Welsh Journals

Professor Cronne devotes a separate chapter to 'The Aristocracy'. It is clear that he considers conflicting local claims of inheritance to be responsible for more hostilities than the disputed succession itself, but comments that there is need for further and more detailed studies of the aristocracy in Stephen's reign. Another substantial and extremely valuable section of Professor Cronne's volume is devoted to the administrative history of the period. In all fields of administration, it is clear that Stephen preserved the bureaucratic achievements of Henry I, though with particular difficulty in the 1140s. Well supported by English towns and possibly by Flemish financiers, he even endeavoured to collect, when possible, outstanding geld. It is possible that in his early years he maintained judicial eyres. The Crown seems to have been concerning itself increasingly with matters involving seisin, and the process of eroding the jurisdiction of private courts and evoking cases to the royal court was in full swing under Stephen as it had been under Henry I (p. 279). Despite the criticism of contemporaries that the king failed to do justice, Professor Cronne concludes that Stephen behaved with propriety and good sense in his judicial capacity (p. 280). Stephen's reign has a peculiar fascination because it is well-documented and because it is the period in English history when law and order are commonly supposed to have broken down to such an extent that anarchy prevailed. This volume, in fact, is subtitled 'Anarchy in England'. But some historians would minimise the 'anarchy'. It is consequently particularly relevant to know where Professor Cronne stands on this issue. How serious was the disruption of life? How widespread was anarchy ? The author will not commit himself clearly. Professor Cronne's argument is that so much still remains to be done that 'a full history of Stephen's reign has not even been contemplated here' (p. xii); and in the very first chapter, entitled 'The Anarchy in Stephen's Reign', the emphasis is not so much on the 'horror stories' as on an analysis of the tension in feudal society and in European civilization as a whole at this time which could result in lawless outbreaks if not rigorously controlled. It should be emphasized that in Stephen's reign, of course, much of the apparent lawlessness was a consequence of the violent seizure of goods and provisions from the surrounding countryside by castle garrisons to withstand long sieges. But associated with these activities were barbaric acts which, although perhaps not untypical of conditions on the continent, cannot be lightly set aside. The problem in England is that 'An immense amount of work remains to be done on private charters if local conditions are to be elucidated' (p. 225). We are still not quite sure, therefore, with what real justification men at the time openly said that Christ and his saints slept. D. P. KIRBY Aberystwyth HENRY IV OF ENGLAND. A BIOGRAPHY. By J. L. Kirby. Constable, London, 1970. Pp. 280. £ 2.75. Mr. Kirby's aim in this book is quite simply to write a relatively short and straightforward narrative biography; in short, to tell a story correctly