This is a small book with a large brief. The essays in Commemoration in Medieval Cambridge simultaneously contribute to the burgeoning historiographies of commemoration, higher education and urban piety in late medieval England by examining the strategies through which individuals sought remembrance in one particular, and peculiar, town. Being home to a university, Cambridge (alongside Oxford) was configured unlike other urban centres. The aggregate of the collegiate, parochial and monastic systems gave the town a distinct spiritual and commemorative infrastructure disproportionate to its size, as illustrated by the map (facing p. xiv) in the volume, which shows a total of 42 medieval parish churches, religious houses and colleges. This is the essence of the volume: Cambridge's pre-Reformation colleges are viewed in religious, rather than academic, terms.
Christian Steer's brief introduction makes clear the fact that Cambridge's colleges were an unusual kind of commemorative institution, and touches on the main points made in the volume. Steer's essay is followed by that of his co-editor, John Lee, in another introductory piece that sets Cambridge within the range of issues resulting from the last few decades of research into late medieval religion. This framework is necessary in such a volume, as it makes the important point that monuments were but one method of commemoration within a much wider strategic web. Together, these first two essays aptly set up the case-studies that follow.
John Baker's is a narrowly defined and largely descriptive essay on academic dress on brasses. The main issue springs from attempting to convert an inherently visual topic into writing; although accompanied by good photographs, these could perhaps have been made more useful by more elaborate captions that highlight the issue being discussed in the text. If not contributing to our understanding of commemorative practices, Baker does provide a useful reference piece for identifying academic brasses by arguing that they show a consistent accuracy in the dress depicted. Nicholas Rogers charts the reasons for the poor survival of Cambridge brasses, but the essay is again primarily descriptive; an interesting argument that he does push, however, is that the puritanical William Dowsing is unduly blamed for much of the loss.
Three essays deal specifically with collegiate commemoration, all three taking different approaches which serve to highlight the potential in studies of commemoration. Peter Jones reflects the introductory essays by analysing the variety of commemorative practices found at King's College. It is a rewarding piece, successful in exploiting both material and written evidence – including the college's charter, foundation stones, inventories and architecture – all of which are related to the pious intentions of those enacting them. Claire Daunton and Elizabeth New's article pushes the boundaries of the historiography of commemoration by nuancing the contemporary differences between ‘patronage’ and ‘benefaction’ in the founding and early history of Trinity Hall. Richard Barber likewise takes a creative approach, utilizing a single document (a fourteenth-century account book detailing the foundation of Corpus Christi), and assessing the ways in which it ties into commemorative culture. This approach is greatly enriched by sensitivity towards the physicality of the material and a deft use of prosopography to suggest further avenues of research.
The remaining two essays deal with the commemoration of groups outside Cambridge's colleges. Michael Robson examines commemoration within the city's friaries, and how they engaged with both the lay and academic population. He supplements (and acknowledges) the poor survival of Franciscan documents in England with continental sources in his discussion, although it is occasionally unclear to which type of evidence he is referring. Finally, Susan Powell examines the Cambridge commemorations of Margaret Beaufort's household. Margaret's connections to Cambridge provide plenty for discussion, including one fascinating example of a woman – Edith Fowler. Powell takes the memorials as a starting point, then either gives a mini-biography (often from Margaret's accounts at St John's College, which Powell is currently engaged in editing) or details the ‘lives’ of the memorials. While therefore an interesting essay, it is, for this reviewer, one of missed potential. Many innovative themes relating to commemoration are touched on but not fully explored, for example: the significance of cenotaphs; the political implications of Bishop Fisher's memorial after his execution in 1535: a brass commemorating the termination of a college mastership; and the role of secular commemoration such as the panel portraits.
On the whole, this is a well-executed volume that serves as the first foray in contextualizing a university town against the multiplicity of commemorative strategies that were available in pre-Reformation England. In a book that draws heavily on material culture, the accompanying images and map are both necessary and excellent. The range of subjects and approaches are testament to the potential of this as a field of research, even if they are occasionally raised by their conspicuous absence. In as far as this volume achieves its aims, and in order to best appreciate it, it is necessary to view the essays contained therein as a whole – the cohesion that they offer collectively, as examples of how the field might progress, is what makes this book a success.
