An Anglo-Saxon missionary who took part in the reverse Christianisation of northern Europe by following Boniface and the Irish mission to Christianise the Frankish peoples, Burhheard or Burchard became the first bishop of Würzburg probably in 741, following Boniface's establishment of an ecclesiastical hierarchy in Thuringia. Burchard in turn presided over the consecration of Willibald as bishop of Eichstätt, and as such was a pivotal figure in the establishment and spread of Christianity in the region, going on to play a not insignificant role in the papal legitimisation of Pepin the Short as king of the Franks. This new critical edition by Desirée Barlava for the MGH's Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum series contains Burchard's three vitae: the anonymous so-called vita antiquior, whose date of composition, to say nothing of its place and author, remains unclear; the early twelfth-century vita posterior; and the fourteenth-century vita metrica composed by John of Lauterbach. The edition of the three quite different vitae in one volume is particularly valuable in that individually and as a whole the Lives offer insights into the mission to the Franks, the early history of the see of Würzburg and the evolution of the bishop's cult, as well as the manipulation of his sanctity over some six centuries. The volume includes a detailed introduction that provides biographical details and a reconstruction of Burchard's life, before considering in turn each of the three vitae in terms of their date, the place of composition, the question of authorship, language and style, sources, manuscripts and their transmission, as well as early printed editions of the Lives. There follows in turn a critical edition of each Life, complete with the critical apparatus and annotation that one would expect from this series. The volume thus will be an indispensable research tool for anyone working on earlier medieval hagiography, the spread and influence of Christianity in Frankish lands as well as the history of Würzburg.

Gottfried of Cappenberg's career was quite different. A Westphalian count who converted to the religious life following the example of St Norbert of Xanten and who went on to found three Premonstratensian houses for men and women at Cappenberg, Ilbenstadt and Varlar, Gottfried's life offers an important example of the changing nature of aristocratic involvement with the new religious orders at the time of the resolution of the investiture controversy, the end of the Salian dynasty and the early days of the Staufen ascendancy. The critical edition by Gerlinde Niemeyer and Ingrid Ehlers-Kissler together with Veronika Lukas, also for the MGH, contains Gottfried's three vitae: the vita i, composed between 1149 and 1156/58; the vita ii, composed between the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries; and the vita metrica compiled at the same time of the first Life, between 1149 and 1156/58. Again the opportunity of having all three Lives together in one volume is key in that collectively and individually the Lives reveal the increasingly important interaction of Premonstratensians both within local communities and with local powers such as Frederick of Arnberg, who seems to have particular nemesis for Gottfried. The volume includes a detailed introduction that provides for each of the three vitae in turn a discussion of their transmission, the manuscripts, the date and place of composition, the question of authorship and the ambitions and nature of the composition, as well as information about the sources. There follows in turn a critical edition of each of the three Lives complete with critical apparatus and annotation. A detailed index completes the text. The volume thus enables a critical reassessment not only of the career and religiosity of Gottfried of Cappenberg but also the extent to which hagiographic models shifted and were manipulated by local interests and contexts.