Women as Scribes: Book Production and Monastic Reform in Twelfth-Century Bavaria. By Alison I. Beach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004. Pp. xiv + 198. $70.

Alison Beach's book, originally her Columbia University dissertation, grew out of a simple question: "Did women copy books in the Middle Ages?" Given the level of education enjoyed by some medieval women and their interest in learning and the arts, as demonstrated by personal accomplishments and patronage, the answer would appear to be obvious, yet this volume serves as "the first full-length study of the role of women copyists in the Middle Ages" (p. i), a remarkable and telling comment regarding scholarship concerning women's contributions to medieval culture. Beach singles out three twelfth-century monastic communities in Bavaria to characterize how, what, and why women wrote in the Middle Ages. Wessobrunn, Admont, and Schäftlarn represent distinct perspectives with regard to monastic reform, and consequently book production, and the author demonstrates how the spiritual milieu and the composition and copying of manuscripts are inextricably intertwined.

Debra L. Stoudt
University of Toledo