Review of Clanchty, M. T., 'From memory to written record: England 1066-1307, Oxford and Cambridge Mass., Blackwell, 1993: 2nd ed.; paper; pp. xviii.407; 20 plates; R.R.P. AUS$49.95 [distributed in Australia by Allen & Unwin].

Abstract

When first issued in 1979, this fine volume was deemed to be both the most important book on English royal administration in the Middle Ages in a generation and also a seminal text on medieval literacy and consequent power. The new edition is an enriched one which must appeal to all readers of political, legal, and social history, as well as to students of medieval literature, theology, and instruction. Many of the original chapters are now expanded considerably, with such sections as: 'Documents and bureaucracy', 'Liturgical books', 'Ways of remembering', 'The writing down of French', 'Word and image', and some 300 items up to 1992 in the 'Further reading in the history of literacy' section, one particularly valuable on the history of art and literature.