An interwoven study in many ways refreshing and original... A good book, the first major product of one of the more vital debates in recent early medieval scholarship. HISTORY A major re-statement of the nature of Anglo-Norman warfare, with special emphasis on the role of the familia regis, the King's military household. This study of the battles waged between 1066 and 1135 by the Anglo-Norman kings of England - William the Conqueror, William Rufus and Henry I -is a major restatement of the nature of medieval warfare in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Bringing together the two major trends in recent medieval military history, the study of military organisations and the study of campaigns, Stephen Morillo illuminates the interrelationship of military organisation and social and political structures and brings many new perceptions to bear, such as the central role of the familia regis, the King's military household. The roles of armies and castles and the normal activities of warfare are examined to show why sieges were far more common than pitched battles. Siege and battle tactics are analysed in the context of social and political influences, administrative structures and campaign patterns, and a connection is proposed in most pre-modern warfare between government strength and infantry quality. Dr STEPHEN MORILLOteaches at Wabash College, Indiana. He has published numerous articles on Anglo-Norman warfare.

First published as part of the best-selling The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, John Gillingham and Ralph A. Griffiths' Very Short Introduction to Medieval Britain covers the establishment of the Anglo-Norman monarchy in the early Middle Ages, through to England's failure to dominate the British Isles and France in the later Middle Ages. Out of the turbulence came stronger senses of identity in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Yet this was an age, too, of growing definition of Englishness and of a distinctive English cultural tradition. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Articles fundamental to the study of warfare in England and Normandy in the 11th and 12th centuries collected here in one volume. The influence of war on late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman society was dominant and all-pervasive. Here in this book, gathered together for the first time, are fundamental articles on warfare in England and Normandy in the 11th and12th centuries, combining the work of some of the foremost scholars in the field. Redressing the tendency to study military institutions and obligations in isolation from the practice of war, equal emphasis is given both to organisation and composition of forces, and to strategy, tactics and conduct of war. The result is not only an in-depth analysis of the nature of war itself, but a study of warfare in a broader social, political and cultural context. The Themes dealt with largely span the period of the Conquest, offering an assessment of the extent to which the Norman invasion marked radical change or a degree of continuity in the composition of armies and in methods offighting. This important collection, with an introduction and select bibliography, will be is essential not simply for the student of medieval warfare, but for all studying Anglo-Norman society and its ruling warrior aristocracy whose raison d'être was war. Contributors: NICHOLAS HOOPER, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, J.C. HOLT, J.O. PRESTWICH, R. ALLEN BROWN, JOHN GILLINGHAM, JIM BRADBURY, MATTHEW STRICKLAND, MATTHEW BENNETT.

Studies of warfare, armies, logistics and weapons throughout the Norman realms. The studies in this book examine and illuminate the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman military institutions that supported and shaped the conduct of war in northwestern Europe in the central middle ages. Taken together they challenge received opinion on a number of issues and force a profound reconsideration of the manner in which the Normans and their adversaries, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Angevins and the Welsh, prepared for and waged war. Contributors: RICHARD ABELS, BERNARD BACHRACH, KELLY DEVRIES, JOHN FRANCE, C.M. GILLMOR, ROBERT HELMERICHS, NIELS LUND, STEPHEN MORILLO, MICHAEL PRESTWICH, FREDERICK SUPPE.

Robert Guiscard, William the Conqueror, Roger I of Sicily and Bohemond Prince of Antioch are just four of the exceptional Norman commanders who not only led their armies to victory in battle but also, through military force, created their own kingdoms in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Their single-minded and aggressive leadership, and the organization, discipline and fighting qualities of their armies, marked them out from their Viking forebears and from many of the armed forces that stood against them. Their brilliant careers, and those of Robert Curthose, William Rufus, Richard I of Capua and Henry I of England, are the subject of Paul Hill's latest study of medieval warfare.?In a narrative packed with detail and insight, and with a wide-ranging understanding of the fighting methods and military ethos of the period, he traces the course of their conquests, focusing on them as individual commanders and on their 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, as are their decisive operations and sieges – among them Hastings, Brémule, Tinchebrai, Civitate, Misilmeri, Dyrrhachium and the Siege of Antioch.?There is no doubt that the Normans' success in war depended upon the leadership qualities and military capabilities of the commanders as well as the special strengths of the armies they led. Paul Hill's accessible and authoritative account offers a fascinating portrait of these masters of warfare.

On Christmas Day 1066, William, duke of Normandy was crowned in Westminster, the first Norman king of England. It was a disaster: soldiers outside, thinking shouts of acclamation were treachery, torched the surrounding buildings. To later chroniclers, it was an omen of the catastrophes to come. During the reign of William the Conqueror, England experienced greater and more seismic change than at any point before or since. Marc Morris's concise and gripping biography sifts through the sources of the time to give a fresh view of the man who changed England more than any other, as old ruling elites were swept away, enemies at home and abroad (including those in his closest family) were crushed, swathes of the country were devastated and the map of the nation itself was redrawn, giving greater power than ever to the king. When, towards the end of his reign, William undertook a great survey of his new lands, his subjects compared it to the last judgement of God, the Domesday Book. England had been transformed forever.

This book explores the relations and exchanges between Flanders and the Anglo-Norman realm following the union of England and Normandy in 1066.

This is the first large-scale study of conduct in warfare and the nature of chivalry in the Anglo-Norman period. The extent to which the knighthood consciously sought to limit the extent of fatalities among its members is explored through a study of notions of a 'brotherhood in arms', the actualities of combat and the effectiveness of armour, the treatment of prisoners, and the workings of ransom. Were there 'laws of war' in operation in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and, if so, were they binding? How far did notions of honour affect knights' actions in war itself? Conduct in war against an opposing suzerain such as the Capetian king is contrasted to behaviour in situations of rebellion and of civil war. An overall context is provided by an examination of the behaviour in war of the Scots and the mercenary routiers, both accused of perpetrating 'atrocities'.