The Norman Conquest
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Published:7th Mar '13
Should be back in stock very soon
The definitive account for our times of a pivotal moment in English history
This riveting book explains why the Norman Conquest was the single most important event in English history.
Assessing the original evidence at every turn, Marc Morris goes beyond the familiar outline to explain why England was at once so powerful and yet so vulnerable to William the Conqueror's attack.
‘I loved it. A suitably epic account of one of the most seismic and far-reaching events in British history’ Dan Snow
An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.
Going beyond the familiar outline, bestselling historian Marc Morris examines not only the tumultuous events that led up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but also the chaos that came in its wake – English rebellions, Viking invasions, the construction of hundreds of castles and the destruction of England’s ancient ruling class. Language, law, architecture, even attitudes towards life itself, were altered forever by the Norman Conquest.
‘Retells the story of the Norman invasion with vim, vigour and narrative urgency’ Dan Jones, Sunday Times
‘A wonderful book’ Terry Jones
‘A much-needed, modern account of the Normans in England’ The Times
Almost everything you know about 1066 is wrong. And there’s no better historian to put you right than the wonderful Marc Morris. His new book grips not only as a work of narrative history but also as a sleuthing exercise . . . Morris has captured the triumph and the tragedy of this tumultuous era with verve, insight and a rollicking narrative. * Mail on Sunday *
Morris gives a compelling account of the invasion by William the Conqueror in 1066 ... Confidently, he opens with the Bayeux Tapestry as a powerful contemporary depiction of a famous battle ... Morris sorts embroidery from evidence and provides a much-needed, modern account of the Normans in England that respects past events more than present ideologies. -- Iain Finlayson * The Times *
Marc Morris’s lively new book retells the story of the Norman invasion with vim, vigour and narrative urgency * Evening Standard *
As every schoolboy knows, or used to, 1066 is the most important date in English history. But as Marc Morris points out in this enormously enjoyable book, the Norman conquest was much more violent, complicated and ambiguous then we usually think. Carefully steering the reader through the partisan and often contradictory sources, he paints a vivid picture of the collapse of the sophisticated Anglo-Saxon realm, and shows how William the Conqueror relied on sheer terror to establish his reign. Even a Norman chronicler admitted that William had “mercilessly slaughtered” the English, “like the scourge of God smiting them for their sins. -- Dominic Sandbrook * The Sunday Times, Books of the Year *
I loved it – a suitably epic account of one of the most seismic and far-reaching events in British history. -- Dan Snow
ISBN: 9780099537441
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 33mm
Weight: 450g
464 pages