The Ottoman Threat and Crusading on the Eastern Border of Christendom during the 15th Century. Liviu Pilat and Ovidiu Cristea.East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450–1450 48. Leiden: Brill, 2018. x + 338 pp. $201.

Abstract

meaningful order across a wide range of manuscript books with diverse and therefore miscellaneous contents. Miscellaneous Order deserves a place with the great monographs on early modern English manuscripts by Beal, Love, Hobbs, Marotti, and Woudhuysen. Given the focus of its closing chapters, it will be required reading for anyone working on Sir Hugh Plat (and his intriguing "network of notebooks") or Francis Bacon, "the pivotal figure in this book's larger history of miscellany culture, manuscript practice, and the organization of knowledge" (160, 223). Yet beyond manuscript studies and Bacon studies, Vine's book also deserves attention throughout the study of early modern English literature and history, where it could introduce readers to the order that they can find even in the most miscellaneous original sources. If it were to receive the broad attention it deserves, this book would challenge and improve the study of early modern English literature and history.