Anne Greule aims to offer in this book a reevaluation of an important Paris master and preacher in the late twelfth century - Alan of Lille - with the major goals (a) to review the cornerstones of his biography, (b) to subject his sermons and their manuscripts to a more profound examination than has hitherto been done, and (c) to illuminate the role that this figure played in the development of the University of Paris. Alan had been the subject of profound scrutiny before, notably in the scholarship of Marie-Thérèse d'Alverny, Gillian Rosemary Evans, and Matthew Phillips, just as there are a number of smaller studies, but from important researchers such as Jean Longère or Nikolaus Häring. What this book offers is, therefore, not per se original, but the author seeks to address several dimensions that have not been dealt with sufficiently in past scholarship. In this reviewer's opinion, the strongest contribution consists in providing a more systematic study of the manuscript transmission of Alan's sermons, consequently refining the seminal work of d'Alverny. This includes rectifying some mistakes of previous scholarship, as well as identifying several manuscript witnesses unknown to previous endeavors.

The book is divided into seven chapters and an appendix. After an introduction, a chapter of roughly 100 pages offers a useful overview of the development and organization of the early university. Greule reviews here some of the existing axioms such as that of a "biblical-moral school", yet her conclusions are not always comprehensible. While she is eager to reject this label for reasons that remain obscure to the reader, notably the research of Jessalynn Bird has shown that this categorization has analytical value. It aptly expresses that there were diverse and sometimes conflicting interests present within "the university", where this group had mainly pastoral priorities. Nonetheless, Greule has a point that these categorizations have sometimes been too strict, and that a particular individual (like Alan) may have embodied traits of more than one group.

The next chapter reassesses Alan's biography - but despite an exposition of 60 pages, it does not offer many new insights (these cumbersome summaries of secondary literature are the typical product of a German thesis).

The fourth chapter is devoted to describing the corpus of sermons and its manuscript witnesses: this is doubtlessly the strongest piece; it shows that Greule has put much effort into working through this large and complicated corpus, thus reaching conclusions about its nature and transmission. Then follow three chapters on thematic strands in Alan's sermons: one on conceptions of knowledge, mainly addressing abstract theological ideas; one on the desirable qualities of students and masters, as presented in Alan's texts; and one on Mary as a role-model for the early university. These three chapters thus shed light on living within the university and concepts associated with it.

Lastly, a rich appendix delivers (a) extensive tables on Alan's surviving sermons and their manuscripts, (b) a comparative table on the different versions of his Ars praedicandi, and (c) editions of two sermons hitherto unpublished. Overall, this is a valuable addition to past scholarship. However, the book adheres to a problematic approach common in one branch of modern scholarship, that is, to consider someone like Alan as an intellectual figure only interested in theological and other academic matters, while negating his involvement in historical phenomena. This is worth reviewing for two major reasons:

(1) Alan was involved in manifold phenomena beyond the university, including anti-heretical action in southern France and crusading to the Holy Land. These are apparent concerns both throughout his sermons - but many of the relevant pieces are not, or insufficiently, addressed in this book - and in others of his works such as his Contra Haereticos. And these dimensions have been examined in recent studies, notably in those by Matthew Phillips, and in the first book of this reviewer, which situated Alan among the preachers of the Third Crusade (1187-1192). Though admittedly, this book was published just a few months before the one under review here, the point is that Greule herself should have seen these dimensions in Alan's sermons - given that she claims to offer a holistic portrait. Even if these were not her focus, it would have been requisite to show more awareness of them: this would have significantly modified the overall assessment of this figure. Greule, however, presents Alan as a beacon of the development of the European universities, without shedding any light on the dark chapters of this institution. Similarly, she suppresses the massive frictions that existed within the university. This is problematic because Alan himself turned into a critic of scholastic endeavors in the latter part of his life (see the second chapter in this reviewer's book); just as many of the texts on crusading and heretics were produced and likely also preached within the university. Intriguingly, some texts even blend anti-scholastic polemics with crusade-related matters: the first, therefore, did not remain limited to intellectual debates.

(2) Considering sermons as products that remained confined to the register of the university does not agree with what apt scholarship has unearthed about the nature and purpose of these sources. Notably, this pertains to the seminal contributions of David d'Avray, which are virtually absent from Greule's book, but also to those of Phyllis Roberts, as well as those of Richard and Mary Rouse. Namely, sermon collections were primarily penned for reaching broad popular audiences: this was the drive behind the increasing production of sermon manuscripts at the time, whereas clerics and monks could have been addressed by other means as well, such as via a biblical commentary. This also pertains to at least parts of Alan's sermons - though Greule claims the contrary. In many instances, she surmises that a sermon had supposedly or likely a scholastic audience, but without substantiating this sufficiently. While there are sermons of Alan where a title or gloss states ad scolares or ad claustrales, there are many other cases where such an audience is far from evident. Rather, Alan's own words in his Ars praedicandi corroborate a primarily popular impetus: preaching was "a public teaching in morals and faith" (publica instructio morum et fidei) - not a device for scholastic disputation (PL 210: 111). Sermons educated the faithful in the foundations of Christian faith, to further societal reform, and to stir them into various types of action, such as joining a crusade expedition to the Holy Land.

In conclusion, it would have been beneficial to provide an analysis of Alan's sermons that included considerations of their historical pertinence, and how they addressed various phenomena topical in the society in which he lived - the portrait of this figure remains thus piecemeal. Furthermore, this is clearly a German thesis which did not go through the process of condensing and reworking it into a book. Nevertheless, for scholars interested in intellectual endeavors within the university, Greule's contribution certainly offers useful pieces and observations: especially the vigorous study of the manuscripts has much value; and the elaborate appendices provide a basis on which future scholarship can build.

Alexander Marx