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New Oxford History of England #3
England Under The Norman And Angevin Kings, 1075-1225
This lively and far-reaching account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest provides a vivid picture of everyday existence, and increases our understanding of all aspects of medieval society. There are colourful details of the everyday life of ordinary men and women, with their views on the past, on sexuality, on animals, on death, the undead, and the occult. The result is a fascinating and comprehensive portrayal of a period which begins with conquest and ends in assimilation.
772 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Robert Bartlett
63 books53 followersRobert Bartlett, CBE, FBA, FRSE is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History Emeritus at the University of St Andrews.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 28, 2018
Robert Bartlett’s contribution to the New Oxford History of England series is about a kingdom in transition. In 1075, England was a newly conquered realm of William of Normandy, who was transforming the sleepy monarchy of the Anglo-Saxons into a powerful feudal state. A century and a half later, his great-great-great grandson, Henry III, issued a modified Magna Charta that served as the foundation of English common law, establishing the right of the English aristocracy against the king. How this evolution took place forms just one aspect of this exceptional book, which addresses nearly every aspect of England’s politics, culture, and society during this period.
In doing this, Bartlett adopts an analytical rather than narrative approach. Events are studied within the context of the broader patterns and developments of the era. This makes for a more challenging read but also a much more rewarding one, with insights contained on every page. Readers unfamiliar with the period should start with a survey such as David Carpenter’s The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066-1284, but even knowledgeable students of the period will learn much from Bartlett’s clear writing and perceptive analysis.
In doing this, Bartlett adopts an analytical rather than narrative approach. Events are studied within the context of the broader patterns and developments of the era. This makes for a more challenging read but also a much more rewarding one, with insights contained on every page. Readers unfamiliar with the period should start with a survey such as David Carpenter’s The Struggle for Mastery: Britain, 1066-1284, but even knowledgeable students of the period will learn much from Bartlett’s clear writing and perceptive analysis.
December 22, 2015
England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225 (The New Oxford History of England #3)
Robert C. Bartlett
Read it in Hardcover at 772 pages with a very generous biblio, appendix, maps, and all those other goodies.
If the High Middle Ages are your thing than this is your jam.
Bartlett is more than qualified to write this very detailed account of the nuts and bolts of the Norman and Angevin Kings as the Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews. The text and structure require that the reader already grasp the events and Kings that reign in this time period as Bartlett doesn't spend a lot of time outlining these rulers in whole. The book is intended as a much granular view of the administrations and dependencies in the structure of ruling and so much more. Bartlett also covers cultural patterns, town and trade, religious life and institutional Christianity, among others. It's large and I've listed the sectional chapter header composition below.
Bartlett, like most historians, excels primarily on conclusions that he can directly source from charters, lists, etc. These kind of records are more plentiful than the sources he can draw for some of the cultural inferences which have their own level of ambiguity. In a lot of these instances an entire book itself can be lent to the topics discussed but Bartlett is able to steer the boat correctly and gives the reader more than enough wind in the sails. There is a plethora of charts, graphs, and maps for each topics covered as needed and the bibliography is really impressive.
Out of the below, my favorites were #'s 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8. Especially #4 which is full of fantastic pageantry and structure with details:
"…chess was not a division for eggheads, but, just like dice, a game on which money was staked. Hence both forms of gaming could lead to quarrels. It was thought necessary to advise the aristocracy, 'If you lose money playing at dice or chess, do not let anger plant savage rage in your heart.' "
Section Headers
1. Political Patterns
2. England and Beyond
3. Lordship and Government
4. The Aristocracy
5. Warfare
6. The Rural Foundations
7. Towns and Trade
8. The Institutional Church
9. Religious Life
10. Cultural Patterns
11. The Course of Life
12. Cosmologies
All of these are incredibly detailed and sourced written in a manner easy to consume with those familiar in historic works. I highly recommend this if the High Middle is your thing.
Robert C. Bartlett
Read it in Hardcover at 772 pages with a very generous biblio, appendix, maps, and all those other goodies.
If the High Middle Ages are your thing than this is your jam.
