Customer Reviews

Fulk Nerra, the Neo-Roman Consul 987-1040: A Political Biography of the Angevin Count

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The conquest of England by William of Normandy changed the island's political nature for all and good, but his dynasty didn't last very long. The Angevins, beginning with Henry II, had an almost equally great impact and their control continued more or less strongly for several centuries. In the earlier period, a century before the Conquest, the counts of Anjou were every bit the equals of the dukes of Normandy, eventually establishing an empire that stretched from Scotland to the Pyrenees, and which encompassed both England and Aquitaine in addition to Anjou itself. The story really begins with Fulk Nerra, who built the Angevin state, both physically and politically, and laid the essential groundwork for Henry's later conquests. Of course, Fulk's efforts were based on those of his own predecessors, back into the early 9th century, and Bachrach spends a fair amount of time discussing this ancestral power and its roots in the old Roman civitates. Bachrach is perhaps the leading present authority on the Angevins and his theories are worth paying attention to. There's also an excellent, lengthy bibliography.