Welsh Journals

Dr. Hatcher found the Cornish peasant a difficult man to identify, partly because the records of the 'conventionary' system mask the growth of a peasant aristocracy. For this reason, perhaps, he exaggerates the 'revolution in landholding' which occurred when leases became longer and population pressure relaxed. These comments are among the most interesting in the book, and, with the discussion of social mobility, deserve further investigation here and elsewhere. Comparisons with Wales and Chester can be made. All three were inalienable feudal dependencies of the Crown, normally bestowed on the king's eldest son and his heirs as kings of England. The Cornish administration of the Black Prince took its cue from his other terirtories. It is striking, too, that the administrative reorganisation of John of Eltham (1328-36) occurred just as his father was introducing government changes in Wales. Moreover, a study of the value of all these territories to kings and princes would help to demonstrate the strength of English monarchy: by the fifteenth century central control had grown feebler in Cornwall, Wales and the duchy of Lancaster, and the way in which prominent Cornishmen dominated Cornish life is a vital feature of this. Dr. Hatcher hints at it, but the subject needs fuller investigation and may account for the peace and efficiency of the duchy estates in the fifteenth century. Dr. Hatcher has not explored every acre of his subject, but his book prompts many comparisons, explanations and questions. Can one reasonably ask for more ? RALPH A. GRIFFITHS Swansea EDWARD II, THE PLIANT KING. By Harold F. Hutchison. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1971. Pp. 180. £ 2.95. The reign of Edward II has generated a good deal of historical interest and controversy, yet the king himself has failed to attract biographers. Paradoxically, he has been the subject of numberless thumbnail sketches, almost all hostile in tone. Mr. Hutchison here tries to present 'a sympa- thetic portrait in the round', and there can only be a welcome for such sympathy: the fashion for moral indignation has been persistent and unhelpful. Certainly the author can discuss Edward's peculiarities with greater frankness and clarity than was possible a generation ago. Whether his sketch can justly pretend to be 'in the round' is, however, debatable. The whole man obstinately refuses to come to life; the reason, common to all medieval biographies, is that the sources tell us more about 'events' than 'people'. Thus, despite occasional glimpses of personality in letters and accounts, particularly during his time as prince of Wales, Edward here remains essentially two-dimensional. Mr. Hutchison, like Tout, finds Edward more incompetent than vicious, but lays less emphasis upon his difficulties. His father's legacy of debt, the