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The themes of Volume III are the government and parliamentary representation of Shropshire from their beginnings up to 1974. The long perspective allows the vicissi-tudes of successive institutions of county government to be examined thoroughly. For example, the rise of the justices of the peace is fully chronicled from their in-conspicuous origins under Edward I to the amplitude of their powers and duties in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Shropshire's medieval government had a number of peculiarities, caused by the county's fron-tier position opposite the hostile Welsh. Accordingly its 'palatine' earldom, its serjeants of the peace, its loss of territory to marcher lordships, and its subjection to the Council in the Marches of Wales receive special attention. From Elizabeth I's reign, as the magistrates' concerns increased, the story comes to include much of the social history of the times. From 1889, when the county council was formed, that history has been one of unprecedented penetration by local government into formerly untouched areas of local and personal affairs. The institutions of Shropshire's govern-ment provided opportunities for influence and advancement; the volume thus em-bodies a history of the fortunes of Shrop-shire's leading men and families. Most prominent in the Middle Ages were the earls of Shrewsbury, Arundel, and March. Since then the families of Corbet, Newport, Herbert, Clive, and Bridgeman have been among the weightiest. Linked with their fortunes were those of smaller landowners and local officials. In the 18th century, with the appointments of itsfirst permanent county treasurer and of its first county surveyor, Thomas Telford, Shropshire took a large step towards the formation of a modern county bureaucracy. Nowhere has the play of ambition and manouvre been more openlyexercised than in elections to Parliament. The volume explores the intricacies of Shrop-shire electioneering from Edward I's reign to the general election of October 1974, and illustrates the manner in which conflicting electoralinterests bit deep into the sub-stance of Shropshire society.

An exceptional reference work to pilgrim and secular badges of the middle ages.

This is the first major catalogue in English devoted to medieval badges. These fascinating objects provide us with a guide to the popularity of different cults and pilgrim centres, supplying evidence of the sometimes arduous journeys not only to famous and far-off sanctuaries like Compostela, but to native shrines such as that of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury, or the tombs of local, unofficial saints. Often mass-produced and sold in tens of thousands, pilgrim souvenirs offer pointers to fashion in contemporary precious jewellery. The secular badges include a wealth of non-religious imagery, playful and amatory, satirical, celebratory and heraldic. Illustrating nearly 800 items ofpopular medieval jewellery, the catalogue contained within the book describes previously unpublished finds retrieved from datable archaeological London waterfront deposits, and provides the basis of a chronological framework for future excavations.

BRIAN SPENCER was the Senior Keeper at the Museum of London, with special responsibility for the Museum's collection of medieval everyday objects.

The volume describes the history of Tewkesbury and 22 other parishes lying mainly between the Severn and Bredon and Cleeve Hills. Tewkesbury itself was once an important centre for communications, manufacture, trade, and administration; its great abbey church remains, and the many timber-framed houses recall its past prosperity. Bishop's Cleeve had a monastery in the 8th century and later became a demesne manor of the Bishop of Worcester. There was an early minster church at Beckford, and at Deerhurst a Saxon monastery with a remarkable church that is still in use. At Forthampton part of the Abbot of Tewkesbury's manor-house survives. There were also substantial lay estates, not only the great manor of Tewkesbury, long owned by the Earls of Gloucester, but also those of lesser baronial families, like the Beauchamps, Pauncefoots, and Cardiffs. The land, once densely wooded, has mostly long been agricultural,though in Corse and Tirley parts of the former chase were not inclosed until 1797, and there were large sheep-pastures in the hills. Prestbury was becoming residential by the late 18th century and later on engineering works stimulated the growth of other places in the area.

THE Victoria History of the Counties of England has been in progress for 70 years and has recently seen the publication of its 150th volume. The General Introduction provides a conspectus of all that has been published up to and including 1970, with a bibliographical survey, lists of the contents of each volume, and indexes of the titles of articles and of authors. It opens with an account of the origin and progress of the Victoria History, from its confident beginning at the close of Queen Victoria's reign, through its quiescence between the two World Wars, to its renewed vigour and expansion under the wing of the University of London and with the support of Local Authorities.

The History of Parliament - The House of Commons 1558-1603 contains 2.668 biographical articles and 241 constituency articles. The biographies include many of the powerful political figures of Elizabeth's reign such as SirWilliam Cecil, Sir Robert Dudley, Sir Amias Paulet, Thomas Sackville and Sir Christopher Hatton, as well as the middling figures like Laurence Tomson and Richard Topcliffe, the 'parliament men' Thomas Norton and William Fleetwoodand the firebrand Peter Wentworth.

"All writers of Elizabethan history shall now refer to these biographies for the most reliable information about the leaders of the Elizabethan polity who served out their time in the Commons" declared the British Book News on the first publication of this three volume set.