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Saint Louis: crusader king of France
674
Book Reviews
Under the aegis of Paracelsus and Vesalius, the sixteenth century physicians opened more modern perspectives of medical teaching and practice. The final three chapters explore how the intensive study of the ancient authorities first eroded and then led to the repudiation of one or more of the principles of established medical tradition (while preserving others). One example of this ambivalence of new and old loyalties can be found in the works of Giovanni Argentario, teacher at the University of Pisa (Giovanni Argentario and Sixteenth-Century Medical Innovation: Between Princely N. Siraisi, City University of New York). Patronage and Academic Controversy, Argentario was a radical critic of Galen, his critique being shaped by his personal experiences as a practitioner. With him. other sixteenth century physicians held ambivalent views between the tradition of conservative medieval galenism and the need of :orrecting the transmitted information by personal observations and experimentation (Giroiamo Mercuriale ‘s ‘De Modo Studendi’, R.J. Durling, Christian-Albrechts Universitat, Kiel, Germany). The shift to experience and innovation is illustrated by the view of Girolamo Fracastoro (professor at Padua University) who emphasises the ‘supreme power of observation’ over ‘book learning’. (The Reception of Fracastoro’s Theory of Contagion: the Seed that Fell among Thorns?, V. Nutton, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, England). Fracastoro’s views on contagious diseases were primarily based on sound observation; however, they were often presented in a galenic framework which facilitated their general acceptance by physicians and public. Each chapter of this extremely informative book represents a valuable, in-depth contribution to our knowledge of the development of medicine, its teaching and contributions to human welfare. Information is provided in detail and supported by a rich and exhaustive critique of the original texts and a review ofprevious commentaries. It is a book that should be of great service and reference to the specialists in the history of medicine as well as to all Interested in the progress of human ideas. Paola S. Timiras University of California, Berkeley
Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, Jean Richard, ed. and abridged Simon Lloyd, trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridge and Paris: Cambridge University Press and Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1992), xxx + 354 pp., maps and genealogical tables, f40.00. Professor Richard’s biography of King Louis IX (1226 1270) was originally published in French in 1983. At that time reviewers were generous in their acclaim, and the appearance of this English version should be welcomed no less warmly. It is a work of synthesis rather than of revision, reiterating the traditional interpretation which has the first of Louis’s two crusades (1248-1254) as both the centre-piece of the reign and as the starting point from which his later image as a saintly monarch was to develop. But the author has brought the erudition of a lifetime and with it many of his own insights to bear. As the leading French authority on the history of the crusades and the Latin East, on the medieval Christian missions to Asia and on the history of Burgundy in the Middle Ages, he is more than adequately equipped to do justice to his subject. The portrayal of the king is deftly handled: we are left in no doubt that it is possible to pick our way through the smoke-screen of adulation thrown up by Louis’s later biographers in a way that is
Book Reviews
675
scholarly and critical without being iconoclastic. On matters such as the king’s contacts with the Mongols or the circumstances surrounding the Tunis crusade on which the king met his death, Richard writes with particular authority and originality, but everywhere he is lucid and persuasive. The character of Louis’s rule (which incidentally was not to the liking of all his subjects by any means), his aims as a monarch, his approach to foreign relations and the security of his realm, his commitment to the crusading ideal and his piety can all be seen as a natural and normal part of thirteenth-century kingship. Many of his policies and ambitions were shared by his contemporary, King Henry III of England: the difference between the two was simply that on the whole Louis succeeded and Henry did not. There is no doubt that this book will remain the standard scholarly biography of Louis IX for many years to come. I for one will have no hesitation in recommending it to my students. The English translation is generally felicitous, and Dr Lloyd has been able to use his own considerable experience of thirteenth-century history to make abridgements that are modest and sensible. For once abridgement is not synonymous with mutilation. Inevitably in a study of this length there is the odd lapse in presentation: thus, for example, we find that the archbishop of Trier who appears on p. 193 is referred to as the archbishop of T&es on the previous page. It is also a matter for regret that, as in the case of the French edition, there are no footnotes. There is, however, a good bibliography with a special English supplement. Peter W. Edbury University of Wales College of Cardiff
Paul Touvier et L’Bglise: Rapport de la Commission historique institutke par le cardinal Decourtray, ed. Rene RCmond et al. (Librairie Arthtme Fayard, 1992), 418 pp., 130.00 FF P.B. Three months after the first release of this collection of documents concerning the Nazi militia leader Paul Touvier, an appeals court in Paris ruled that Touvier could not be tried for crimes against humanity. Touvier had been charged with the murders of Victor Basch (French Human Rights League president) and his wife, deportations of Jews, a synagogue bombing, and the execution of Jewish hostages. The 77-year old Touvier was the righthand man of Klaus Barbie (Gestapo chief in Lyon) and is now reportedly suffering from prostate cancer. Whereas the Vatican has failed to comply with requests to open its post-WWII files, the French Cardinal Albert Decourtray responded by establishing a commission of French scholars to examine the French Church’s role in helping Nazi collaborator Paul Touvier evade prosecution after WWII. However, in response to a call by 200 of France’s leading intellectuals for France to publicly apologise for its treatment of Jews during WWII, President Francois Mitterrand refused, arguing that the Republic should not be held accountable for activities of the Vichy regime. The effect of Mitterrand’s refusal was to reinforce the stubborn tendency of national amnesia concerning collaboration. On the basis of what Gabriel Marcel said in his June 1972 L’express article, Marcel, who died in 1973, would have been one of the leading intellectuals to call for a public apology. Marcel was a central intellectual figure in the Touvier case. The documents
