The study of sepulchral monuments has a long history in England. Antiquaries were quick to realise the historical value of tombs, especially as a source of heraldic and genealogical information. The earliest publications, such as Camden's guide to the monuments of Westminster Abbey, which first appeared in 1600, and Weever's Ancient funerall monuments of 1631, were essentially collections of epitaphs. Richard Gough, in his Sepulchral monuments, published between 1786 and 1799, was the first to adopt an art-historical approach, giving an account of stylistic and formal developments. Monumental brasses and incised slabs have been intensively studied, particularly in the publications of the Monumental Brass Society, founded in 1887. Sculpted monuments have usually been studied alongside other types of figural sculpture, as in Lawrence Stone's volume in the Pelican History of Art, although the establishment of the Church Monuments Society has encouraged work in this field. However, the last monograph devoted to medieval English church monuments as a whole was F. H. Crossley's work, published in 1921. Saul's survey meets a long-felt need.

After a historiographical introduction Saul begins by looking at early forms of sepulchral commemoration, up to the rise of effigial monuments in the twelfth century. He draws attention to some all too little known monuments, such as the classically inspired tombstone of Frithburga at Whitchurch, Hants. Some reference to the varieties of monuments found in the Winchester Cathedral excavations would have been useful here. He then considers general questions, such as regional patterns of commemoration, the different types of monument and their methods of production, and the process of commissioning. The terms used by patrons are considered as part of an investigation of contemporary aesthetic preferences. Central to the book is the chapter devoted to function and meaning, which demonstrates how tombs primarily operated as motivators of intercessory prayer. In gentry and noble families, especially those faced with extinction, monuments preserved the family name. In a particularly interesting section, Saul demonstrates how tombs were but one element in an intercessory discourse which permeated the entire church. The Bernards at Isleham, Cambridgeshire, were commemorated by both brasses and bells. There are numerous examples of ensembles where stained glass, woodwork and textiles all called for prayers for the souls of the deceased. Saul's book is confined to England, with occasional forays into Wales, but he shows a proper appreciation of continental influences in the section on composition and design.

The second half of the book is devoted to different genres of monuments. Although superficially similar to the costume-driven classification of earlier studies of monuments, the author's concern is to identify the ways in which social status was represented and to chronicle the development of particular modes of representation, such as the monuments of university graduates or lawyers. As might be expected from a historian of gentry families, Saul is particularly sensitive to the subtleties of chivalric iconography. In connection with his consideration of civilian effigies, he provides an appendix listing all known sculpted effigial monuments of civilians to c. 1500. This is to be used in conjunction with the comprehensive lists already available of civilian brasses and incised slabs. Saul himself acknowledges the provisional nature of his catalogue. One tomb that has a more complex function than its simple listing indicates is ‘William Canynges, 1474, St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol’. This is the first of two monuments to William Canynges the younger, showing him with his wife Joan, and probably erected after her death in 1467. He then was ordained a priest, and became dean of Westbury, where he was commemorated by a fine alabaster effigy, now also at St Mary Redcliffe. In a chapter entitled ‘The cult of the macabre’ Saul follows other recent authors in emphasising the positive nature of shroud and cadaver monuments as expressions of faith in the Resurrection, rather than treating them in the manner of Huizinga as manifestations of a late medieval pessimism. Last of all, Saul considers inscriptions. It could perhaps be argued that the early antiquaries were correct in giving pride of place to epitaphs, of which the effigial representations are in a sense an embodiment or a visual gloss. Many recent scholars, lacking the ability to assess the quality – or the quantities – of Latin verse, have tended to underplay the role of the inscription. Saul provides a well-considered discussion of the language and content of inscriptions, their authors and intended audiences.

Nigel Saul's work is set to become the standard work on the subject of medieval English church monuments and is unlikely to be superseded for several decades. For this reason it is to be lamented that Oxford University Press did not make a better job of producing the book. There are seventy-eight illustrations, all in black-and-white, of variable quality. Some are muddy, some over-exposed. Surely Oxford could have found a better image of the tomb of Cangrande della Scala at Verona than fig. 50. It is instructive to compare this book with recent volumes from Yale University Press. If Yale had published this book, it would have been more profusely illustrated to a higher standard, and colour would not have been confined to the author's excellent photograph of the Gascoigne tomb at Harewood on the dust jacket. Crossley's 1921 study, published by Batsford, was lavishly illustrated at the expense of the text, as he himself acknowledged. However, despite the deficiencies of some of his illustrations, Saul's text is of a richness which deserves close and repeated reading.