The Normans

R. Allen Brown's, The Normans, is an average introduction for students (or others just beginning to study the period) or in my case, a short afternoon read to brush up on this fascinating group of people. The Normans were Vikings who settled in Northern France (Normandy) in 911 when they were granted land by King Charles the Simple who hoped that by settling his once enemies they would defend their land against other aggressors. What most people do not know is that within 90 years of settling the Normans begin their invasion of Sicily and Southern Italy and only 66 years later that they invaded and conquered England. Brown points out very well the differences between the two conquests (the one in Sicily was slow and gradual while the conquest of England only took a battle (and a showdown at London) and a few years of suppressing revolts by the Godwins and others and putting huge areas to the torch in York). He tries to explain (although without much force) how the Normans "changed" from Viking settlers to "courtly" Normans and the advent of "feudalism" in the Norman state. Thankfully, Brown frequently refers to the primary sources, Oderic Vitalis, Aime of Montecassiono, etc that his facts come from, although, Brown is really not making any new assumptions to the field other than listing how the Normans are important people. By far the most revealing part of this volume is his section on the Normans in Sicily for it is infrequent to include the Conquest of England and the Conquest of Sicily in the same volume. The Conquest of Sicily is one of the mostly ignored endeavors of the Norman Dukes. Brown also briefly describes the Norman participation in the Crusades and the unique position of the Norman Church. The main pros of this volume include the amount of primary source reference, ample maps, and pertinent illustrations to keep the reader interested. All in all, this is a very good broad introduction to this subject. The books main flaw is simply the lack of detailed and new information.