The professed intention of this probing study is to show that the Lives of Becket were ‘literary works of high quality, more complex and sophisticated than has always been recognized’ (p. 2), and it succeeds in that enterprise. The book falls into two parts. The first, chapters ii–vii, discusses the ten chosen biographers individually or in groups: John of Salisbury; Edward Grim, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence and Anonymous i (‘Roger of Pontigny’); Anonymous ii (‘Lambeth Anonymous’) and Alan of Tewkesbury; Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury; William FitzStephen; Herbert of Bosham). The second, chapters viii–xii, compares their treatment of five key themes: conversion, conflict, trial, exile and martyrdom. In this way, Staunton both separates and integrates the ‘historical’ and the ‘literary’ Becket. Beginning with the premise that the theological reflections and parallels which are threaded through the narratives were not diversions from the ‘real’ story but essential parts of it, he argues (pp. 16–17) that the biographies ‘are imbued with a sense of Christian history which goes beyond immediate chronology to encompass past events and display them as a coherent whole, exposing the divine will at work through His agents’ and that ‘the figurative [interpretation] does not contradict the literal, but rather supplements it’. Thus the historical Becket was imbedded in a shared conception of sacred history which saw present events in the light of an eschatological ordering, but it did not disappear. Here, after all, was a real man whose memory was still fresh among those who would read or hear the stories of his life and death, and there was much to debate and reflect upon. Staunton is at his best when he unravels the layers of reference and allusion, as in his study of the treatment of Becket's exile (pp. 153–83), for example, but there are some questionable assertions. Anselm's canonisation was not refused tout court (pp. 13, 22, 109) but referred to an English council, which the eruption of the dispute with Henry ii deferred sine die. The claim that ‘little mention is made of the fact that the constitutions [of Clarendon] were written down’ (p. 102, cf. p. 218) is hard to accept, since six biographers, in addition to William FitzStephen, whom Staunton names, record that they were (Anonymous i, Anonymous ii, Grim, Guernes, Herbert and William of Canterbury); John of Salisbury described them being read out; Guernes and William of Canterbury transmit the full text; Herbert quotes the eight most obnoxious clauses; and Anonymous ii and Grim provide summaries. Moreover, the ‘episcopal case’ seems to rely on Gilbert Foliot's Multiplicem, which is not subjected to critical scrutiny (pp. 38–9, 123–4, 155–6, etc.), and the emergence of a body of episcopal support (Roger of Worcester, Bartholomew of Exeter, William of Norwich, Henry of Winchester) is ignored. Such details aside, this book merits careful reading by anyone who wishes to deepen his understanding of one of the most remarkable literary productions of the Middle Ages.