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The Italian city-republics
REVIEWS
109
KENNETHROGERS, W&shire and Somerset Woollen Mills (Edington, Wiltshire: Pasold Research Fund, 1976. Pp. 265. f6.50) This gazetteer of industrial sites is more than a commonplace survey of “industrial archaeology”. A wide range of documents is cited to reveal the history of nearly 200 mills. Factory architecture is discussed and there are some sensible remarks on preservation, with specific recommendations and examples of vandalism, but the principal concern is with industrial history. A substantial introduction discusses the documentary basis for such an inventory, particularly newspapers which have been systematically exploited, and describes the major developments in fulling mills, workshops before and after mechanization, water and steam factories, finishing works and domestic weaving shops. A tentative list of factory sizes is included, Contemporary maps may have been used but are not cited ; for official sources we are referred to Miss Mann’s standard work; and many insurance registers remain to be searched. Yet despite some blurred edges Mr Rogers, an archivist in the Wiltshire Record Office, has used his local knowledge to good effect. One looks forward to a systematic analysis of this impressive detail. Incidentally, although places are logically arranged by river valleys a decent map would have helped readers to locate them.
University of Liverpool
PAUL LAXTON
DEREK W. LOMAX, The Reconquest of Spain
(London: Longman, 1978. Pp. xii+212. f6.95) This book provides a brief introductory sketch of the history of the Reconquest from the fall of Visigothic Spain in the seventh and eighth centuries to the final conquest of Granada in 1492. It concentrates on the early and middle periods of the Reconquest and concerns itself chiefly with the military and diplomatic aspects; regrettably there is only very scanty notice of the structure of either Christian or Moorish society or of the processes by which reconquered areas were repopulated or rechristianized. On the whole, given its brevity, it is a useful introduction, with a great deal of material crushed in, sometimes at the expense of clarity. DANIEL WALEY, The Italian City-Republics
(London: Longman, new edn, 1978. Pp. xi + 163. E2.95) Waley’s little book has, in the years since the appearance of the first edition, become something of a minor classic. Waley sums up the main outlines of the development of the Italian urban commune from its appearance in the confusion of the eleventh century, through its efflorescence to its decline and replacement by hereditary dictatorships in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He examines the political and social structure on a necessarily general and schematic basis but gives, nonetheless, many valuable insights. For the new edition Waley has brought together the previously scattered references to the city-republics’ relationships with the surrounding countryside; this change makes a valuable introductory work still more valuable. University of Leicester
JAN FILIP, Celtic Civilisation and its Heritage
PETERMUSGRAVE
(Prague: Academia Publishing House, Publishing House, 1977. Pp. 231. No price stated) Within the covers of this concise volume Professor Fitip has created a sweeping review of Celtic civilization within Europe. The need to concentrate material inevitably results in over-compression and at times difficult reading; indeed, this is a study whose full benefits are only available to the reader who already possesses some background and
109
KENNETHROGERS, W&shire and Somerset Woollen Mills (Edington, Wiltshire: Pasold Research Fund, 1976. Pp. 265. f6.50) This gazetteer of industrial sites is more than a commonplace survey of “industrial archaeology”. A wide range of documents is cited to reveal the history of nearly 200 mills. Factory architecture is discussed and there are some sensible remarks on preservation, with specific recommendations and examples of vandalism, but the principal concern is with industrial history. A substantial introduction discusses the documentary basis for such an inventory, particularly newspapers which have been systematically exploited, and describes the major developments in fulling mills, workshops before and after mechanization, water and steam factories, finishing works and domestic weaving shops. A tentative list of factory sizes is included, Contemporary maps may have been used but are not cited ; for official sources we are referred to Miss Mann’s standard work; and many insurance registers remain to be searched. Yet despite some blurred edges Mr Rogers, an archivist in the Wiltshire Record Office, has used his local knowledge to good effect. One looks forward to a systematic analysis of this impressive detail. Incidentally, although places are logically arranged by river valleys a decent map would have helped readers to locate them.
University of Liverpool
PAUL LAXTON
DEREK W. LOMAX, The Reconquest of Spain
(London: Longman, 1978. Pp. xii+212. f6.95) This book provides a brief introductory sketch of the history of the Reconquest from the fall of Visigothic Spain in the seventh and eighth centuries to the final conquest of Granada in 1492. It concentrates on the early and middle periods of the Reconquest and concerns itself chiefly with the military and diplomatic aspects; regrettably there is only very scanty notice of the structure of either Christian or Moorish society or of the processes by which reconquered areas were repopulated or rechristianized. On the whole, given its brevity, it is a useful introduction, with a great deal of material crushed in, sometimes at the expense of clarity. DANIEL WALEY, The Italian City-Republics
(London: Longman, new edn, 1978. Pp. xi + 163. E2.95) Waley’s little book has, in the years since the appearance of the first edition, become something of a minor classic. Waley sums up the main outlines of the development of the Italian urban commune from its appearance in the confusion of the eleventh century, through its efflorescence to its decline and replacement by hereditary dictatorships in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. He examines the political and social structure on a necessarily general and schematic basis but gives, nonetheless, many valuable insights. For the new edition Waley has brought together the previously scattered references to the city-republics’ relationships with the surrounding countryside; this change makes a valuable introductory work still more valuable. University of Leicester
JAN FILIP, Celtic Civilisation and its Heritage
PETERMUSGRAVE
(Prague: Academia Publishing House, Publishing House, 1977. Pp. 231. No price stated) Within the covers of this concise volume Professor Fitip has created a sweeping review of Celtic civilization within Europe. The need to concentrate material inevitably results in over-compression and at times difficult reading; indeed, this is a study whose full benefits are only available to the reader who already possesses some background and