largely reprocess ham might find to say in his third book about the same
matters already dealt with in the chronological chap- person.
ters, a problem that faces all authors of such works.
Quite a bit is the short answer to that question. The
Hollister writes well, easily and plainly, and as a main focus in this book, unlike its predecessors, is on
Richard's crusade to the Holy Land in 1190-1192, as
historian he is intelligent, perceptive, and shrewd.
Hollister's most noticeable aberration is that, well as his capture, imprisonment, and ransom during
whereas he calls Henry's mother and wife Matilda, he his return journey (1192-1193), and his achievements
calls his daughter Maud, although in Latin they are all as an English monarch.
Matildis. More important, he regards Henry and his
Gillingham's treatment of Richard's crusade is degovernment rather more indulgently than has been tailed and lively. He makes notably effective use of the
usual in the past. He reasserts, against recent skepti- translated Arabic sources, which earlier accounts have
cism, that Henry was literate, and he makes light of the largely neglected. Among the Western sources, he
stock charges against him of avarice, cruelty, and lust. relies most heavily-at times perhaps excessively-on
He also does his best to dispel the feeling that Henry the verse account in the Estoire de la guerre sainte,
was a rather cold fish, a view that depends largely on . which Gaston Paris attributed to an Anglo-Norman
the absence in the sources of revealing anecdotes such jongleur named Ambroise. While the Estoire is undeas illuminate the behavior of his brothers, although not niably an extremely important, and sometimes indistheir father. For Hollister, Henry, raised in the hard pensable, witness to the events of the crusade, the
school of poverty with few expectations, intelligently author's uncorroborated statements need to be treated
developed the Anglo-Norman monarchical govern- with considerable caution. That aside, it is fair to say
ment. A literate ruler with a literate government, he that Gillingham has scoured all of the available source
was a peacemaker who gave England and Normandy material in print and from it has constructed what may
an exceptionally long period of rest. But, of course, to well be the best account we have of Richard's activities
secure that peace Henry had frequently to go to war, in the Holy Land.
Gillingham is especially good, too, on Richard's
and perhaps Hollister does not emphasize enough
what a fine soldier Henry was, the best in his family, capture and imprisonment, first by Duke Leopold of
with victories in three pitched battles and no defeats. Austria, then later by the emperor Henry VI. His
He spent his leisure hours in hunting, not in reading analysis of the conflicting agendas of participants in
books.
the ransom arrangements is shrewder and more perWhether strong, effective government such as Henry suasive than any other that I have seen.
provided for the kingdom and the duchy is admirable
Gillingham's treatment of Richard's achievements
or tyrannical, and whether the "nineteen long winters" as an English ruler strikes an uncommonly positive
of his successor Stephen's reign should be considered note. He takes a far more favorable view of the king's
a beneficial interlude of liberty or deplorable anarchy, administrative abilities and achievements than most
are matters of opinion. In the long run, there is no modern historians have done. Everyone who has
definitive history. But Hollister, having at last appro- looked at the record would agree, I think, that Richard
priated Henry I and his reign, will not easily or quickly was extraordinarily fortunate in his choice of Hubert
be dispossessed. Although this is not quite the book Waiter as archbishop of Canterbury and that, from
that other scholars have long awaited, it is, in the 1193 onward, the archbishop'S political skills were
largely responsible for the effective conduct of English
circumstances, a major achievement.
FRANK BARLOW government during the king's almost continuous abKenton, Exeter
sence from the realm. But to balance that piece of
good luck, it needs to be added that Richard's earlier
JOHN GILLINGHAM. Richard I. (Yale English Mon- personnel choices were by no means uniformly so
archs.) New Haven: Yale University Press. 1999. Pp. successful and at times verged on the disastrous.
It seems difficult to escape the conclusion that a
xiv, 378. $30.00.
monarch who knew so little about his kingdom and
This is John Gillingham's third book about King spent so little time there as Richard did-he was in
Richard I of England (r. 1189-1199). The first, Richard England, when all is said and done, for less then six
the Lionheart (1978), was a biography that focused months out of his ten-year reign-cannot readily be
primarily on Richard's involvement in conflicts, both credited with great interest or concern with the gover-
AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW
FEBRUARY 2002