Welsh Journals

There are a few minor blemishes. It is a pity that the original edition of Dugdale's Monasticon was used instead of the enlarged and much more generally accessible edition of 1817-30. It is unfortunate, too, that the useful bibliographical convention of italics for printed books and Roman type for MSS. has not been consistently observed. A reference to 'Fiants' is useless to someone who does not already know that they are to be found in the Reports of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records of Ireland. On p. 4 the distinction drawn between Anglo-Irish and Anglo-Normans is meaningless, and the logic of the last sentence on this page is by no means clear. But these are trifles which in no way detract from a really magnificent achievement which is certainly one of the most important aids to the Irish historian published for many years. A. J. OTWAY-RUTHVEN Trinity College, Dublin THE REIGN OF STEPHEN: ANARCHY IN ENGLAND, 1135-54. By H. A. Cronne. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1970. Pp. xiii, 313. £ 3.50. The reign of Stephen has received very substantial coverage in recent years and wholly new perspectives are becoming possible. T. A. M. Bishop's Scriptores Regis (1961) made a most important contribution and was to be followed by the Regesta Stephani, edited by H. A. Cronne and R. H. C. Davis (Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, III, 1969). Professor Davis published his own study of King Stephen (1967), and now we are presented with this fine volume by Professor Cronne. Both men have worked together for many years on the acts of Stephen, and Professor Cronne pays his colleague a gracious compliment. 'Mr. Davis', he writes, 'has contributed more to this subject than any living historian.' Professor Davis indeed illuminated, not only in his book but also in previous articles, much that was hitherto ambiguous or uncertain in Stephen's reign. Essentially, his thesis was that the barons in Stephen's reign wished not to attack the administrative machine established under Henry I but to secure for themselves and their families recognition of the crucial principle of hereditary tenure. It was unfortunate, therefore, that Professor Davis in his book on the king told the story of the reign largely from Stephen's point of view (when the baronial attitudes required equal if not more emphasis) and chronologically (when the material did not lend itself consistently to narrative treatment). Professor Cronne has wisely set his sights wider. 'A Chronicle of Events' is compressed into a single chapter. Stephen is then seen in relationship to the Empress and, to a lesser extent, in relationship to Henry of Blois and the Church. Professor Cronne is more favourably disposed to the king than most historians, including R. H. C. Davis; though he concludes that 'As a king he was not a success' (p. 85), while Stephen has recently been highly rated by S. Beeler as a military commander and he did win in the end. Only the quarrel with Eugenius III and above all the death of Eustace in 1153 frustrated Stephen and prevented him from establishing his own dynasty. It is so easy to allow the eventual success of Henry Plantagenet to cloud our appreciation of Stephen's achievement.