Excommunication in the Middle Ages by Elisabeth VodolaReview by: Jane E. SayersThe American Historical Review, Vol. 92, No. 2 (Apr., 1987), p. 403Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1866658 .

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Modern Europe 403

example, she views the ruffianly sixth earl of Huntly much too benignly. But this is a small matter. She has written a splendid and extremely valuable book, worthy to stand beside the work of K. B. MacFar- lane on the shelves of all those interested in the role of the late medieval aristocracy.

MAURICE LEE, JR.

Rutgers University

ELISABETH VODOLA. Excommunication in the Middle Ages. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of Cali- fornia Press. 1986. Pp. xiii, 281. $35.00.

This book is as enjoyable as it is learned. It owes its genesis to the inspiration of Stephan Kuttner and Walter Ullmann, who signaled the richness of the canonist sources scattered throughout the great manuscript collections of Europe. There lay virtu- ally unexplored a unique record of contemporary views on the great moral questions of the day: the right ordering of society, the position of the individ- ual within that society, and the ties of the commu- nity. Canonist manuscripts reflect the views of intel- lectuals, but that does not diminish their value as sources of the first rank for understanding medieval life. Through the eyes of these commentators, me- dieval views on the theory and effects of excommu- nication may be seen. Elisabeth Vodola, by diligently working through these canonist sources, and after mature reflection over a decade, has produced an impressive book that could not have been envisaged fifty years ago. Tracing the origins of excommuni- cation back to "the ritual pruning of unfit members to ensure the survival of the group" (p. vii), she crosses the disciplines, as the study demands, of theology, law, social anthropology, and sociology. The most primitive sanction of the curse was rooted in all the cultures that contributed to the Bible, and the rabbinical power to bind and to loose was the direct source of Christian excommunication-the denial of liturgical and social incorporation to the excommunicant. The exclusion from the commu- nity was symbolized by exclusion from the commu- nal meal, the Eucharist.

From the 1150s excommunication increasingly came to be seen as a legal sanction. It was frequently used to punish contumacy-the failure to appear before a legal tribunal after due summons. So de- veloped two different sanctions: minor excommuni- cation (exclusion from the sacraments-a matter of conscience) and major excommunication (loss of civil rights-a legal matter and the concern of the courts).

How did excommunication affect a person's fam- ily and friends? Chapter 3 considers the position of excommunicates within the community. One of the most interesting chapters in the book, it explores the

various views on how far those in touch with excom- municates-friends, family, and feudal overlords- might be affected. Who will easily forget the account of Gilbert Foliot, while under sentence of excommu- nication, smashing the crockery after a meal to avoid the spread of contamination? Vodola dextrously relates academic debates to actuality. She notes that the mendicants' less strict rules on denying excom- municates to hear mass accounted for their popu- larity and that the papacy did not wish to jeopardize mariage by disallowing sexual intercourse with ex- communicates or to upset feudal relationships by the complete removal of feudal bonds. Innocent III invited the vassals of Count Raymond of Toulouse to occupy Raymond's lands, "saving the right of the principal lord of the fee" (p. 68).

The loss or reduction of legal rights could be severe-at its worst, political dynamite, dissolving bonds, ties, and authority. Clearly, in theory, excom- municates could not act as judges, advocates, or witnesses, and their position as plaintiffs and defen- dants was circumscribed (chaps. 4, 5). Had Alicia Clement, an apostate nun of Ankerwyke, admitted excommunication, she would have been prevented from making good her claim to her inheritance.

A final chapter on excommunication in secular courts concentrates on France and England. This is not the most important section, but it analyzes local differences of attitude to enforcement. In France laymen were reluctant to penalize excommunicates; in England this was not the case.

Delicate and penetrating interpretation of the sources is the hallmark of this perceptive book, which ends with six appendixes, four of them glosses on legal rights, contracts, and the avoidance of excommunicates.

JANE E. SAYERS

University College London, United Kingdom

MODERN EUROPE

MICHAELJ. HEATH. Crusading Commonplaces: La Noue, Lucinge, and Rhetoric against the Turks. Geneva: Droz. 1986. Pp. 113.

President Ronald Reagan was not the first West- erner to refer to his Levantine adversary as a "mad dog." In 1586 Rene de Lucinge, Savoyard ambassa- dor at the French court, described the sultan as a "chien enrage," a "tyran" whose followers were "barbares." In taking this line, Lucinge followed one of the time-honored European stereotypes concern- ing the Turks, those dreaded and despised conquer- ors of Eastern Christendom. In this slender mono- graph Michael J. Heath reviews the language used

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