Anglo Norman England 1066 1166

Gives an account for twenty years of the interaction between English and Norman traditions and institutions following the Conquest. This work shows how reform movements in the western church, increasing literacy in government, population growth and changing patterns of trade all played their part in shaping the Anglo-Norman realm. This book is the first comprehensive account for twenty years of the interaction between English and Norman traditions and institutions following the Conquest. The first century of Anglo-Norman feudalism saw the ‘rise of administrative kingship’ under William, his sons, and Stephen and Henry Plantagenet. At the same time the Norman lords came to treat old English traditions as part of their heritage, and the fighting knights of the invading armies took the first steps towards becoming knights of the shire. In examining how these changes occurred, Marjorie Chibnall shows how reform movements in the western church, increasing literacy in government, population growth and changing patterns of trade all played their part in shaping the Anglo-Norman realm. Historians have long debated the significance of the Norman Conquest. Did it mark the imposition of an alien and repressive regime on "free Englishmen"? Or did England benefit from the uniting of two separate and disparate cultures and civilizations? Marjorie Chibnall, one of the leading historians of the period, here addresses these issues.