David C. Douglas (1898–1982)

All I had really known about the Normans was that they were from Normandy, that they left castles all over the place in Europe, and that they conquered England in 1066. But there was a lot I didnn't know, such as, for example, the facts that, in addition to England, Norman invaders conquered and set up shop in Southern Italy (taking it from the Byzantine Empire) and Sicily (from the Saracens), all during the second half of the 11th century. The Norman leaders operated mostly independently of show more each other and sometimes took the time to fight wars against each other. In the conquering and subduing of new territories, they were as a rule savage, bloodthirsty, cruel and extremely acquisitive. But in the administering of their conquered land, they were generally relatively benign. Their politics helped restore the papacy to both political and religious authority after it had endured a very weak period, and they were instrumental both in gathering and leading the First Crusade and in causing the friction that led to the final break between Eastern and Western Christianity and brought about the eventual sacking of Constantinople by Western forces. There's more, but that, basically, is my report on the Normans. I found the information quite interesting, in a "fill in one more hole in my knowledge of Western history" kind of way. Douglas was, however (he died in 1982), a traditional, old school, academic historian, and his presentation here is pretty dry. This is not the sort of literary history writing that we've come to know and love more recently. There might be more entertaining accounts to be had on this subject by now, but still I'm glad I read this. show less

Douglas' work on the Conqueror is superb, but be warned that this is not a modern, popular biography--it covers the facts of William's life and his invasion of England only. Douglas does not go into detail on William's personality, personal relationships, etc. Douglas does cover every aspect of William's military and political strategy, as well as the conditions in Normandy and England that William was born into, in an interesting and clear way. He doesn't neglect the other periods and show more campaigns in the Conqueror's life in favor of the English invasion, either. The reader gets a balanced picture of William's achievements, as well as his disappointing military exploits in later life.

Personally, I found the chapters on the church the most boring and the military and political information most interesting, but that likely just shows where my interests in medieval history lie and doesn't reflect on the quality of the writing in the various chapters. You may find yourself skipping one chapter or another to get to the parts you're interested in. The good news is that Douglas gives you all the information you could possibly want in each section and separates those sections clearly so you know what you're getting into. I would recommend this to anyone interested in history who has the patience for something a little closer to a textbook than the kind of histories you find on best-seller lists. show less

A very well researched book, which not only focuses on the life of its subject, but also examines the military, administrative and ecclesiastical changes in Normandy and England under his rule. It does get a bit dry in places as it analyses some of these themes, but this is undoubtedly an impressive piece of objective scholarship.

A frankly pedestrian “scholarly” biography of William. The section on Norman political conditions prior to the invasion could stand as a textbook example, so to speak, of academic stodge. Be prepared to skip a large chunk in the middle, in order to find the interesting bits.