Winter 2008, Volume 36, Number 2 67

(100). Elsewhere, the SIL’s efforts satisfied “a genuine spiritual hunger” that Indians “seemed” to have (114). Like the “guerrilla” neo-Zapatistas in Chiapas, anthropologists are opportunists; their views become suddenly “radical” when the ideological winds happen to shift in the other direction—a cynical take on a situation the author acknowledges is always more complex than it appears. Despite these weaknesses, this book remains a valuable contribution to the history of contemporary Mexico.

KRISTIN NORGETMcGill University

Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications

Thomas, Hugh M.The Norman Conquest: England after William the ConquerorPlymouth, UK: Rowman and Littlefield208 pp., $39.95, 978-0-7425-3839-9Publication Date: October 2008

How often does a history text make the reader smile, let alone laugh out loud? This enormously learned volume succeeds in examining major events, persons, and histo-riographic debates with great economy and, yes, even wit. Hugh M. Thomas, a profes-sor of history at the University of Miami and social historian, deserves students’ and instructors’ heartfelt thanks for presenting a remarkable amount of information and analysis in such an engaging fashion.

The Norman Conquest belongs to a series, Critical Issues in History, aimed at college students. It opens with maps and genealogies and concludes with a timeline, brief identification of individuals, glossary, and notes on further reading. The brief introduction first asks whether social forces or individuals cause historical change and, second, whether this change in dynasty really affected the lives of ordinary people. Thomas divides The Norman Conquest into two parts: Part I, “Context and Conquest,” provides background and describes the conquest. Part II, “Consequences: Did the Conquest Matter?,” examines landownership, government, war, and law; economic and social consequences; and cultural consequences.

From the beginning, Thomas shows how and why it is difficult to write this period’s history. Scholars have long debated Anglo-Saxon England’s level of sophistication and will continue to do so because many records may have been lost or discarded. He uses this situation to point out “why scholars can disagree about many aspects of history in the period” but also arrives

at three fairly certain conclusions (9–10). This discussion exemplifies the clarity and precision that characterize the work as a whole and make it especially valuable for historiography and medieval English history. At every key juncture or event, Thomas steps back, reviews the evidence, and comes to reasonable conclusions (see, e.g., 23–24 on William’s claim to the throne, 38–39 on the size of the two armies, 71 ff. on feudalism in England, and 101–4 on aristocratic kinship structures).

His interweaving of historiographical analyses with an extremely lucid narrative is a tour de force. Thomas gives brief but important minihistories and contexts for the main actors without ever losing his focus—what did the conquest mean in the long run to most people? Certain effects of the Norman Conquest are clear: lineages and personnel in key political and ecclesiastical positions changed, as did the military’s composition and tactics.

In the short run, many commoners suffered economic and physical hardship, particularly from William’s initial devastations. Against a backdrop of growing prosperity, the lowest class—slaves—improved their lot significantly, but the upper peasantry probably fell in relative status. Historian Rosamond Faith has even argued that most of the free peasantry was reduced to serf status, although Thomas more cautiously states that the conquest led to a “reshuffling” of categorizations of peasants (100). More definitely, on the position of women, he states, “Overall the evidence does not suggest that their position declined significantly after 1066, mainly because it was not that wonderful before 1066” (105). By contrast, church services and architecture did change, although usually by blending existing standards with continental innovations (some of which might have occurred regardless).

In two interrelated areas, however, Thomas unequivocally emphasizes the Normans’ negative impact. Both lay piety and literature suffered from the decline and disappearance of Old English. Had it endured, “England might have been a greater pioneer in spreading religious teachings through the vernacular,” perhaps even altering Christianity’s overall development (126). And while students “may wish the Normans had actively burned Old English manuscripts rather than simply neglecting them (!),” Thomas mourns the “tragic cultural consequences” of the conquest (135). The Middle English that emerged in the following centuries did, however, benefit enormously from thousands of French words.

The brief conclusion summarizes the many changes the Norman Conquest brought, highlights the importance of a few individuals, and resolves the debate of historical agency by saying, “Though individual historians generally have to specialize, historians as a group do not

have to choose one approach or one method at the expense of all others. Indeed the complexity of historical change can be grasped only if historians adopt various approaches and methods” (145). Would that all historians possessed Thomas’s well-informed common sense, clarity of style, and sense of humor!

ALISON WILLIAMS LEWINSaint Joseph’s University

Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications

Haigh, ChristopherThe Plain Man’s Pathways to Heaven: Kinds of Christianity in Post-Reformation EnglandOxford: Oxford University Press284 pp., $50.00, ISBN 978-0-1992-1650-5Publication Date: December 2007

Christopher Haigh is one of the leading authorities on the religious history of Eng-land from 1500 to 1640. His latest book, The Plain Man’s Pathways to Heaven, is the product of the Wiles Lectures he deliv-ered at Queen’s University, Belfast, during 2005. The book takes its title and its struc-ture from Arthur Dent’s The Poor Man’s Pathway to Heaven (1601). Dent’s book used a dialogue format to present its argu-ments to readers. The dialogue takes place between Theologus (speaker of God), a godly minister; Philagathus (lover of the good), a godly layperson; Asunetus (witless fool), an ignorant but sincere layperson; and Antilegon (denier), a worldly skeptic. Dent’s purpose was to show Theologus and Philagathus teaching and persuading Asunetus and Antilegon about the true way to attain salvation.

Haigh takes these four characters and uses them to identify broad groups in English society and their religious attitudes during 1570–1640. He also adds a Papist character derived from a dialogue by the godly minister George Gifford. Similar stock figures appear in other contemporary dialogues. Haigh has sought evidence of ordinary people’s religious attitudes in the court books and visitation records preserved in three national and twelve local archives. Material found in contemporary books on religion and pastoral care supplements this evidence. Haigh notes that although court books tend to show religion in a negative light, he tried to guard against that bias. He also recognizes that all people cannot be neatly assigned to one of his five categories. Some people were hybrids of two or more of the stock characters. Others belonged to one category at one stage in their lives but moved to other categories as their age and circumstances changed.

Haigh divides his book into five sections, each focusing on the religious attitudes exemplified by one of the stock characters. Although Theologus was a godly preacher,

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