This sumptuous first edition of the 1344 cartulary of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Melaine, Rennes, forms part of a series from Presses Universitaires de Rennes that has also included the Cartulary of Quimperlé and Hubert Guillotel's Actes des ducs de Bretagne, 944–1148. It provides a clear, accurate and unfussy presentation of the full contents of the cartulary-manuscript, beautifully illustrated with high quality reproductions, photographs and maps, followed by an index of proper names and a very useful thematic index. The cartulary contains 325 charters dating from between 1121 and 1343. The editors have also diligently tracked down 102 charters that have survived in original single sheets, fifty-one of which are not in the cartulary and which they publish in an appendix. The overlap between originals and cartulary allows the general accuracy of the compiler's work to be seen, even though the order seems random and the editors suggest that the cartulary was produced as an emergency measure following the siege of Rennes by Charles de Blois in 1342. Saint-Melaine presents a puzzle, in that a monastic community seems to have existed there from the time of its patron saint (Bishop Melanius of Rennes, c. 509–21) to the tenth century, yet it produced no surviving records until after its re-foundation during the eleventh century; even the restoration process lacks clear documentation in the surviving charters. However, in the central Middle Ages the abbey dominated the medieval urban landscape of Rennes and, thanks to ducal and noble support, came to own priories and parish churches all over north-eastern Brittany as well as in East Anglia. The present edition contains only a brief sketch of the historical background; much more should become possible now that this splendid resource is available.