Book Reviews

495

Early Medieval Europe

2008

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4

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2008

The Authors. Journal Compilation ©

2008

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

The existence of bishops in places not traditionally seen as cities are a
sign of a ‘category-less world’ in which cities were no longer defined by
economic vitality but by ideological and/or social function; thus ‘what
begin to distinguish different sites are things we cannot dig up’ (p. 297).

The slightness of the evidence from the seventh to ninth centuries

inclusive underlines this point. This scarcity is surprising given the
incontestable size of the abbey complex by the end of that period, and
even more so when we see the evidence for a substantial settlement,
probably of laymen, on the opposite bank of the Volturno from the
abbey. Extensive survey in the rest of the valley yielded no signs of
agriculture supporting such a population centre, and of the three sites
excavated, one (Colle Sant’Angelo) was probably primarily religious,
while the earlier case for continuity at another (Vacchereccia) has now
been cast into doubt because of better understanding of the ceramic
context. Only at Colle Castellano was there the suggestion of limited
activity before the tenth century. It was only at the latter date when,
as the

Chronicon Vulturnense

also attests, new fortified villages were

founded on hilltop sites across the region. It is telling that this was
precisely the period when the monastic settlement was at its lowest ebb,
following its sack in 881. If this recourse to lands closer to home
suggests that previously the community had been sustained by more
distant estates, we remain ignorant of how produce might have been
brought to the abbey, or converted into transportable wealth (the latter
perhaps implying the existence of markets at a regional level). Much
else eludes us, in fact: even after such relatively extensive archaeological
investigation, Hodges has to propose that undiscovered post-built or

pisé

dwellings housed the valley’s early medieval peasants, in preference

to the implausible idea of complete depopulation. This points up a
general lesson of the San Vincenzo experience: that historical paradigms
relate uneasily with archaeological agendas, partly because both are
constantly shifting. In that connection, it is a shame that this book
takes no account of the ongoing investigations at San Vincenzo.

University of Liverpool

MARIOS COSTAMBEYS

Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to
A.D. 1014.

By Clare Downham. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press.

2007. xx

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338 pp. £25.00. ISBN 978 1 903765 89 0.

For four hundred years, from the later ninth century to the later
thirteenth, a dynasty of sea kings played a major role in the history of
Britain and Ireland before being finally snuffed out by the forces of

496

Book Reviews

Early Medieval Europe

2008

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4

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©

2008

The Authors. Journal Compilation ©

2008

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Alexander III of Scotland. Because the modern polity which has its
origins in the kingdom ruled by this dynasty is small and lacks its own
established academic institutions, this kingdom, which at times threatened
to engulf its neighbours, has rarely formed the focus of scholarly
monographs or university courses. Instead it has performed walk-on
roles in the national historiographies of England, Ireland, Scotland and
Wales or been lost in the miasma of wider, and generally unfocused,
Viking Studies. At its demise, between 1265 and 1275, the kingdom of
Man may have seemed an anachronistic curiosity, at least to modern
eyes, but it represented the last redoubt of a dynasty and kingdom that
had come close to conquering both Britain and Ireland in the later
ninth and tenth centuries.

Downham’s book, based upon her 2003 doctoral thesis, addresses the

history of the dynasty claiming descent from that Ívarr whom the

Annals of Ulster

describe as

rex Nordmannorum totius Hibernie et Brittanie

at his death in 873, up until the year 1014. The terminus of this study
is guided explicitly by the Battle of Clontarf in Ireland, traditionally
seen as the breaking point of viking power in Ireland, and the Danish
conquest of England. Within the context of academic publishing the
terminus is probably also guided by the existence of a similar study of
the region for the period after 1014 in the various works of Seán Duffy
whose approach, to some extent, provided an example for Downham.
The early history of the Uí Ímair dynasty has previously been dominated
by the trilogy of books published by Alfred Smyth in the 1970s.
Downham’s approach, however, eschews Smyth’s heavy reliance
upon Icelandic saga material and other very late sources, noting their
contribution only rarely and usually parenthetically, and in this it is to
be applauded. The present volume gives us the history of the dynasty
from contemporary and near contemporary sources and brings to bear
the fruits of thirty years intense scholarship that has emerged since
Smyth wrote, a period in which the study of Early Insular History has
been revolutionized. In addition to the blow-by-blow account of the
dynasty’s deeds, which forms the bulk of the narrative, Downham has
also appended a prosopography of 121 Scandinavian leaders active in the
Insular world in the period, citing all the primary sources which mention
each. This appendix will doubtless be a godsend to scholar and student
alike.

For all its strong points, and there are many, this reviewer is dis-

appointed by a number of features of the book. Some of these are perhaps
merely aspects of stylistic taste but at least one seems more serious.
Three points will be dealt with here, in ascending order of gravity.
Firstly, despite the laudable adoption of a lower-case initial for the word
‘viking’ it seems that this term is still used in the pseudo-ethnic sense

Book Reviews

497

Early Medieval Europe

2008

16

(

4

)

©

2008

The Authors. Journal Compilation ©

2008

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

that has come in for so much criticism of late and that it is overused
in any case. Secondly, although, once again laudably, Downham’s text
is supported by very full references to the primary sources these are
almost never quoted directly (whether in the original or translation)
which often obscures how much of a statement followed by a footnote
is in the source or is the author’s inference. For those of us actively
researching in the area it is easy enough to pull down the relevant
volume from our shelves and check, but how easy will this be for the
student or the general reader? Finally we come to what surprised me
most upon opening this volume and what seems likely to be its greatest
weakness. The organization of the chapters is largely by modern nation
so we have one on Ireland, two on England, and one each on Northern
Britain (i.e. mainland Scotland), the Kingdom of the Isles and Wales.
The great opportunity for a book focusing on Ívar’s dynasty would have
been to put that dynasty at the centre and to trace their adventures
from their perspective, and indeed Downham does this in the all too
brief four-page conclusion. As it is, the present structure means that we
encounter somewhat repetitive accounts of key events such as the Battles
of Corbridge and Brunanburh because they come up in the narrative of
several chapters. I am at a loss to understand the reasoning here. In this
respect alone this volume takes a step backwards from Smyth’s achieve-
ment of thirty years ago. In every other respect it is a great leap forward.

University of St Andrews

ALEX WOOLF

The Idea of the Theater in Latin Christian Thought. Augustine to
the Fourteenth Century

. By Donnalee Dox. Ann Arbor: The University

of Michigan Press. 2004. xi

+

196 pp. $65. ISBN 0 472 11423 9.

As the title indicates, this book, which is based partly on the author’s
previously published articles, proposes to write the history of theatre
not as a practice, but as an object or component of medieval thought,
as it is accessible to us in a number of Latin texts. The Greco-Roman
theatre of the past in particular, is a (more or less explicit) object of
reflection in medieval writings. Hence it is from the point of view of
intellectual history (rather than theatre or performance history) that
Dox examines a series of relevant texts, paying close attention to their
specific contexts and purposes.

The book contains an introduction that gives a useful survey of

existing studies on medieval theatre (practice) and a summary of the
book, besides stating its purpose. Four chapters of similar length deal
with (1) Augustine and Isidore of Seville, (2) theatre as metaphor and