Review

Reviewed Work(s): Muhammad at Medina by W. Montgomery Watt

Review by: Philip K. Hitti

Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Apr., 1957), pp. 605-606

Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical

Association

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1847342

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p. 605
 6o6 Reviews of Books
for men who had only one wife to marry as many as four and to establish multiple
virilocal families. Muhammad's own marriages were virilocal, though each of his
wives had her own apartment (pp. 274-75). Watt finds no solid ground for think-
ing that Muhammad's character declined after the Hegira. ing that Muhammad's
character declined after the Hegira.
On the whole, the image of the Prophet that emerges from this new study On the
whole, the image of the Prophet that emerges from this new study
does not vary radically from the one hitherto held by critical scholars.
The more one reflects on the history of Muhammad and of early Islam, the more one
is amazed at the vastness of his achievement. Circumstances presented him with an
opportunity such as few man have had, but the man was fully matched with the hour.
Had it not been for his gifts as seer, statesman, and administrator and, behind
these,
his trust in God and firm belief that God had sent him, a notable chapter in the
history
of mankind would have remained unwritten (p. 335).
Princeton University PHILIP K. HITTI
THE LATIN CHARTERS OF THE ANGLO-SAXON PERIOD. By F. M.
Stenton. (New York: Oxford University Press. I955. PP. viii, I03. $I.70.)
SIR Frank M. Stenton's latest book, composed of three lectures delivered Kings
College of the University of London in I954, is a plea both for a modern
edition of all extant Latin charters of Anglo-Saxon England and for a new
preciation of what these records tell about Old English society. In three chapters,

this eminent historian has distilled a number of pithy reflections on those

documents that recorded royal grants of land and privileges. The first chapter,
dealing with charters and their criticism, is a fine resume of the scholarly
editorial
work thus far accomplished, from Kemble on through Harmer, Whitelock, Robertson.
Special tribute is rendered to W. H. Stevenson, who is credited initiating the
modern study of Anglo-Saxon diplomatics. This leads to a learned
discussion of the methods by which the authenticity of a charter is established.
Thrown in here is the warning, excellently documented, that inflexible scientific
standards of diplomatics often result in labeling authentic charters as spurious.
is, for example, unwise to find a charter false merely because it contains formulas

not found in "authentic instruments of its reputed date."

The second chapter traces the development of the charter in form and stance.
Stenton shows that the Anglo-Saxon diploma was introduced into England
during the age of Theodore of Tarsus and Wilfrid and that by the ninth century
its customary form was established. For the student of administrative institutions,

it should be noted that Offa, king of Mercia, seems to have been the first who
employed a group of clerks to accomplish the royal writing and that Athelstan there
was a staff of trained writers well versed in an insular script. third chapter
treats the last century of the charter, roughly from 950 During this period the
solemn charter was replaced by the writ which, appro-
priated by the Normans, became a key instrument in the development of efficient
government. Studying all the pertinent charters scholars have employedp. 606