Evidence for the way in which a great barony organised and executed its affairs; the plates illustrate the evolution of secretarial hands in the twelfth/thirteenth century. Margam Abbey was founded by the lord of Glamorgan, Earl Robert of Gloucester, in 1147. Its scriptorium was concerned not only with the usual business of a monastic house, but also provided staff for the central administration of the Gloucester earldom in the twelfth century and served as the earldom's writing-office for Glamorgan in the early thirteenth. Professor Patterson traces the organization and development of Margam's secretarial administration andanalyses the nature of other similar institutions in this Marcher lordship during Margam's first eighty years. This overall picture is made possible by his identification, dating, and bureaucratic attribution of over fifty scribalhands found in the Margam manuscripts of the National Library of Wales and the charter collections of the British Library and Hereford Cathedral Library. The hands are fully described and illustrated by plates, and they show in detail the evolution of secretarial hands in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. No similar survey exists, and this one will be welcomed not only by those working with such documents, as also by students of medieval history in avariety of fields. ROBERT B. PATTERSON is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of South Carolina.

New research covering the political and social history of the British Isles from 10c-13c, with related material on Western Europe. The Charles Homer Haskin Society was founded for the study of and research into the political and social history of the Western European world, through the Viking age and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms to the break-up of the Carolingianstate in the mid 13th century. The principal focus is on the British Isles, and on France where events relate to developments in Britain. Its Journal is an annual volume of papers in this area of interest, presented at Society meetings by scholars on both sides of the Atlantic; special studies are also commissioned. Contributors: ROBERT S. BABCOCK, JESSE L. BYOCK and SKIA, CASSANDRA POTTS, G.A. LOUD, DAVID S. SPEAR, JOHN GILLINGHAM, TED JOHNSON-SOUTH, THOMAS CALLAHAN Jr, RICHARD HEISER, MARVIN L. COLKER

Studies in medieval history including papers on King Stephen, 12c crusaders and a portrait of a medieval anti-semite. The Haskins Society 11th International Conference, University of Houston 1992 produced a varied collection of papers including Domesday Jurors, presenting new evidence on landownership in 1086; an essay reassessing the impact of the early explorers arguing that Columbus and Vasco de Gama were simply a phase in a history of European expansion; and an unusual paper on the twelfth-century biography of William Marshal (d. 1219) asking what it reveals about the context of its composition. Contributors: HUGH THOMAS, C.P. LEWIS, J.R.S.PHILLIPS, GEORGE BEECH, C. WARREN HOLLISTER, ROBERT HELMERICHS, THOMAS KEEFE, DAVID CROUCH.

New research on aspects of the political, social and religious history of the British Isles from 10c-13c, with related material on western Europe. The 1993 International Conference of the Haskins Society, held at the University of Houston, produced a varied collection of papers on numerous aspects of the medieval history of the British Isles, with related material on other Western European countries. The articles in this volume, most of which derive from the conference, focus strongly on the topic of religion, with stimulating essays on women religious, Archbishop Lanfranc and the Anglo-Saxon hagiographic tradition; however, other subjects are also explored, including Anglo-Norman litigation and the turbulent state of Denmark in the ninth century. Contributors: CARY L. DIER, SUSAN J. RIDYARD, K.L. MAUND, EDWARD J. SCHOENFELD, ROBIN FLEMING, BERNARD S. BACHRACH, PATRICIA HALPIN, EMILY ALBU HANAWALT, DANIEL F. CALLAHAN, H.E.J. COWDREY, DAVID ROFFE