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Norman Conquest Archive
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William the Conqueror and the Channel Crossing of 1066
Posted on May 16, 2013 | No CommentsWilliam the Conqueror waited several weeks before making his maritime crossing of the English Channel in 1066 - was he hampered by weathered or did the Norman Duke intentionally remain in Normandy, hoping that events in Anglo-Saxon England would turn to his favour? -
Conquest, Contact, and Convention: Simulating the Norman Invasion’s Impact on Linguistic Usage
Posted on March 11, 2013 | No CommentsHow do conventions arise? Lewis adressed this in his work Convention via signaling games, a mathematical model of communication where a sender sends a message to a receiver who then interprets it. When we say conventions, we mean by that a system of coor- dinated behavior pairing information states with actions -
Widows in Anglo-Saxon England
Posted on March 3, 2013 | No CommentsOwing to a fairly large number of mainly vernacular codes of law that have survived, we are in a position to see at least how in legislation the position of women in general, but also of widows in particular, was defined. -
England: One Country, Two Courts
Posted on December 26, 2012 | No CommentsThe tension created by the two-court system is an integral part of England’s administrative and constitutional history. Exactly how integral has generated a considerable amount of scholarly work, from explanations of the sources of the conflict, to how the disagreement over jurisdiction was addressed throughout the Middle Ages, to what impact the issue had in shaping England’s overall political development. -
Conquest or Colonisation: The Scandinavians in Ryedale from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries
Posted on November 25, 2012 | No CommentsThe study of settlement history has developed within the fields of history, archaeology and geography. As a result much of the work carried out in settlement studies has borrowed the research and conclusions of scholars from other disciplines. -
“The English Exodus to Ionia”: The Identity of the Anglo-Saxon Varangians in the Service of Alexios Comnenos I (1081-1118)
Posted on November 20, 2012 | No CommentsMost historians who focus on this period have examined the effects of the Norman invasion and its aftermath on the island itself, but few have studied the journeys of those who left England in search for new opportunities in foreign lands. -
Who was the mysterious Ælfgyva in the Bayeux Tapestry?
Posted on November 13, 2012 | No CommentsJoanna Laynesmith, a medieval historian from the University of Reading offers two possibilities in a new article that appears in the October issue of History Today. -
Medieval Book History Week Lecture: “Practical Latin and Formal English in the 14th-15th Centuries”
Posted on November 13, 2012 | No CommentsThis lecture is part of Medieval Book History Week. Renown Professor Jeremy Catto spoke about literacy and language in England during the later Middle Ages at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto. -
Author looking to crowdfund novel set in the aftermath of the Norman invasion of 1066
Posted on October 24, 2012 | No CommentsA British author is using the innovative crowdfunding publisher Unbound to raise fund to create a new novel set in eleventh-century England. -
A Historiography of Chastity in the Marriage of Edith of Wessex and Edward the Confessor
Posted on October 4, 2012 | No CommentsWhile records of Edith's life and her marriage to Edward are poor, the historiography of those who narrated her life after her death is rich. In some ways, the historiography of her life was directly related to that of her husband's. -
BOOK REVIEW: Edric the Wild
Posted on October 2, 2012 | No CommentsA book review of the new release "Edric the Wild", by Jayden Woods -
Post-Conquest Medieval
Posted on September 25, 2012 | No CommentsUnlike the preceding millennium, which had seen the upheavals of the Roman conquest and then growing Anglo-Saxon influence, and the related socioeconomic transformations reflected, for example, in the emergence, virtual desertion and then revival of an urban hierarchy, the post-Conquest Medieval period was one of relative social, political and economic continuity. -
Anglo-Norman defence strategy in selected English border and maritime counties, 1066-1087
Posted on August 22, 2012 | No CommentsElla Armitage's analysisof early Norman castles in 1912 provides a clear espousalof this view, in particular her statement that in England the reasonsfor the erection of mottes seem to have been manorial rather than military; that is, the Norman landholder desired a safe residence for himself amidst a hostile peasantry, rather than a strong military position which could hold out against skilful and well-armed foes. -
A Companion and Guide to the Norman Conquest
Posted on August 19, 2012 | No CommentsPeter Bramley’s beautifully illustrated field guide and companion to the Norman Conquest gives full details of both the events and the personalities associated with each of these sites, together with the historical background and the reasons for the end of Anglo-Saxon rule. -
The Norman Conquest and Anglo-Saxon literacy
Posted on July 23, 2012 | No CommentsMichael Clanchy, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at the IHR, takes a fresh look at the effects of the Norman Conquest -
The alternation between present and past time in the telling of the Bayeux Tapestry story
Posted on July 20, 2012 | No CommentsWhen an anonymous artist designed the Bayeux Tapestry shortly after the Norman conquest of England he presented some of the action as taking place in the present time and some in the past. -
Ring-givers and Romans : the cultural roots of Anglo-Saxon church architecture
Posted on July 17, 2012 | No CommentsThe stone churches of pre-Conquest England are markedly different from those of their continental contemporaries and Norman successors, yet generations of historians have viewed these differences as inferior attempts to replicate continental forms. -
Cultural Changes in England resulting from the Battle of Hastings
Posted on June 28, 2012 | No CommentsThis paper, in examining the reigns of the Ethelred, Canute, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute, and Edward the Confessor, will show how they came to power, the legacy each left – if any -- and how the events during each reign ultimately led to the Battle of Hastings, with William the Conqueror’s victory changing England forever. -
Earthwork Castles of Gwent and Ergyng AD 1050-1250
Posted on June 4, 2012 | No CommentsThe research addresses the presence of the castles and discusses their roles as weapons of conquest and structures of administrative control. -
The role of the Norman kings in the framing of the British Constitution
Posted on April 26, 2012 | No CommentsI attempted to show how William respected the Anglo-Saxon constitution in its main principles. The Conquest, together with the influence of the system of government then prevaling on the Continent brought about some changes... -
Writing the Order: Religious-Political Discourses in Late Anglo-Saxon England
Posted on March 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe issue of how authority was created, maintained and defined in religious terms by the written word is therefore the main concern throughout this study. -
The Rectitudines singularum personarum: A Pre- and Post-Conquest Text
Posted on February 8, 2012 | No CommentsThe most important extant document for our understanding of Anglo-Saxon manorial social structure is a text scholars call the Rectitudines singularum personarum -
The Cipherment of the Franks Casket
Posted on January 29, 2012 | No CommentsThe content carved on the Franks Casket has remained as obscure as its origin. No-one has managed to properly interpret the artwork and the runic inscriptions, though the piece has often passed under the scope over the 150 years since its discovery; with a range of lenses, which at times have passed the flaw to the thing seen. -
Alfred the Great: The Most Perfect Man in History?
Posted on November 28, 2011 | No CommentsBarbara Yorke considers the reputation of King Alfred the Great - and the enduring cult around his life and legend. -
A Chivalrous Man is Not a Gentleman: A Look at Chivalry in the Age of Chaucer
Posted on November 27, 2011 | No CommentsThe concept of knighthood began as a military strategy used to supply men to fight kings’ wars, but it gradually developed into the glamorized ideal of chivalry and became associated with virtuous behavior expected during times of both war and peace.