Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/590

 582 REVIEWS OF BOOKS October Baldwin to consent to a new election in 1328, and those of the cardinals of the French party at Avignon (nos. 457-S) warning him in 1337 that he must without delay surrender Mentz. CHARLES JOHNSON. A History of France from the Death, of Louis XI. By JOHN S. C. BRIDGE. Vol. I. The Regency of Anne of Beaujeu, 1483-1493. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1921.) MR. BRIDGE has done a great service to English readers. The period from 1483 to 1493, the regency of Anne of Beaujeu, has never before been treated in detail by an English writer, and even in France few historians have worked of late upon the important years which follow the well-known reign of Louis XI and precede the famous episode of the Italian wars. The work now before us supplies therefore a real need, and it supplies this need very adequately. Great care has been taken to investigate each point, to weigh evidence, and to estimate values. A list of sources and secondary authorities is given, followed by much-needed tables to illustrate the French monetary system and several useful genealogies. Above all, the whole is written with a vigour and freshness of style which make the book an attractive literary work, as well as a valuable contribution to knowledge. Mr. Bridge has, however, one drawback as compared with M. Pelicier, whose monograph on Le gouvernement de la Dame de Beaujeu, published in 1882, is the one work which can be compared with the newer book. Mr. Bridge has confined himself to published sources, which with few exceptions have not been added to since the French book was written, except for the collection of royal letters edited by M. Pelicier himself and obviously used in his earlier work. The French writer has increased his knowledge of state affairs by a constant use of unpublished material in the Archives Nationales, and when necessary in local collections. Possibly the evidence to be gained by further study of documents would not materially alter the general conclusions at which Mr. Bridge has arrived, but the lack of such study does diminish to some extent the certainty that a final investigation has been made on some of the details of the history. In his first chapter Mr. Bridge gives a very vivid description of the condition of France at the opening of the new reign, showing the immense difficulties with which the government of that time had to contend. The account of the states-general of 1484 is full and interesting. This was a meeting of peculiar importance, partly on account of the innovation in electoral procedure, since the three orders were enjoined to act together in their choice of representatives, and partly on account of the very important questions with which the assembly had to deal. It almost appeared as though the states were on their way to secure control over the executive by the appointment of councillors, control over finance by the determination of taxation, and that they might obtain the redress of those grievances which all the orders put forward so clearly in their various cahiers. The states failed to achieve their object, largely no doubt on account of the strength of the central government, but also because of