In the bibliographical essay at the end of this excellent book, Roger Stalley remarks that "the study of early medieval buildings is potentially an exciting field, though this regrettably is not always the impression given by the literature." Without doubt Prof Stalley's contribution to that literature as represented here captures that excitement to the full. For the professional or the interested amateur this book provides a stimulating introduction to a subject of great importance.
What was the West to do with the shattered inheritance of the Roman Empire after the fifth century? In the field of architecture, as in so many others, the future lay in harnessing what remained to the service of the only surviving institution capable of preserving Romanitas or civilisation: the Church. As Prof Stalley remarks, throughout this period "the heritage of Rome . . . cast a persistent shadow over building activities in the West", but he also demonstrates amply how willing those engaged in building activities were from the fall of Rome onwards to do more than simply borrow or steal from the ruins which surrounded them. With the rise to power of Charlemagne in the late eighth century it seemed a new era of Roman architectural splendour had dawned. But Charlemagne's "renaissance" was a false dawn, and it was to be the new millennium before the architectural voice of medieval Europe was clearly heard. One criticism of this book is that its long chronological range serves to diminish the fundamental change that occurred in Western architecture, as in so many other aspects of life, in the decades after 1000. As Prof Stalley himself explains: "During the course of the eleventh century a new architectural language emerged in Western Europe, a language that imbued buildings with an expressive power that had not been seen since the days of the Roman Empire."
Written with clarity and beautifully illustrated - some of the most memorable photographs, such as that of the chapter house of Much Wenlock priory in Shropshire, are taken by the author himself - this book presents us with both a survey of past work on the subject, and new interpretations of key themes. Prof Stalley's Irish interests (he is professor of history of art at Trinity College Dublin) encourage him to include such remarkable buildings as Cormac's Chapel at Cashel in his analysis, but this book can be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in the architectural heritage of the West.
Brendan Smith is lecturer in medieval history at the University of Bristol. His books, Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland and Britain and Ireland, 900-1300 were published by Cambridge University Press earlier this year