This collection of essays edited by Nigel Saul is a companion to the 2001 volume edited by Colin Richmond and Eilee Scarff, St George's Chapel, Windsor, in the Late Middle Ages (Maney Publishing, Leeds). The Richmond and Scarff collection was the result of a conference held in 2000 on St George's Chapel in the fifteenth century; Saul's collection is derived from the proceedings of a follow-up conference held at Windsor Castle in 2002, on the chapel in the fourteenth century. Presented here is all but one of the papers given at that conference.
Saul has organised the papers into three broad categories. The first group deals with the Order of the Garter, and includes two essays, one by W.M. Ormrod, "For Arthur and St George: Edward III, Windsor Castle and the Order of the Garter," and the other by Juliet Vale, "Image and Identity in the Prehistory of the Order of the Garter." Ormrod, in a very well-written piece, builds on our understanding of the foundation and evolution of the Order and the meaning of its motto. He argues that Edward III's ambitions to turn Windsor into a public memorial to his monarchy were the result of the foundation of St George's Chapel and the Order of the Garter, rather than the motivation behind their institution. He concludes that "for all the excitement that may have attached to the Order, its motto, and its ceremonies in courtly society, the Garter was not, during the later fourteenth century, part of the repertoire of public monarchy" (33). Vale picks up the themes treated by Ormrod and considers the impact of chivalry on the Order, in particular those features of chivalric culture that were given permanent space at Windsor.
The second group of essays is concerned with religious life and the pious concerns of the chapel, in particular, the cult of St George and the college. Here D.A.L Morgan writes on "The Banner-bearer of Christ and Our Lady's Knight: How God became and Englishman revisited." Clive Burgess contributes "St George's College, Windsor: Context and Consequence." Saul's own piece appears: "Servants of God and Crown: the Canons of St George's Chapel, 1348-1420." A.K.B. Evans presents "Litigation for Proprietary Rights: the Case of the Obstinate Vicar," and Helen Marsh Jeffries studies "The Composer John Plummer and St George's Chapel." Morgan's discussion of the cult of St George illustrates the strengthening of the place of St George in England during the fourteenth century. Morgan concludes that the growth of interest in this saint provided a focal point for "national" identity and Edward III's aspiring role on the European stage. Burgess's piece is perhaps the most significant in this fine collection of essays. Here he discusses the liturgical imperatives which underpinned St George's College and he argues that these were equal to, if not more important than, the chivalric culture surrounding Edward III's vision for Windsor. Saul studies the composition and character of the college in its early years, assessing in particular the canons' sense of community, their perceptions of the college, and how diligently they performed their duties. He concludes that in these earlier years, the canons combined their commitments at Windsor with employment elsewhere in royal administration, especially at Westminster. He argues, however, that from the third quarter of the fifteenth century the links with administration became weaker as royal bureaucracy was increasingly laicised. The essay by Evans, to whom the volume is dedicated, is the most narrowly focused study in the collection, and concentrates upon the relationship between the college of Windsor and the vicar of Saltash, John Crewkerne. She opens the piece with a complaint by the burgesses of Saltash against the vicar in 1406, and explores the events and, most interestingly, the litigation which had resulted in this petition. Jeffries' essay uses the career of John Plummer to assess the musical tradition at St George's Chapel. Here she argues that the chapel singers, including Plummer, were not exclusively affiliated to Windsor. Instead they had close connections, and often sang, with choirs elsewhere in England. Jeffries establishes, for example, that the royal household chapel occasionally merged and sang with the choir at Windsor. Plummer, an important member of the royal chapel, moved later in his life to Windsor, and through a close examination of his career Jeffries demonstrates that this may have been a typical experience.
The third and final section of the volume is concerned with the material culture and architecture of Windsor--the physical surroundings in which chivalry and piety were practised. Pamela Tudor- Craig explores "The Fonts of St George's Chapel." John A.A. Goodall writes on "The Aerary Porch and its Influence on Late Medieval English Vaulting." Steven Brindle and Stephen Priestly consider "Edward III's Building Campaigns at Windsor and the Employment of Masons, 1346- 1377," and finally, Julian Munby contributes "Carpentry Works for Edward III at Windsor Castle." Tudor-Craig's piece is perhaps the least successful contribution to the volume and struggles to develop a strong argument or come to any firm conclusions. Her essay discusses a range of fonts in Britain from the medieval and early modern periods, and finally settles upon discussing the earliest Windsor font, which was the product of a group of sculptors working for Henry III. Goodall assesses Windsor in terms of its contribution to the style of late medieval English architecture known as Perpendicular. He argues that the Aerary Porch was a "revolutionary work of architecture, connected to but not materially different from anything that preceded it" (165). Brindle and Priestly continue neatly from Goodall's work and consider Edward III's building campaigns during the period 1346 to 1377. Their main focus is the employment of masons at Windsor and the links between their work there and at other major building sites. They conclude that Edward III's building projects of the 1350s and 1360s were the largest to be seen since Edward I's castle-building in Wales; that a substantial body of masons based in the south-east of England were used for royal works, including at the Tower, Westminster, Eltham and Windsor; and finally that the rebuilding of the upper ward at Windsor in the 1360s was a construction programme without parallel in its scale. Finally, Munby's piece continues to explore these themes and considers the carpentry commissioned during Edward III's reign at Windsor. He argues that although the impact of the Black Death brought an end of the "golden age of carpentry" that "one necessary exception to this cultural hiatus was in the king's works, especially those at Windsor" (227). Indeed a range of unusual and innovative carpentry work was undertaken here and Munby considers the Round Table, Canons' Lodgings, Round Tower and St George's Hall to illuminate these innovations.
Overall, this is a well written, effectively edited volume that is aimed at an audience of non-specialists as well as those immersed in late medieval English history. For the former, almost every essay is clearly introduced with a contextual explanation. For the reader who falls into the latter category, these essays build on and nuance existing work and whilst not revolutionising our understanding of Windsor in the fourteenth century, the collection certainly makes a significant case for seeing Windsor as more than simply a focal point of Edward III's monarchical ambitions. The volume does cover diverse themes but there are numerous threads that run through the collection. Saul identifies two in his introduction: chivalry and piety. However, the papers also share themes such as in the central place of the Order of the Garter to the physical and cultural life at Windsor; the cult of St George; the close connection between Windsor and Westminster; the importance of the college in local life, and the significance of its place in a "national" context. Thus this volume provides a complete overview of current issues, themes and debates in the study of the chapel and college of Windsor, Edward III, and English chivalric and pious culture in the fourteenth century and warrants a place on the bookshelves of all late medieval historians.