Reviews and Awards
"This subtle and illuminating book will be valued by historians and students alike....An excellent and meticulously presented book."--American Historical Review
"Well written, scholarly, important in substance, and significant for the methodology of legal history because it imposes on it a societal context and subjects it to comparative analysis."--Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"A superb book. It demonstrates an awesome command of the literature, a sophisticated methodology, and a wise and thoughtful historical mind at work....The book is a model study in comparative history....A brilliant work."--CHOICE
"Arguably the most comprehensive study yet produced."--The Historian
"All who are interested in this era will find [the book] to be stimulating and informative. Because the examination of the interaction of such momentous forces as war, centralization of authority, maintenance of order, administration of justice, and provision of security is so thorough and so acute this study will also furnish valuable insights to those primarily interested in the history of other times and other places."--Albion
"Advanced students of medieval history will find this work the most informed study of late-medieval war and justice available."--History: Reviews of New Books
"A valuable contribution...which has set at least one reader thinking about the wider implications which it raises."--Times Literary Supplement
"Substantial and informative...[I]ts value lies in its clear and vigorous synthesis of a huge literature...It is strongly comparative in approach...[T]ightly structured, the book's themes are well set out initially, sustained powerfully, and brought together again in an effective conclusion....Students of English and French medieval society at every level will find much to ponder in this thoughtful and authoritative work."--French History