Bartlett is more than qualified to write this very detailed account of the nuts and bolts of the Norman and Angevin Kings as the Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews. The text and structure require that the reader already grasp the events and Kings that reign in this time period as Bartlett doesn't spend a lot of time outlining these rulers in whole. The book is intended as a much granular view of the administrations and dependencies in the structure of ruling and so much more. Bartlett also covers cultural patterns, town and trade, religious life and institutional Christianity, among others. It's large and I've listed the sectional chapter header composition below.
Bartlett, like most historians, excels primarily on conclusions that he can directly source from charters, lists, etc. These kind of records are more plentiful than the sources he can draw for some of the cultural inferences which have their own level of ambiguity. In a lot of these instances an entire book itself can be lent to the topics discussed but Bartlett is able to steer the boat correctly and gives the reader more than enough wind in the sails. There is a plethora of charts, graphs, and maps for each topics covered as needed and the bibliography is really impressive.
Out of the below, my favorites were #'s 1, 4, 6, 7, and 8. Especially #4 which is full of fantastic pageantry and structure with details:
"…chess was not a division for eggheads, but, just like dice, a game on which money was staked. Hence both forms of gaming could lead to quarrels. It was thought necessary to advise the aristocracy, 'If you lose money playing at dice or chess, do not let anger plant savage rage in your heart.' "
Section Headers
1. Political Patterns
2. England and Beyond
3. Lordship and Government
4. The Aristocracy
5. Warfare
6. The Rural Foundations
7. Towns and Trade
8. The Institutional Church
9. Religious Life
10. Cultural Patterns
11. The Course of Life
12. Cosmologies
All of these are incredibly detailed and sourced written in a manner easy to consume with those familiar in historic works. I highly recommend this if the High Middle is your thing.
January 1, 2009
Absolutely incredible. This book is for those already familiar with the major players of the era and the historical beats of the particular timeline, but who want to take "the next step." Painstakingly researched (his bibliography of primary source material is fourteen pages alone) Bartlett covers very conceivable aspect of medieval life regarding its period: How kings specifically taxed and got thier money to which ones could actually speak English (ironically Richard was one), social classes and settlement patterns, the church and the formation of religious orders and their recuiting practices etc. etc.
The narrative is academic but approachable and clear. However be sure to set some time aside, as reading this definitely takes some commitment. Some sections can be trying, depending on your interests. Included are graphs, maps and charts. I'm looking forward to the next in this series and reading more from the author. A great addition, in fact essential, for any medieval library.
The narrative is academic but approachable and clear. However be sure to set some time aside, as reading this definitely takes some commitment. Some sections can be trying, depending on your interests. Included are graphs, maps and charts. I'm looking forward to the next in this series and reading more from the author. A great addition, in fact essential, for any medieval library.
December 3, 2014
A thorough and interesting new history of the Norman and Plantagenet kings after the initial years of the conquest. I found the new interpretations convincing and in summary consider that this is a book which although a general history is indispensable for an understanding of difficult and confusing times.
November 9, 2014
This first volume in the “New Oxford History of England” covers the period in British history of most interest to me -- from the conquest to the end of the Norman-Angevin dynasty and the loss of Normandy to France. It also covers those monarchs I find most fascinating: William I, William II, Henry I, Matilda, Henry II, and John. One would expect a work of this sort to be chronological but Bartlett, a professor of medieval history at the University of St. Andrews, has chosen to approach his broad subject topically. He identifies twelve broad subjects and spends 50-60 pages on each, with some three to eight or nine subdivisions in each section, which means it’s easy to pick up the book, read the whole of a section in a reasonable amount of time, and put it down again without having to pause in the middle of anything. Very nice for a 700-page book. The first sections are (not surprisingly) “Political Patterns” and “Lordship and Government,” which also give a good overview of the issues of the times. I found the section on “Aristocracy,” a special interest of mine, especially good. The others cover subjects like “Warfare,” “Towns and Trade,” “Religious Life,” and so on. Bartlett is a very fluent writer and a plain, straightforward stylist, even when things get complicated. And he makes frequent use of extended examples from the original sources, such as (in “The Cross-Channel Aristocracy”) the multigenerational struggle of the Laigle family, lords of Pevensey, to keep their superiors in both England and Normandy happy and off their backs. There are footnotes on every page, though there’s no separate bibliography, but you’ll have to be able to read Latin to pursue most of them. This is the sort of book I expect to be happily absorbing a little at a time for some months to come.
