OF BISHOPS AND BRATS; R. W. Mathisen: People, Personal Expression and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume I. With Translated Texts from Gaul and Western Europe. Pp. xviii + 298. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Cased, US$55/£34.50. ISBN: 0-472-11245-7.; R. W. Mathisen: People, Personal Expression and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume II. Selected Latin Texts from Gaul and Western Europe. Pp. xvi + 248. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Cased, US$55/£34.

OF BISHOPS AND BRATS; R. W. Mathisen: People, Personal Expression and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume I. With Translated Texts from Gaul and Western Europe. Pp. xviii + 298. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Cased, US$55/£34.50. ISBN: 0-472-11245-7.; R. W. Mathisen: People, Personal Expression and Social Relations in Late Antiquity, Volume II. Selected Latin Texts from Gaul and Western Europe. Pp. xvi + 248. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2003. Cased, US$55/£34.

Considerations of length limit both the amount and depth of analysis provided and the geographical range of sources used.M. tends to exclude material from Italy (aside from imperial laws and the occasional letter), Spain, and Britain, although Saint Patricks Letter to Coroticus is included. The cumu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Classical Review 2004, Vol.54 (2), p.521
Main Author: Harries, Jill
Format: Review
Language:eng
Subjects:
Antiquity
Avitus of Vienne
Historical text analysis
Interpersonal relations
Latin language
Translation
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Considerations of length limit both the amount and depth of analysis provided and the geographical range of sources used.M. tends to exclude material from Italy (aside from imperial laws and the occasional letter), Spain, and Britain, although Saint Patricks Letter to Coroticus is included. The cumulative eect of this chatty presentation and the often subversive activities highlighted in the texts is of a society of oddballs; of rebellious women coexisting with the impossibly saintly; of irate bishops struggling vainly to control each other, their clergy, their enterprising laity, and their political and military masters; and of a theoretically hierarchical system under constant attack from dissidents and eccentrics. Over 300 pages might seem excessive for such an undertaking, but H. has so much to say along the way about, for example, various manifestations of late Roman lite culture and historiographical method, that this study must rank as one of the most imaginative and stimulating books on late antiquity of recent years. [...]H. seeks to reopen a debate of central importance.
ISSN:0009-840X
1464-3561