Book excerpt: This collection of essays, the Proceedings of the 1997 Harlaxton Symposium, looks at the importance of family and dynasty among royalty and powerful aristocrats, mercantile and clerical families, and those of lower aristocratic status. The eleven contributors examine the use of genealogy by these families for legitimation and proving descent, and the often conflicting relationship between loyalty to family and society as a whole, the Church, king or realm. Among the families discussed are the Angevin monarchy, the Wayte, Mortimer and Bohun families and the family of Lady Margaret Beaufort.