This volume makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the pontificate of Alexander iii. This enterprise arose from sessions at the 2005 Leeds International Medieval Congress and consists largely of papers developed by participants. Peter Clarke deserves the credit for having been the driving force in bringing this work from inception to fruition. It has been for long recognised that Alexander iii's pontificate was one of the most important in the Middle Ages, not least because of his contribution to the development of canon law. He also had the misfortune to live in peculiarly exciting times, being pope during the longstanding conflicts with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and at the time of the Becket dispute. Yet modern scholarship has tended to remain somewhat dated in its interpretation of his crucial pontificate and a new evaluation has been required. This volume goes a long way towards rectifying this lack. In his introduction Peter Clarke gives an illuminating overview of the state of Alexander iii studies and indicates the contributions made in this volume. Anne Duggan's two papers deserve to be singled out. She gives an excellent overall assessment of Alexander's pontificate and also a detailed treatment of his decretals with special reference to a re-evaluation of his treatment of marriage. The range of the other papers is wide indeed, covering the papal schism (†John Doran), the empire (Jochen Johrendt), Alessandria and the Lombard League (Edward Coleman), the papal patrimony (Brenda Bolton), France (Miriam Soria), Spain (Damian Smith), Becket's pallium (Katherine Christensen), Henry ii (Nicholas Vincent), Byzantium (Jonathan Harris and Dmitri Tolstoy), Venice (Thomas Madden) and the Crusades (Iben Fonnesberg-Schmidt). All these papers merit close study. Problems of patchy evidence are confronted and reinterpretations of Alexander's pontificate are suggested. But the personality of this pope remains somewhat elusive. His more than 400 decretals in the Liber extra remain his true monument for posterity.