Welsh Journals

the king, and equally that they could not trust one another not to take advantage of him'. Indeed, the early chapters on Edward I and Edward II and the discussion of the problems posed for politicians by, on the one hand, too much government, and, on the other, too little, and their attempts to grapple with those problems, should help students to a real understanding of the whole framework of political action in late-medieval England. Nor can they fail to gain by Mr. Keen's proper emphasis throughout the book on war and how the needs of war shaped and twisted that political framework during nearly two hundred years. If we were in any danger of forgetting just how important were the consequences of war, we are here reminded of them: for example, how the conflict with the Scots not only affected and afflicted the north, but also changed the 'political geography' of England; or (and here we have perhaps been forgetful) how the collapse of the English position in France in 1449-51, sudden and unexpected as it was, startled men into active and successful opposition to a government that otherwise would have been capable of resistance and, no doubt, survival. A narrative of war and politics is, then, what Mr. Keen provides, but (as we have indicated) there is much incisive analysis here, too-pithy sentences as well as happy phrases in plenty. Here is one that lays a troublesome, if never convincing, bogy: 'Politics, their [the magnates] hereditary preoccupation, were what endangered their fortunes in the fifteenth century, not vanishing rent rolls'. The narrative is, however, broken at 1360 by a section on 'The changing world of the later Middle Ages', which comprises three chapters on plague and the changing economy, church and state, mysticism and lollardy. These are admirable. The short passage on lollardy, for example, is a model of concise and acute writing. Here, as elsewhere in his book, Mr. Keen deploys illustra- tion and quotation to excellent effect; unfamiliar sources (from The Lives of the Berkeleys, the 1472 speech to parliament) and familiar ones (Chaucer's Prologue, on the poll tax of 1379) keep us in close contact with reality. Moreover, references to both original and secondary works appear just where and when an interested reader would expect to find them; from these careful and intelligent footnotes he can readily discover where to go next. Informed intelligence is what students require; that is what they will find in Mr. Keen's book. It is written by one who knows how to teach, and who communicates his own enjoyment of the past. That is, above all, what makes this long book consistently appealing: it is a pleasure to read about men who are never underestimated and never patronized. At a time when we all (teachers and students alike) seem to be becoming sociological voyeurs, this book is more than welcome. C. F. RICHMOND Keele. PoLItICs AND THE NATION, 1450-1660. By D. M. Loades. Fontana, 1974. Pp. 484. £ 1.25. This book, as the author tells us, 'is basically a political narrative; the