These volumes in the English Episcopal Acta series, following three previous instalments on the diocese of Norwich, all edited by Christopher Harper-Bill, cover the episcopates of three bishops for the period 1266–99: Robert Scarning, William Middleton and Ralph Walpole. As with other volumes in the series, the acta themselves are supported by a detailed introduction by the editor. Harper-Bill provides an illuminating discussion of the diocese, the bishops and their officials, as well as the diplomatic of the acta. He draws several points of interest from the contents of the acta, perhaps the most striking of which is how they reveal the unusually high number of excommunications in the diocese. Between 1265 and 1269 Norwich contributed over 16 per cent of all significations of names of obdurate excommunicates issued in the English Church, whilst between 1270 and 1274 the figure was over 26 per cent (p. xli). Harper-Bill suggests that this was due to the unusual characteristics of the office of rural dean in Norwich, where the deanship formed a lucrative benefice as opposed to a temporary burden undertaken by different incumbents in turn (p. xlii). There were complaints, from Archbishop Pecham and local jurors, that rural deans exploited their position and encroached upon royal jurisdiction. Pressure from both archbishop and king seems to have had an effect in dampening the enthusiasm of the rural deans, however, since the number of significations began to decrease even before a royal commission was set up in 1285 to investigate Norwich practice (pp. xlii–xliii). The latest Norwich volumes maintain the high editorial standards of the English Episcopal Acta series and provide an extensive coverage of episcopal activity that will be welcome to scholars interested in diocesan administration and the relationship between bishop and crown. The five appendices run to over fifty pages and include a list of royal presentations as well as a particularly thorough survey of episcopal actions not recorded in diocesan documents but gleaned from other evidence, which cover a wide range of diocesan and royal business. Together the introduction, acta and appendices provide a broad and accessible insight that will be of great interest and help to researchers.