Book Reviews
Under the aegis of Paracelsus and Vesalius, the sixteenth century physicians opened more modern perspectives of medical teaching and practice. The final three chapters explore how the intensive study of the ancient authorities first eroded and then led to the repudiation of one or more of the principles of established medical tradition (while preserving others). One example of this ambivalence of new and old loyalties can be found in the works of Giovanni Argentario, teacher at the University of Pisa (Giovanni Argentario and Sixteenth-Century Medical Innovation: Between Princely N. Siraisi, City University of New York). Patronage and Academic Controversy, Argentario was a radical critic of Galen, his critique being shaped by his personal experiences as a practitioner. With him. other sixteenth century physicians held ambivalent views between the tradition of conservative medieval galenism and the need of :orrecting the transmitted information by personal observations and experimentation (Giroiamo Mercuriale ‘s ‘De Modo Studendi’, R.J. Durling, Christian-Albrechts Universitat, Kiel, Germany). The shift to experience and innovation is illustrated by the view of Girolamo Fracastoro (professor at Padua University) who emphasises the ‘supreme power of observation’ over ‘book learning’. (The Reception of Fracastoro’s Theory of Contagion: the Seed that Fell among Thorns?, V. Nutton, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London, England). Fracastoro’s views on contagious diseases were primarily based on sound observation; however, they were often presented in a galenic framework which facilitated their general acceptance by physicians and public. Each chapter of this extremely informative book represents a valuable, in-depth contribution to our knowledge of the development of medicine, its teaching and contributions to human welfare. Information is provided in detail and supported by a rich and exhaustive critique of the original texts and a review ofprevious commentaries. It is a book that should be of great service and reference to the specialists in the history of medicine as well as to all Interested in the progress of human ideas. Paola S. Timiras University of California, Berkeley
Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, Jean Richard, ed. and abridged Simon Lloyd, trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridge and Paris: Cambridge University Press and Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 1992), xxx + 354 pp., maps and genealogical tables, f40.00. Professor Richard’s biography of King Louis IX (1226 1270) was originally published in French in 1983. At that time reviewers were generous in their acclaim, and the appearance of this English version should be welcomed no less warmly. It is a work of synthesis rather than of revision, reiterating the traditional interpretation which has the first of Louis’s two crusades (1248-1254) as both the centre-piece of the reign and as the starting point from which his later image as a saintly monarch was to develop. But the author has brought the erudition of a lifetime and with it many of his own insights to bear. As the leading French authority on the history of the crusades and the Latin East, on the medieval Christian missions to Asia and on the history of Burgundy in the Middle Ages, he is more than adequately equipped to do justice to his subject. The portrayal of the king is deftly handled: we are left in no doubt that it is possible to pick our way through the smoke-screen of adulation thrown up by Louis’s later biographers in a way that is
Book Reviews
675
scholarly and critical without being iconoclastic. On matters such as the king’s contacts with the Mongols or the circumstances surrounding the Tunis crusade on which the king met his death, Richard writes with particular authority and originality, but everywhere he is lucid and persuasive. The character of Louis’s rule (which incidentally was not to the liking of all his subjects by any means), his aims as a monarch, his approach to foreign relations and the security of his realm, his commitment to the crusading ideal and his piety can all be seen as a natural and normal part of thirteenth-century kingship. Many of his policies and ambitions were shared by his contemporary, King Henry III of England: the difference between the two was simply that on the whole Louis succeeded and Henry did not. There is no doubt that this book will remain the standard scholarly biography of Louis IX for many years to come. I for one will have no hesitation in recommending it to my students. The English translation is generally felicitous, and Dr Lloyd has been able to use his own considerable experience of thirteenth-century history to make abridgements that are modest and sensible. For once abridgement is not synonymous with mutilation. Inevitably in a study of this length there is the odd lapse in presentation: thus, for example, we find that the archbishop of Trier who appears on p. 193 is referred to as the archbishop of T&es on the previous page. It is also a matter for regret that, as in the case of the French edition, there are no footnotes. There is, however, a good bibliography with a special English supplement. Peter W. Edbury University of Wales College of Cardiff
Paul Touvier et L’Bglise: Rapport de la Commission historique institutke par le cardinal Decourtray, ed. Rene RCmond et al. (Librairie Arthtme Fayard, 1992), 418 pp., 130.00 FF P.B. Three months after the first release of this collection of documents concerning the Nazi militia leader Paul Touvier, an appeals court in Paris ruled that Touvier could not be tried for crimes against humanity. Touvier had been charged with the murders of Victor Basch (French Human Rights League president) and his wife, deportations of Jews, a synagogue bombing, and the execution of Jewish hostages. The 77-year old Touvier was the righthand man of Klaus Barbie (Gestapo chief in Lyon) and is now reportedly suffering from prostate cancer. Whereas the Vatican has failed to comply with requests to open its post-WWII files, the French Cardinal Albert Decourtray responded by establishing a commission of French scholars to examine the French Church’s role in helping Nazi collaborator Paul Touvier evade prosecution after WWII. However, in response to a call by 200 of France’s leading intellectuals for France to publicly apologise for its treatment of Jews during WWII, President Francois Mitterrand refused, arguing that the Republic should not be held accountable for activities of the Vichy regime. The effect of Mitterrand’s refusal was to reinforce the stubborn tendency of national amnesia concerning collaboration. On the basis of what Gabriel Marcel said in his June 1972 L’express article, Marcel, who died in 1973, would have been one of the leading intellectuals to call for a public apology. Marcel was a central intellectual figure in the Touvier case. The documents