George T. Beech

In this study of the Gâtine vendéenne, George T. Beech looks at the development of a relatively obscure and impoverished part of western France over the period of two centuries in the Middle Ages. This is not a dramatic history, in part because the Gâtine then as now was sparsely populated, and in part because the source base is so thin. In the early 1960s, when this book was written, medieval studies was on the cusp of broadening its scope and its methodologies, so I would be interested show more to see what someone could make of the same documentary sources now, particularly when supplemented by archaeological, art historical, and comparative evidence. Useful for my comparative purposes, though, in looking at the approaches one can take to a regional study of a largely overlooked French pays. show less

Please see The Medieval Review for the full review.
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The history of the Taifa of Saragossa is tightly constructed in this presentation. The story of the city is carefully wrapped within a historiographical framework which holds within it a historical frame. Beech presents Saragossa’s "brief eminence" as a historiographical phenomenon bookended by Northern Europeans: the book begins with a section entitled, "The Northern European ‘Discovery’ of 11th century [sic] Saragossa" which show more reminds the reader that the author of the Occitan Roland à Saragosse says the epic hero "sees Saragossa the great, powerful city,..." The greatness of the city’s library holdings is what impresses a second contemporary Northern explorer, Hugh of Santalla. In the accounts of these two northern Europeans Beech sees the fate of al-Andalus, the quest for knowledge and the reconquest of territory in the name of Christendom. Beech’s monograph ends with a series of appendices, the first of which synopsizes the discussions modern Northern Europeans have had regarding Saragossa. ...
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The work is divided into two main sections preceded by an introduction (11-27): Part I The splendor of 11th century Saragossa (31-223) and Part II The downfall of Islamic Saragossa (227-309). The first part presents generalities about the city and its geographical setting. Its main focus is its multiculturalism and its cultural products—works of science, literature, philosophy, and art— and their distribution throughout al-Andalus and beyond. The second part of the book focuses on the years of Saragossa’s long defeat, 1110 to 1118, which Beech narrates with references to sources many a reader will want to examine after reading Beech’s descriptions. The work includes an appendix with four sections: A. How modern medievalists have neglected al-Andalus: the example of Saragossa (311); B. Northern European awareness of Andalusi Saragossa (325); J. A. Conde’s portrayal of king Imad Addawlah in his 1820 History of Domination of the Arabs in Spain (331); D. The letter episode from Alhulal almawsiyyah . The bibliography is extensive though a few key medievalists or their texts seem to be missing and many items in the bibliography are not fully engaged within the argument of the book.
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