Wulfstan, Archbishop of York: Proceedings of the Second Alcuin Conference. Edited by Matthew Townend. Studies in the Early Middle Ages, 10. Turnhout: Brepols, 2004. Pp. xiv + 554; 36 b/w illustrations. $107.

Wulfstan served as bishop of London from 996Ð1002, bishop of Worcester from 1002Ð1016, and Archbishop of York from 1002Ð1023. During that time, he authored an extremely broad canon of texts that includes not only the Sermo Lupi and law codes for which he is most famous but also numerous other sermons, letters, and documents that offer insight into the worldview of an important spiritual and political leader. The range and breadth of Wulfstan's activities during his various ecclesiastical tenures is admirably documented in this collection, featuring papers from the millennial conference held in July 2002 at York. The twenty essays themselves draw on an equally impressive range of scholarly expertise to cover the diverse facets of Wulfstan's legacy, and they represent an exemplary achievement in interdisciplinarity; indeed, the chief difficulty for the reviewer is peering through this complex web to isolate areas for discussion. the essays reveal a great deal of common ground, delineating recurrent themes and forging multiple points of connection between individual studies. With such a wealth of overlapping ideas and interwoven motifs, this volume presents readers with a detailed picture of Wulfstan's life, his work, and his world.

Renée R. Trilling
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign