It is rare that a volume of essays by numerous contributors (besides the editors these are Greta Austin, Renée R. Trilling, Eric Palazzo, Evan A. Gatti, T. M. Riches, John Eldevik, Valerie Ramseyer, Bruce C. Brasington, Dorothy F. Glass, Maureen C. Miller and Thomas Head) is as successful as this book in fulfilling its aim. The various studies covering the development of the episcopate from the Carolingian period to the late thirteenth century emphasise the different political and cultural influences that shaped individual bishops who stood out among their colleagues because of their success in being both ‘Mary and Martha’, contemplative as well as active, or better: practical. Thomas Head correctly summarises that ‘the single most important achievement’ of the volume consists of the ‘rejection of “reform” as a monolithic ideal’ (p. 258). The ‘Gregorian’ reform of the eleventh century, a central feature of the period from the Roman ecclesiastical perspective, only impinges marginally on the description of bishops from the time of Rather of Verona (Head) to late thirteenth- and fourteenth-century bishops of Florence, whose adventus or ceremonial entry into their city, first documented in 1285, is traced up to the early sixteenth century (Miller). One exception is the outstanding contribution by Dorothy F. Glass, who can show convincingly how the façade sculptures of the cathedral of Piacenza (construction begun in 1122) echo the city's new-found ties to Rome. Some of the bishops discussed specifically, such as Burchard of Worms (Austin), Wulfstan of York (Trilling) and Ivo of Chartres (Brasington) are well known, but appear in these pages in often unfamiliar, local, guise; others are less known: Siegfried i of Mainz (Eldevik), Gerard i of Cambrai (Riches) or his successor, Lietbert (Ott), or Alfanus of Salerno (Ramseyer). The latter is an excellent example of an outstanding churchman as well as scholar and poet, allied with Rome and yet developing his own episcopal lordship while defending the principality of Salerno at the side of Gisolf ii. At the same time it was Robert Guiscard, Gisolf's enemy, who contributed generously to the construction of Salerno's cathedral. There was no dichotomy between Alfanus' religious duties and inclinations and his military activity (p. 207), a fact that reveals the inadequacy of contemporary views of the role of the bishop when it comes to the Middle Ages. The book includes some maps and black-and-white plates. It concludes with a general index, unfortunately without a list of the manuscripts cited throughout the book.