Books received

FOLKLORE STUDIES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: PROCEEDINGS OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY. Ed. VENETIA J. NEWALL. D. S. Brewer, 1980. Pp. 463, ill. £35.00. Reviewed by Jacqueline Simpson.

NINE LIVES: CATS IN FOLKLORE. By KATHARINE M. BRIGGS. Routledge and Kegan Paul. London and Henley, 1980. Pp. 222. ill. £7.95. Alicia C. Percival.

THE FOLKLORE OF STAFFORDSHIRE. By JON RAVEN. Batsford, London. 1978. Pp. 222. £4.95. Reviewed by Derek Froome.

A GUIDEBOOK TO ARTHURIAN BRITAIN. By GEOFFREY ASHE. Longman, 1980. £7.50. Reviewed by Richard Barber.

ÖSTERREICHS MÄRCHENSCHATZ by KARL HAIDING. Vienna 1980 (Kremayr &; Scheriau) 448 pp. ill. Reviewed by Ruth Michaelis-Jena.

PRIMITIVE RELIGION AND HEALING: A STUDY OF FOLK-MEDICINE IN NORTH EAST BRAZIL. By PAUL V. A. WILLIAMS. Brewer. Cambridge 1979. 212 pp. £12.00. Reviewed by Douglas Gifford.

ITALIAN FOLKTALES. Selected and retold by ITALO CALVINO. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. New York and London, 1980. Pp. 763. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

TOCHER: TALES, SONGS, TRADITIONS 33. School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh, 1979. Pp. 71 £0.50. Reviewed by Neil Philip.

DER UNBEKANNTE BRUDER GRIMM. Edited by GERD HOFFMANN &; HEINZ RÖLLEKE. Düsseldorf (Verlag Eugen Diederichs) 1979. Pp. 144. 2 plates and 3 facsimiles. Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.

DAS ALTE VOLKSSCHAUSPIEL DES BURGENLANDES. By LEOPOLD SCHMIDT. Theatergeschichte Österreichs vol. viii. Burgenland 1. Vienna (Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften) 1980. Pp. 358. 6 maps, 15 plates (1 coloured). ZUNFTZEICHEN; ZEUGNISSE ALTER HANDWERKSKUNST. Salzburg (Residenz Verlag) 1973. Pp. 160, 54 plates (48coloured). Reviewed by Ellen Ettlinger.     

On the Uniformity of Design and Purpose,in the Works and Customs of the Earliest Settlers in Britain,Evidenced by Comparative Archaeology

Abstract

Within the building and grounds of the Bell Inn, Alveley (Shropshire) there is preserved a group of sculptures, the style of which is unmistakably that of the Herefordshire School. Thought to derive from a 12th-century church in Alveley, the group is the product of at least two hands and includes zoomorphic interlace and other interlace, together with figural scenes of ‘Samson and the Lion’, ‘St Michael and a Serpent’, and a ‘Man in Foliage’. The sculpture is indicative of a lavish decorative scheme at Alveley, in a style that was vigorous, striking and readily associated with the needs of seigneurial patronage.

The sculpture may be dated to the period 1155-early 1160s, a chronology determined not only by stylistic comparisons, but also independently by a detailed examination of the patronage context. In the discussion of the patronage, Guy Lestrange, sheriff of Shropshire, is identified as the likely patron, and as being fairly typical of the kind of patron who generally supported the work of the School. It is further argued that the role of aristocratic affinities in artistic patronage has been over-emphasised and that, as in other aspects of aristocratic activity, neighbourhood was a more influential factor.