Margaret Deanesly’s work is a straightforward account of the Medieval Church from the time of Gregory the Great to the beginning of the Renaissance. There is a particularly strong focus on monasticism and the activities of monks and friars during the medieval age. I think that most readers would find Deanesly’s work to be fairly boring. The account is rather dry and Deanesly spends almost no time reflecting on the significance of the changes that led to the establishment of Christendom. She spends very little ink reflecting on political motivations behind various problems and schisms, and commentary on the social aspects of the age is all but absent, except for a few mentions of the class structure of feudalism.
The preface claims that the work is for both the general reader and theological students at the University of Manchester. I doubt the former would find the book very accessible. I would only recommend the work to those with a rudimentary knowledge of the medieval age itself, and at least a mild familiarity with feudalism, and the rise, establishment, and success of the Holy Roman Empire. Deanesly assumes this knowledge on the part of her readers, so I’m critical of the recommendation to the general reader.
Most disappointing was the fast-paced nature of the book, which resulted in the already mentioned absence of reflection on the significance of various events. There are few explanations of the subtle factors involved in the changes happening within Christendom. For example, when Deanesly arrives at the topic of the Avignon Papacy, one of the most peculiar and tensional events in Church History, she briefly mentions French political influence and then simply adds “…the papacy was so much under French influence that for seventy years it resided beyond the Alps” (p176). She then launches into a list of the Avignon Popes without any further elaboration.
In spite of my criticisms, I understand that this book, first published in 1925, was likely one of the first of its kind in the English language, and so I’m somewhat sympathetic toward Deansely’s straightforward manner. With that in mind, however I still reject her suggestion that the book is appropriate for the general reader, recommending it instead to someone with a rudimentary knowledge of social and political changes in the Middle Ages.
2.5 out of 5 stars
