Ejércitos benditos: Yihad y memoria en al-Andalus (siglos X–XIII)

tation, it should come as no surprise that this is a book for specialists who will already be familiar with the contours of Orosian scholarship. Leonard, and Humphries in his foreword, do provide overviews of the state of the field, and many of the chapters begin with summaries of how others have interpreted aspects of theHistories. However, undergraduate students in particular might find it useful to pick up this work after first reading through gentler introductions to Orosius, such as that provided by Andrew Fear’s translation of the Histories or the relevant entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Notwithstanding these minor issues, In Defiance of History is a nicely produced, wellwritten and welcome addition to the scholarship. Leonard fully succeeds in her aim of demonstrating why the Spanish priest should no longer be dismissed as an inferior writer. At the risk of appropriating the clergyman’s rose-tinted rhetoric, the field of Orosian studies seems to be entering into a golden age. In addition to this monograph, a major international conference, part-organised by Leonard herself, took place in May 2022 and reaffirmed the wide range of research currently being undertaken on Orosius and his outputs. Importantly, this new wave of scholarly attention is affecting not just well-established scholars and Orosian experts, but also a host of research students, whose projects promise to augment and transform the existing scholarship on this Late Antique writer. With In Defiance of History, Leonard has thrown down the gauntlet for an ambitiously systematic and wide-ranging exploration of the Histories. We must all now wait patiently, and eagerly, for this gauntlet to be picked up.