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Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint, and Privileges of Immunity in Early Medieval Europe by Barbara Rosenwein (review)

2001; Scriptoriun Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/art.2001.0023

1934-1539

Thomas F. X. Noble,

Reformation and Early Modern Christianity

128ARTHURIANA Connecticut Yankee at—not in—KingArthur's Court. Again, Olton leaves his readers to wonder whether he has actually found a previously unrecorded Arthurian film, mistranscribed a record, or relied unknowingly upon a record with a misprint. Further detracting from the merits of Olton's study is its lack of balance, which his editors at McFarland should have spotted and corrected. At times, Olton seems to want to make a game oflisting every possible screen credit for some entries, whether such information is at all useful or not. The entry for the marginally Arthurian Dragonheart—a film, according to its plot, set in a/xwf-Arthurian world—includes 'Shoe Master' (73), in case anyone other than Oliver Soka, the Shoe Master, and his friends and family care, among three double-columned pages of credits, while the discussion ofthe film merits slightly less than two page-long columns. Similarly, the entry for the obviously Arthurian Questfor Camelotcomplements roughly thtee pagelong columns ofdiscussion with slightly more than nine page-long columns ofcredits. Again, we might wonder, to what end? Olton's study is not, however, without value; one only wishes its flaws did not detract so much from that value. The book is generously illustrated with stills (many not included in previous studies ofArthurian film) and indexed in great detail. And Olton's book's real value lies in the coverage it affords to Arthurian materials previously not recorded in print form. His listings and discussions of Arthurian television programs (especially network broadcasts ofArthurian operas), cartoons and animated features, filmstrips, educational videos and films, and compact discs supersede anything we currently have in print or on a website. Throughout, Olton's longer discussions are written in a lively style that facilitates our understanding of how the Arthurian myth is at work in various forms of popular culture. Clearly, a great deal ofwork went into Olton's book, and Olton, who generously continues to provide valuable updates on Arthurnet about Arthurian television programming, makes a genuine contribution to Arthurian studies. Absent another study ofArthur's appearance on television, Olton's book will remain the standard— one only wishes it were a standard with fewer flaws. KEVIN J. HARTY La Salle University Barbara ROSENWEiN, Negotiating Space: Power, Restraint, and Privileges ofImmunity in Early Medieval Europe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. Pp. xii, 267. isbn: 08014 -8512-5. $55. (cloth), $18.95 (paper). Anyone who has picked up a volume of early medieval charters has encountered an immunity diploma. Anyone who has read Barbara Rosenwein's wonderful book will never read an immunity the same way again. This is one of the most interesting and important books I have read in many years. Rosenwein begins by taking the reader to Cluny in the autumn of 1095. Urban II, amidst many other concerns, consecrated two altars, presided at the consecration of three others, and declared a large ring ofterritory around Cluny to be holy. Rosenwein REVIEWS129 says that the purpose ofher book is to explain why that happened and what it meant. Over the course ofher discussion she proves that 'immunities and exemptions emerged and changed together; they both represented an outcome of negotiations between kings, courtiers, and their religious associates' (p. 213). Put by her a little differently, 'immunities had begun largely as a way to accommodate political power to a new sensibility about religious space' (p. 212). But there is more: 'The second purpose of this book, then is to bring immunities (and exemptions) back into modern historical discourse: to show how they are rich and polyvalent sources, how they served social and political strategics beyond their surface meanings, and how the negotiations, conflicts, and accords that they variously embodied, reflected diffused, and/or confirmed changed under different circumstances and at different times' (p. 5). Let me begin, then, with that second purpose. For more than a century immunities have been interpreted mainly by legal and constitutional historians. They have sought to excavate the Roman origins of the practice and to trace its medieval history. Generally, such scholars have viewed immunities as deleterious to central power—in so far as that power gave away some ofits authority—and, on more or less technical terms...