ENGLISH COLLUSION AND THE NORMAN CONQUEST

1-225940

Comprehensive analysis of 11th century warfare as exposed in the record of the Norman Conquest of England. King William I experienced a lifetime of conflict on and off so many battlefields. Examines whether he received an undeserved reputation bestowed on him by clerics ignorant alike of warfare, politics, economics, the secular world, and writing 50 years after events reported to them by doubtful sources. How much of this popular legend was actually created by an avaricious Church?

Was William just a lucky, brutal soldier, or was he instead a gifted English King who could meld cultures and talents? This tale of blood, deceit, ambition, and power politics pieces together the self-interested distortion of events, brutalizing conflict, and strategic concerns by analyzing extensive contemporary evidence.

By 1072, King William should have been secure upon the English throne, so what went wrong? How did a Norman Duke and a few thousand mercenaries take and hold such a wealthy and populous Kingdom? Even in the 'Harrowing of the North', which probably saw the death of tens of thousands, who was really to blame and why did it happen?