A magnificent carved inscription containing the poetic epitaph (most probably by the English scholar Alcuin) for Pope Hadrian i (773–95) was produced in Francia soon after the pope's death. It was installed in the new memorial oratory for Pope Hadrian in the south transept of St Peter's basilica in Rome in about 796, and was one of the few early medieval inscriptions to survive the demolition of the Constantinian basilica by the Counter-Reformation popes and their architects. Joanna Story's focus throughout this book is on the power of the material object itself; she argues that this lay as much in the historical associations of place as in the meaning of its verses.

The first chapter of this book meticulously documents the symbolic role in Counter-Reformation Rome played by both the memory of Charlemagne and the fortunes of the inscription and the oratory it adorned as the old basilica was being steadily destroyed. Although Hadrian i's oratory was demolished, the inscribed epitaph was preserved. As Story demonstrates, the inscription had a particular resonance for the Counter-Reformation popes. Subsequent chapters explore the sources documenting Hadrian's career and death, though it is mistaken to suppose the existence of an ‘electoral college’ in 773 or that Stephen iii's efforts in 769 (p. 107) to alter the procedure for papal election changed matters in Rome. This is quite clear from the accounts of the subsequent papal elections for Hadrian i onwards. A chapter is devoted to the composition and language of the poem used for the Hadrian's epitaph, credited on stylistic grounds to Alcuin, and the contexts of its manuscript copies. Story demonstrates how these manuscripts became a space for commemorating Frankish kingship and the Carolingian relationship with Rome as well as the memory of the pope himself. She also documents Frankish involvement in memoria for Hadrian i, spreading the news of his death and organising rites of mourning.

A solid core of the book is provided by the chapters devoted to charting the compilation of pilgrim itineraries and epigraphic syllogae of inscriptions in Rome, their contribution to the creation of a virtual Rome, and the development of epigraphy in early medieval Rome and Francia. There are especially valuable and precise discussions of letter forms and letter cutting. These inscriptions demonstrate Story's underlying argument in the book about the particular effect of the intersection between medium and text within architectural space. This also opens up questions for the reader about the relative expectations of the audiences for these inscriptions in Francia and in Rome, and how the epigraphic evidence may relate to discussions about literacy. A further substantial chapter augments the physical study originally published in 2005, where Story collaborated with a group of technical experts to do the petrological analysis that enabled them to establish that the stone itself was black carboniferous limestone from the Mosan region in the Ardennes, for which the parallels are from a quarry at Sclayn on the south bank of the Meuse not far from Namur in modern Belgium. Tiny traces of fossil embedded in the stone are still visible. A wide-ranging discussion of the symbolic and practical use of spolia in architectural space enhances the readers’ appreciation of the use of this stone for its particular purpose. Story explains the importance and rarity of coloured stone for monumental inscriptions, and how the geographical origin, quality and rarity of the stone used added value and status to the text it contained. She also notes the similar effect created by painted white or gold letters on purple painted frescoes and manuscripts. There follows an excellent chapter on the letter forms of Hadrian's epitaph in comparison with the capitalis quadratus used in the books associated with the Carolingian Hofschule and court of Aachen. A concluding discussion links the creation of the epitaph and the thinking behind it to the development of the political ideas in Francia that culminated in the imperial coronation of Charlemagne in 800 and its aftermath. Story suggests that form, script and materials reflect ideas about empire current in 790s. Her suggestions need to be considered in the context of the most recent reappraisals of Frankish relations with Rome and Italy.

The book is lavishly illustrated, mostly in colour, with excellent maps and plans drawn by Lacey Wallace, and helpfully selected to support the arguments of each chapter. Despite the quality of the photographs, the drawback is that there is never any indication of the size of any of the inscriptions and manuscripts, apart from some measurements provided for the Epitaph of Hadrian itself. The relative scale is thus difficult to determine; one example is p. 206, where an inscription from a pluteus slab in Santa Pudenziana in Rome is a larger illustration than that of the entire fifth-century mosaic inscription from the inner wall of the narthex of the basilica of Santa Sabina.

The cross-referencing across different visual and script media and imaginative lateral thinking are particular strengths of this book's thorough exploration of the cultural and historical context of the making and successive mounting of the carved epitaph. Story makes a convincing and engaging case for the way Hadrian's epitaph and its preservation act as symbols of the institutional stability of the papacy as well as the physical continuity of the ancient basilica into the new building.