Anglo-Norman Studies XV


Book Description




From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta


Book Description

Using a combination of original sources and sharp analysis, this book is sheds new light on a crucial period in England’s development. From Norman Conquest to Magna Carta is a wide-ranging history of England from 1066 to 1215 ideal for students and researchers throughout the field of medieval history. Starting with the build-up to the Battle of Hastings and ending with the Magna Carta, Christopher Daniell traces the profound change England underwent over the period, from religion and the life of the court through to arts and architecture. Central discussion topics include: how the Papacy became powerful enough to proclaim Crusades and to challenge kings how new monastic orders revitalized Christianity in England and spread European learning throughout the country how new Norman conquerors built cathedrals, monastries and castles, which changed the English landscape forever how by 1215 the king's administration had become more sophisticated and centralized how the acceptance of the Magna Carta by King John in 1215 would revolutionize the world in centuries to come. This volume will make essential reading for all students and researchers of medieval history.




Anglo-Norman Studies


Book Description

Topics covered in this edited volume include Norman Romanesque sculpture, Roman de Rouand the Norman Conquest, the Bayeux Tapestry, military service before 1066, England and Byzantium, and more.




The Norman Commanders


Book Description

This illustrated history sheds light on the greatest commanders of medieval Norman warfare, covering all their conquests from France to the Near East. Robert Guiscard, William the Conqueror, Roger I of Sicily, and Bohemond Prince of Antioch are just four of the exceptional Norman commanders who led their armies to victory and created their own kingdoms. Their single-minded leadership, and the skill and discipline of their armies, made them nearly unstoppable in their time. In this volume, Paul Hill studies their brilliant careers—along with those of Robert Curthose, William Rufus, Richard I of Capua and Henry I of England. In a narrative packed with detail and insight, and with a wide-ranging understanding of the fighting methods and military ethos of the period, Hill traces the course of their conquests, focusing on their leadership and achievements on the battlefield. The military context of their campaigns, and the conditions of warfare in France and England, in southern Italy and Sicily, and in the Near East, are vividly described. Among the operations and sieges covered in detail are Hastings, Bremule, Tinchebrai, Civitate, Misilmeri, Dyrrhachium, and Antioch. Paul Hill’s accessible and authoritative account offers a fascinating portrait of these historic conflicts and the commanders who fought them.




Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies


Book Description

Carmen de Hastingae Proelio; Battle c.1100; Military architecture; Piety of Anglo-Norman Knightly Class; Military Architecture c.1200; The Byzantine View of the Normans; Henry I and Anglo-Norman Magnates; Anglo-Norman as aSpoken Language; Magnates, Curiales and the Wheel of Fortune; Bishop's Lynn; Battle Abbey. Contributors: C. CLARK, P.E. CURNOW, R.H.C. DAVIS, L.J. ENGELS, C. HARPER-BILL, J. HERMANS, C.W. HOLLISTER, M.D. LEGGE, D.M. OWEN, E.M.SEARLE.




County and Nobility in Norman Italy


Book Description

Whilst historians often regard the Norman Kingdom of Sicily as centralised and administratively advanced, County and Nobility in Norman Italy counters this traditional interpretation; far from centralised and streamlined, this book reveals how the genesis and social structures of the kingdom were constantly fraught between the forces of royal power and local aristocracy authority. In doing so, Hervin Fernandez-Aceves sheds important new light on medieval Italy. This book is the result of thorough research conducted on the vast source material for the history of this fascinating 12th-century world. Starting with the activities of Norman counts and the configuration of the counties, it explores how social control operated in these nodes of regional authority, and argues that the Sicilian monarchy relied on the counties (and the counts' authority) to keep the realm united and exercise control.




Anglo~Norman Studies


Book Description

Palermo and Carini, 1992: Papers from this conference, held jointly with the Officina di Studi Medievali, have as a general theme the `Norman Age', with a special slant towards the Mediterranean world. Subjects treated include the policies of the Norman rulers, their military and naval organisation and coinage, chronicle sources and aspects of church history in their principalities, and the relations of the Normans with Byzantium, the Fatimid rulers and the crusading states. Other papers treat more generally of art, literature and language in the Norman period. Adam of Balsham's Oratio de Utensilibus..; Chronicle of Falco of Benevento; Coinages of Norman Apulia and Sicily; De Clericis et Rustico; Franks in 11cByzantium; Knight's Arms and Armour 1150-1250; Marriage of Henry VI and Constance of Sicily; Military Combat in Anglo-Norman Art; Nobilitàe Parentela nell'Italia Normanna; Norman Kings of Sicily and the Fatimid Caliphate; Norman Naval Activity in the Mediterranean c.1060-c.1108. Normans through their Languages; Richard of Salerno 1097-1112; Simon Magus in S. Italy; Tomb of King John in Worcester Cathedral; Tombs of Roger II in Cefalù. J.J.G. ALEXANDER, GEORGE BEECH, MATTHEW BENNETT,ARMANDO BISANTI, H.E.J. COWDREY, VINCENZO D'ALESSANDRO, WALTER FRÖÖHLICH, PHILIP GRIERSON, JEREMY JOHNS, PATRIZIA LENDINARA, G.A. LOUD, JANE MARTINDALE, LUCIO MELAZZO, IAN PEIRCE, JONATHAN SHEPARD, LIVIA VARGA.




The History of the Tyrants of Sicily by "Hugo Falcandus," 1154-69


Book Description

This addition to the Manchester Medieval Sources Series provides a translation of, and the historical background to, the History of the Tyrants of Sicily by Hugo Falcandus. The text also offers a historiographical examination of the text.




Tyrants of Sicily by Hugo Falcandus


Book Description

This book is our principal source for the history of the Kingdom of Sicily in the troubled years between the death of its founder, King Roger, in February 1154 and the spring of 1169. It covers the reign of Roger's son, King William I, known to later centuries as 'the Bad', and the minority of the latter's son, William II 'the Good'. The book illustrates the revival of classical learning during the twelfth-century renaissance. It presents a vivid and compelling picture of royal tyranny, rebellion and factional dispute at court. Sicily had historically been ruled by tyrants, and that the rule of the new Norman kings could be seen, for a variety of reasons, as a revival of that classical tyranny. A more balanced view of Sicilian history of the period 1153-1169 has been provided as an appendix to the translation in the section of the contemporary world chronicle ascribed to Archbishop Romuald II of Salerno, who died in April 1181. In particular the chronicle of Romuald enables us to see how the papal schism of 1159 and the simultaneous dispute between the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and the north Italian cities affected the destiny of the kingdom of Sicily. In contrast to the shadowy figure of Hugo Falcandus, the putative author of the principal narrative of mid-twelfth-century Sicilian history, Romuald II, Archbishop of Salerno 1153-1181, is well-documented.




The Normans


Book Description

A bold new history of the rise and expansion of the Norman Dynasty across Europe from Byzantium to England In the eleventh century the climate was improving, population was growing, and people were on the move. The Norman dynasty ranged across Europe, led by men who achieved lasting fame, such as William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard. These figures cultivated an image of unstoppable Norman success, and their victories make for a great story. But how much of it is true? In this insightful history, Judith Green challenges old certainties and explores the reality of Norman life across the continent. There were many soldiers of fortune, but their successes were down to timing, good luck, and ruthless leadership. Green shows the Normans' profound impact, from drastic change in England to laying the foundations for unification in Sicily to their contribution to the First Crusade. Going beyond the familiar, she looks at personal dynastic relationships and the important part women played in what at first sight seems a resolutely masculine world.