Overview

Eleventh-century England suffered two devastating conquests, each bringing the rule of a foreign king and the imposition of a new regime. Yet only the second event, the Norman Conquest of 1066, has been credited with the impact and influence of a permanent transformation. Half a century earlier, the Danish conquest of 1016 had nonetheless marked the painful culmination of decades of raiding and invasion - and more importantly, of centuries of England's conflict and cooperation with the Scandinavian world - and the Normans themselves were a part of that world. Without 1016, the conquest of 1066 could never have happened as it did: and yet disciplinary fragmentation in the study of eleventh-century England has ensured that a gulf separates the conquests in modern scholarship. The essays in this volume offer multidisciplinary perspectives on a century of conquest: in politics, law, governance, and religion; in art, literature, economics, and culture; and in the lives and experiences of peoples in a changing, febrile, and hybrid society. Crucially, it moves beyond an insular perspective, placing England within its British, Scandinavian, and European contexts; and in reaching across conquests connects the tenth century and earlier with the twelfth century and beyond, seeing the continuities in England's Anglo-Saxon, Danish, Norman, and Angevin elite cultureand rulership. The chapters break new ground in the documentary evidence and give fresh insights into the whole historical landscape, whilst fully engaging with the importance, influence, and effects of England's eleventh-centuryconquests, both separately and together. LAURA ASHE is Professor of English Literature and Fellow and Tutor in English, Worcester College, Oxford; EMILY JOAN WARD is Moses and Mary Finley Research Fellow, Darwin College, Cambridge. Contributors: Timothy Bolton, Stephanie Mooers Christelow, Julia Crick, Sarah Foot, John Gillingham, Charles Insley, Catherine Karkov, Lois Lane, Benjamin Savill, Peter Sigurdson Lunga, Niels Lund, Rory Naismith, Bruce O'Brien, Rebecca Thomas, Elizabeth M. Tyler, Elisabeth van Houts, Emily Joan Ward.

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9781783274161

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Reviews

This substantial volume has much of considerable value to commend it. It certainly offers detailed and authoritative surveys of the context of these two invasions, which will enhance a fuller understanding of the military sphere. * BATTLEFIELDS TRUST MAGAZINE * [T]he editors are to be congratulated for furthering the problem of conquest and its correlates. * The Medieval Review *

This substantial volume has much of considerable value to commend it. It certainly offers detailed and authoritative surveys of the context of these two invasions, which will enhance a fuller understanding of the military sphere. * BATTLEFIELDS TRUST MAGAZINE *

Thought-provoking. * HISTORY * This substantial volume has much of considerable value to commend it. It certainly offers detailed and authoritative surveys of the context of these two invasions, which will enhance a fuller understanding of the military sphere. * BATTLEFIELDS TRUST MAGAZINE * [T]he editors are to be congratulated for furthering the problem of conquest and its correlates. * THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW *

This substantial volume has much of considerable value to commend it. It certainly offers detailed and authoritative surveys of the context of these two invasions, which will enhance a fuller understanding of the military sphere.--BATTLEFIELDS TRUST MAGAZINE

Author Information

LAURA ASHE is Professor of English at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor at Worcester College, Oxford. CATHERINE E. KARKOV is Professor Emeritus of Art History, University of Leeds. CHARLES INSLEY is a Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Manchester. Elisabeth van Houts is Honorary Professor of European Medieval History, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Emmanuel College. Rebecca Thomas is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Cardiff University.

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