Since its initiation in 2006, the series to which this volume belongs has established itself as a major reference point for scholars working on Christian history. The volumes offer comprehensive reviews of the state of play in a specific field of research without sacrificing quality and originality in their contributions. This track record of success is maintained by the collection of essays under review, which provide the reader with a stimulating introduction to the most fruitful areas of current research on the Great Schism. The unavoidable questions of how the schism began and how it was resolved are addressed in essays by Rollo-Koster and Phillip Stump. In essays on the court at Avignon Stefan Weiss and Cathleen Fleck demonstrate afresh how much emphasis the papal court had come to place on magnificence and display, both before and during the schism. Fleck's study, which focuses on artistic commissions during the schism, is a particularly wide-ranging and insightful piece. Izbicki looks at the ways in which the figures of Peter and Paul were polemically deployed in critiques of papal authority before and after 1378. Philip Daileader surveys the schism's impact across the Catholic world, and Christopher Bellitto assesses the relationship between the schism and the impetus for reform of the Church. In his analysis of how the schism was perceived in the Byzantine and Muslim worlds, Michael Ryan breaks new ground with his commentary on the schism's treatment in the writings of the convert Fray Anselm Turmeda (‘Abdallah al-Taryuman, 1352–c. 1432). Michael Hanly looks at the schism through the eyes of Honorat Bovet, the opinionated Benedictine author and diplomat. Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski explains how the schism was portrayed and interpreted by a number of other contemporary writers including Philippe de Mézières, Eustace Deschamps and Christine de Pizan. In an essay on ecclesiology David Flanagin places the schism within the context of late medieval views on the character of the Church, from Boniface viii to Constance. Izbicki concludes the collection with a brief summary of how commentators in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were to interpret the schism. Overall, this is a strong collection which highlights much recent research and points the way to future work on a watershed period in the history of the medieval Church.