The Aristocracy of Norman England [Paperback]

Judith A. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 19, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0521524652 | ISBN-13: 978-0521524650

This book provides the first rounded account of the new and highly influential ruling elite of England in the century after the Norman conquest of 1066, in which the old English aristocracy was swept aside. It focuses on four main themes: land (the transfer of land to the aristocracy, and the organization of the great estates), power (the nature of power and its vitality), politics (the aims and strategies of the nobles), and society (kinship, the role of women, and piety).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Green expertly and gracefully synthesizes the results of more than three generations of copious and often contentious scholarship on the politics, economy, and society of the lay aristorcracy of England in the first century after the Norman conquest....Highly recommended." -- Choice

"Green's book will not merely be of interest to historians whose research interests lie in the Anglo-Norman period of English history; it may very well also become a source of concern to them, for its comprehensive analysis of much of the scholarly work of the last few decades may well obviate the necessity to consult some of these earlier writings. University librarians wise enough to purchase the volume for their collections,...will perform an invaluable service to their patrons." Cynthia Neville, Canadian Jrnl of History

"Students and professors alike will find much to think about in Judith Green's synthesis of recent scholarship and her own research on aristocratic power and society in England during the century after the Norman Conquest." Thomas K. Keefe, Speculum

"This substantial, learned book is both an ambitious synthesis and a research monograph about the century-long complex process of adaptation that followed the settlement of the foreign aristocracy in England. The book is rich in ideas, cautious in argument, and well-written..." Joseph H. Lynch, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Book Description

This book provides the first rounded account of the new and highly influential ruling elite of England in the century after the Norman conquest of 1066, in which the old English aristocracy a swept aside. It focuses on four main themes: land (the transfer of land to the aristocracy, and the organisation of the great estates), power (the nature of power and its vitality), politics (the aims and strategies of the nobles), and society (kinship, the role of women, and piety).

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (August 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521524652
• ISBN-13: 978-0521524650
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,175,721 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent treatment of the Anglo-Norman nobility, October 31, 2001

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Aristocracy of Norman England (Hardcover)

When Bishop Ralph of the Orkneys was warming up the army which had assembled in Yorkshire in 1138 to face the invading Scots, he addressed them as "nobles of England, Norman by birth." And so, it has been argued, did the imposed aristocracy of England perceive itself -- but another faction of historians insist that the leading Norman families in the first century after the Conquest crossed the Channel frequently and saw themselves as subjects of an itinerant king. This is only one of the issues the author addresses in this generally successful and quite accessible attempt to reconstruct the ruling elite of Anglo-Norman England in many of its aspects. The surprising thing is that with a plethora of works on the Conquest itself, and many studies of individual noble families and specific monarchs, there has been no single work before this on the general development of the aristocracy of Norman England. Even with the limitations necessary in a single-volume monograph, she forms some interesting hypotheses about the relationship between the aristocracy and both the Crown and the Church, how the nobility got its wealth and how they spent it, the function of castle- and hall-building, the evolution of the newly-landed elite into a complete feudal system, and above all the nature of aristocratic power via kinship and marriage. She concentrates on the use of documentary sources rather than the literary evidence, which she feels has been over-used. The footnotes are voluminous and the bibliography is lengthy and very detailed.

5.0 out of 5 stars The ruling elite of England, August 25, 2011

By 

Sue Carter - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Aristocracy of Norman England (Paperback)

I purchased this book when searching for information on one of the followers of William I, Geoffrey de Mandeville, and have found myself returning to it again and again for information on others.Set out in areas of Conquest and Settlement, Wealth and Power, The Aristocracy and the Crown and Aristocratic Society, the book has proven to be invaluable in my research and I recommend it to anyone who finds themselves studying Norman England.