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: #187570 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!

An exceptional study of England in the high Middle Ages
Robert Bartlett's contribution to the New Oxford History of England series is about a kingdom in transition. In 1075, England was a newly conquered realm of William of Normandy, who was transforming the sleepy monarchy of the Anglo-Saxons into a powerful feudal state. A century and a half later, his great-great-great grandson, Henry III, issued a modified Magna Charta that served as the foundation of English common law, establishing the right of the English aristocracy against the king. How this evolution took place forms just one aspect of this exceptional book, which addresses nearly every aspect of England's politics, culture, and society during this period.

In doing this, Bartlett adopts an analytical rather than narrative approach. Events are studied within the context of the broader patterns and developments of the era. This makes for a more challenging read but also a much more rewarding one, with insights contained on every page. Readers unfamiliar with the period should start with a survey such as David Carpenter's The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 (The Penguin History of Britain), but even knowledgeable students of the period will learn much from Bartlett's clear writing and perceptive analysis.