But I do have one gripe and that’s the total inadequacy of the subject index. “Queens” with 35 undifferentiated locators? “Saints” with 40? Horses, of all things, with a string of 57 bare page numbers? Very bad practice, and completely useless to anyone trying to hunt something up. When a book is already 700 pages long, a subject index of fewer than eight pages is simply indefensible.
But I do have one gripe and that’s the total inadequacy of the subject index. “Queens” with 35 undifferentiated locators? “Saints” with 40? Horses, of all things, with a string of 57 bare page numbers? Very bad practice, and completely useless to anyone trying to hunt something up. When a book is already 700 pages long, a subject index of fewer than eight pages is simply indefensible.
June 6, 2022
Listen, I would give this ten stars if I could. I was riveted for 800 pages. Is this what having a hyperfixation is? Please Robert Bartlett tell me more about monk opinions and the exchequer and the prevalence of the name 'William' I promise I'll never stop wanting to know more about this time period. Such delicious minute detail.
March 31, 2013
Fascinating. Though intended more as a reference work, I read it from cover to cover and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you are a student of the period, I think you will find it an invaluable overview, written with both erudition AND style, a seductive combination.
June 30, 2019
Superb dive into Norman England, which doesnt focus on dry facts about contemporary kings and wars, which you can find in most books or wikipedia, but shows you medieval England from unexpected and multiple angles.
July 8, 2010
A wonderful book. So full of great information that I find it a slow read, but well worth the effort.
October 23, 2023
The most detailed book, I highly reconmended it if you're looking for the right answer of how England changed during Norman reign and it's absolutley beast!
It's like learning about how feudalism got into England, and how hierachy were stable in case to make sure everything was stableable in English society without creating chaos, indeed that could maybe had lead to civil war if those details didnt exist at the age...
5,10 stars! From here 🤭
It's like learning about how feudalism got into England, and how hierachy were stable in case to make sure everything was stableable in English society without creating chaos, indeed that could maybe had lead to civil war if those details didnt exist at the age...
5,10 stars! From here 🤭
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 22, 2020
A very academic reference work. The scholarship is objectively great and comprehensive, but I was looking (hoping) for more of an overview, akin to Oxford's American History series. I'll come back to this one with more prior knowledge.
June 14, 2017
Once you get over the confusing beginning, it is a great book. Not a quick or easy one, but a detailed and informative one.
January 25, 2018
I've read around this book for the last few years. Never finishing it chronologically, using it for research mostly... Excellent. The best book during the Angevin Period I've come across.
April 3, 2019
A genuinely enjoyable read!
November 17, 2019
Great piece of academia that covers the period well. It's less about the politics, more about the life and times and all the better for it.
January 24, 2020
Excellent book. Scholarly, yet very readable, easy to understand; a fascinating dip into Medieval life
December 28, 2016
The strength and weakness here is that Barlett is presenting an encyclopedic view of this period of English history. As such, there isn't the strong thesis that makes his The Making of Europe exceptionally good. On the other hand, Bartlett covers everything from the political scene to the meaning and place of animals in the long-12th century mind.
July 15, 2012
Incredible!
Perhaps not intended to be read cover to cover (as I did) this tome is a very comprehensive overview of not just politics and battles of these 150 years, but all aspects of daily life, names, religion, art, crime, medicine, love, death, the unexplained and on and on. With something this vast there will inevitably be parts which are less interesting depending on the reader (e.g crop rotation, in my case), but overall it is fascinating. It could easily be dipped into as a heading draws the eye, although for newcomers to the subject the first chapter is probably a must, dealing as it does with the kings in question. Much of this internecine, often intercontinental feuding may seem hard to keep abreast of at first, but I found the other chapters helped to anchor it with some context.
Many of the topics covered are brought to life with anecdotal accounts that elicit the full range of human emotions, from humour to pity to disgust. A dry listing of names and dates this is not.
I found particularly fascinating the final chapter about odd happenings attributed to "Beings Neither Human, Animal Nor Angel", probably the Norman English equivalent of UFO sightings and cryptozoology! The wild aquatic man of Orford Castle...the mind boggles.
