Reliquary Tabernacles in Fourteenth-Century Italy: Image, Relic and Material Culture.

those bread-and-water loving ascetics of the formative years represented a counterculture, a new ‘example for all monks’, with a way of life offering ‘the surest road to heaven’. In late medieval England, at least, there is nothing to compare with their self-consciously different approach, or with the sheer magnitude of their building achievements. The volume is well illustrated, though there are just eight colour plates. Of greater significance, Brepols has become of increasing importance in our field of study, and yet its pricing model is such that even libraries must now baulk. For a volume that deserves to be read, sadly a cost of close to £100 will put it beyond the reach of all but the most dedicated Cistercian student.