Architecture in Norman Britain /

The religious and civil architecture built by the Normans in England from roughly 1070 to 1170 is covered with separate chapters discussing large and small churches, Cistercian abbeys, castles, and other domestic buildings. The text includes 106 black-and-white illustrations of good quality, but no annotations, and only a very short bibliography. These limitations indicate that this book is not primarily intended for scholars; indeed, as far as this reviewer can see, this book makes no contribution to scholarship whatever, a statement that cannot be made of all volumes with similar limitations, including Trevor Rowley's The Norman Heritage, 1055-1200 (CH, Jun '84) or Eric Fernie's important Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons (CH, May '84), which appeared in the same series, or Peter Fergusson's Architecture of Solitude (CH, Feb '85). Unfortunately, this is not even a very useful work for the beginning student or general reader since it includes long, detailed discussions couched in technical language of many buildings that are not illustrated in the book. A number of illustrations are scarcely discussed at all, so the entire effect is haphazard and arbitrary. The book is very disappointing and does not supplant the earlier books in this area.-L. Nees, University of Delaware