A small niggle might be that it could have done with a glossary for a lot of the contemporary terms(particularly for some of the religous titles) , but at 700 odd pages (not including the sources at the back) they were probably pushed for space.
An excellent book for people with an interest or a patient newcomer.
My first of the New Oxford History of England series, but definitely won't be the last if this one is anything to go by.
Perhaps not intended to be read cover to cover (as I did) this tome is a very comprehensive overview of not just politics and battles of these 150 years, but all aspects of daily life, names, religion, art, crime, medicine, love, death, the unexplained and on and on. With something this vast there will inevitably be parts which are less interesting depending on the reader (e.g crop rotation, in my case), but overall it is fascinating. It could easily be dipped into as a heading draws the eye, although for newcomers to the subject the first chapter is probably a must, dealing as it does with the kings in question. Much of this internecine, often intercontinental feuding may seem hard to keep abreast of at first, but I found the other chapters helped to anchor it with some context.
Many of the topics covered are brought to life with anecdotal accounts that elicit the full range of human emotions, from humour to pity to disgust. A dry listing of names and dates this is not.
I found particularly fascinating the final chapter about odd happenings attributed to "Beings Neither Human, Animal Nor Angel", probably the Norman English equivalent of UFO sightings and cryptozoology! The wild aquatic man of Orford Castle...the mind boggles.
A small niggle might be that it could have done with a glossary for a lot of the contemporary terms(particularly for some of the religous titles) , but at 700 odd pages (not including the sources at the back) they were probably pushed for space.
An excellent book for people with an interest or a patient newcomer.
My first of the New Oxford History of England series, but definitely won't be the last if this one is anything to go by.
September 21, 2016
Incredible! In writing "England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings", Bartlett has created a tome for the ages. I have never come across a history book whose breadth and depth are as comprehensive as this one. In fact, this book is so all-encompassing that it just about has to represent a summary of all extant scholarship about life in 12th century England. Indeed, I have to believe that no book exists which covers a particular place at a particular time, so thoroughly as this one.
I do have to say, though, that this a challenging book to read and probably has a limited audience of people who would attempt it. In short, you've really got to love history in order to even get a quarter way through this book. Others might remark on the book's more soporific qualities. Either way, I have to applaud Bartlett for writing a book that will no doubt be used for reference for centuries to come.
Definitely a book for the advanced history buff!
I do have to say, though, that this a challenging book to read and probably has a limited audience of people who would attempt it. In short, you've really got to love history in order to even get a quarter way through this book. Others might remark on the book's more soporific qualities. Either way, I have to applaud Bartlett for writing a book that will no doubt be used for reference for centuries to come.
Definitely a book for the advanced history buff!
December 22, 2016
This book is just as awesome as I've always thought it would be. Loads of information, so many mentions of "twelfth century" I just got used to actually getting information on my time period...great resource. Well-written, too, with jabs of humor here and there (unless I just invented those after reading 30 thick pages).
Plus it gave me a lot of story ideas, for some reason (both for the current novel and ideas for different books).
Plus it gave me a lot of story ideas, for some reason (both for the current novel and ideas for different books).
October 1, 2014
I got this on inter-library loan and I really should have waited until I had a little less on my plate. I got about 1/3 of the way through and realized I need to focus on some other things. I read enough to confidently give it 4 stars - very thorough and detailed. I'll be coming back to this when I can give it the time it deserves.
September 3, 2014
Informative, modern overview of the turbulent and fascinating 12th century. Its predecessor in the 'old' Oxford History, From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, focused primarily on political history with lip service to social history; Bartlett reverses this to give an informative and highly readable, yet still scholarly, overview of how people lived and what they believed.
History at its finest.
History at its finest.
March 14, 2013
Numerous circles obscuring words !
I'm really irriated by the "vicar,rector" when talking about parish priests, in the Roman Catholic Church .Find the correct term it isn't that hard!
I'm really irriated by the "vicar,rector" when talking about parish priests, in the Roman Catholic Church .Find the correct term it isn't that hard!
September 21, 2024
THE source for anything you ever wanted to know about this time period. I loved it (despite a few inaccuracies).
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews