Book
The Norman Conquest
First published 2012
Marc Morris gives a full narrative of the succession crisis that followed Edward the Confessor’s death and the competing claims advanced by Harold Godwinson, Harald Hardrada, Edgar Ætheling and William of Normandy. The campaigns of 1066 culminate at Stamford Bridge and Hastings, but Morris stresses that William’s coronation marked the beginning rather than the completion of the conquest.
The book follows years of rebellion, Danish intervention, punitive destruction in the north, resistance in the Fens and the steady spread of Norman castles. It explains how confiscation replaced the English aristocracy, how bishops and abbots were changed, and how royal government adapted existing English institutions to new purposes. Domesday Book, cross-Channel lordship, language and architecture reveal the conquest’s long consequences, while the continuing violence exposes the human cost of creating Anglo-Norman England.
Historical Periods
Genres
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Battle of Stamford Bridge
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Battle of Hastings
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More from this period
4 more top-rated novels about Harrying of the North
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Medieval England after the Norman Conquest
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
Discover more
Authors similar to Marc Morris
Recommended from shared genres and periods.
Dan Jones
4 books
Michael Livingston
4 books
Tracy Borman
4 books
Charles Spencer
Alison Weir
35 books