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predominating concern with the machinery of government means that much remains to be done. Our knowledge of the Prince's following, both his indentured retainers and others, is slight in comparison with present know- ledge of that of his brother, John of Gaunt or of Thomas of Lancaster. It is a matter of central importance not only to the conduct of his expedi- tions but to his role in the domestic politics of England which is still almost totally obscure.9 Was he the disinterested observer of policy-making, as Emerson suggests ? He was not always just a faithful lieutenent in foreign affairs. From his sickbed in the last year of his life he still kept a close rein on his own routine administration. But what was the extent and nature of his patronage? Some answers are advanced in these books but none can be considered definitive. Biographical history is very much an English genre. Elsewhere equipes are formed and enquêtes are opened. We should not be too disheartened: much can be learnt from both approaches. How- ever, at present 'le tresredoute et tresnoble prince Dengleterre et de Gales et comfort a tute Engleterre' lacks his modern Chandos herald.10 MICHAEL JONES Nottingham AN HISTORICAL ATLAS OF SCOTLAND, c.400-1600. Edited by Peter McNeill and Ranald Nicholson. Published by the Atlas Committee of the Con- ference of Scottish Medievalists, 1975. Pp. 213; obtainable from Dr. D. E. R. Watt, Department of Mediaeval History, The University, St. Andrews, Fife. £ 2.60. A co-operative venture from the outset, and printed at the University of St. Andrews, this atlas is presented in an unpretentious format with the successful intention of keeping its price to a minimum. It comprises 117 outline maps, with sixty-three related texts: the latter, skilfully linked by editorial commentary, effectively comprise a text-book of Scottish history for this period. To the editors, the text is properly subordinate to the maps, but this will not lessen the gratitude of the general reader for the increased understanding the texts alone can give. (It is perhaps a pity that map and text numbers are not more closely and simply related; as it is, built-in discrepancies between them are a source of irritation.) Obviously a co- operative work like this is bound to be a little uneven in its coverage and treatment: it is a matter of general experience that some subjects lend them- selves more readily to map-illustration than others. Different contributors cover the ground in different ways. Some sections, based upon work not widely known outside specialist circles and not easily accessible in print, K. B. McFarlane, 'Bastard Feudalism', Bull. Inst. Hist. Res., XX (1943-45), 165 n.l; Sharp, loc. cit., pp. 344-45. As Booth points out, in 1370-71 of £ 2,500 revenue chargeable on the accounts of Cheshire and Flintshire over £ 1,800 was assigned for annuities (art, cit.. p. 29). Despite G. Holmes, The Good Parliament (Oxford, 1975), reviewed infra. 18 Anonimalle Chronicle, 1333 to 1381, ed. V. H. Galbraith (Manchester, 1927), p. 94. Diana B. Tyson, 'La vie du Prince Noir by Chandos Herald', Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur Romanische Philologie, Band 147 (Tubingen, 1975), is a valuable new edition of this basic source.