Reading Medieval Culture: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Hanning. Edited by Robert M. Stein and Sandra Pierson Prior. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2005. Pp. ix + 505. $37.50

The editors of this Festschrift for Robert W. Hanning justly claim that the 20 contributions represent the very wide interests of the honorand who, as they say, "has addressed very large historical and cultural questions through the examination of a wide range of texts in several quite diverse genres, languages, and cultural settings" (p. 1). His major books, The Vision of History in Early Britain (1966) and The Individual in Twelfth-Century Romance (1977), are perhaps even more in tune with current medieval studies than when they were written; the former looks at the history of Britain, most notably as told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, in terms of literary techniques, that is to say from the perspective of romance; the latter takes the romance form, as exemplified principally by Chrétien de troyes, as a serious and innovatory exploration of human individuality, beginning with "sharply etched portraits of Abelard and Christina [of Markyate] that emphasize their uniqueness and the intensity of their private desires" (p. 11). the essays in this Festschrift are grouped into sections on history and romance, Chaucer, and Italian writings and art. As with all such diverse collections, there is a danger that its contributions will be missed by those who should be interested in them. that would be a pity, and so, though there is not space to notice them all, I shall pick out a number that are particularly interesting to me.

Thorlac Turville-Petre
University of Nottingham