Product Description

This lively and far-reaching account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest provides a vivid picture of everyday existence, and increases our understanding of all aspects of medieval society. This was a period in which the ruling dynasty and military aristocracy were deeply enmeshed with the politics and culture of France. Professor Bartlett describes their conflicts, and their preoccupations - the sense of honour, the role of violence, and the glitter of tournament, heraldry, and Arthurian romance. He explores the mechanics of government; assesses the role of the Church at a time of radical developments in religious life and organization; and investigates the peasant economy, the foundation of this society, and the growing urban and commercial activity. There are colourful details of the everyday life of ordinary men and women, with their views on the past, on sexuality, on animals, on death, the undead, and the occult. The result is a fascinating and comprehensive portrayal of a period which begins with conquest and ends in assimilation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15883 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 808 pages

Continuity and Change
"Splendid ... this is a fine book which transports the reader into a different, strange world ... It deserves a wide readership and should stimulate renewed interest in this important period of English history"

Review
Splendid...this is a fine book which transports the reader into a different, strange world...It deserves a wide readership and should stimulate renewed interest in this important period of English history (Continuity and Change )

A great achievement. It tells central medieval history as it has not been told before (Continuity and Change )

Bartlett is adept at combining cultural, political and economic approaches, showing how these different lenses can disclose complementary and contradictory images of the past (Continuity and Change )

Continuity and Change
"Bartlett is adept at combining cultural, political and economic approaches, showing how these different lenses can disclose complementary and contradictory images of the past"

Customer Reviews

This is a really great book.
There are few history books that transport you back in the time like this book will. It does not give you a chronological list of events, instead studies the culture and people from the king to the people, their worldview and lifestyle. Wonderful!

Fantastic lecturer, amazing historian...
This book is an essential companion to any student studying the Norman or Angevin dynasty, or the period of history from 1066-1225. Robert Bartlett is Wardlaw Professor at St. Andrews University and anyone who has heard him lecture on this subject knows the sheer enormity of his personal knowledge and understanding. He writes with a glorious idiosyncratic brilliance so rare in the academic world, leaving a highly accesible book that thoroughly invokes the period.
If you're going to buy any book, buy this one. History doesn't get much more enticing than this.
I vote to promote Prof. Bartlett to a knighthood!

Too short at 750+ pages
Every now and then you come across a technical or academic book that is clear, concise and just beautifully written. This is such a book. One hundred and fifty years are covered at a cracking pace and I savoured each and every page. It's a large book at 750+ pages, but it left me wishing it had been twice as long.

Most books relating to this period cover who did what, to whom and when. Bartlett doesn't: he assumes if you're reading this book you already know, at least in outline, the events of the period. It does cover how people lived, worked, worshipped, swore, laughed and cried. It makes you feel that you understand what it would have been liked to have lived during the period.

The book is well structured and you can happily dip in here and there as your interest takes you.

One minor criticism is that there are many words and phrases which, it is plain from context, have a particular technical meaning that Bartlett doesn't explain. But with Google to hand that's just a minor irritation.

I just hope the rest of the series is as good.