Product Description

This book, a revised and extended version of Professor Davies's 1988 Wiles Lectures, explores the ways in which the kings and aristocracy of England sought to extend their domination over Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It analyses the mentalities of domination and subjection - how the English explained and justified their pretensions and how native rulers and societies in Ireland and Wales responded to the challenge. It also explains how the English monarchy came to claim and exercise a measure of ‘imperial’ control over the whole of the British Isles by the end of the thirteenth century, converting a loose domination into sustained political and governmental control. This is a study of the story of the Anglo-Norman and English domination of the British Isles in the round. Hitherto historians have tended to concentrate on the story in each country - Ireland, Scotland and Wales - individually. This book looks at the issue comparatively, in order to highlight the comparisons and contrasts in the strategies of domination and in the responses of native societies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #611758 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 156 pages

Customer Reviews

Stimulating
This book evolved out of a series of lectures and it shows, but in a good sense. The text is very vibrant and vivid. You can feel the interest that Professor Davies has in his subject, and it is a wonderful introduction to medieval Wales in particular, and the rather new issue of interrelations between England and the other nations in the British Isles, taken as a whole rather than individually. He examines what the experiences of Wales, Ireland, and to some extent Scotland, were when faced with an expanding English power. This is one of the best books on the medieval period that I have read for a while, and I highly recommend it!

Enlightening
This book gives a real insight into the ways that the Norman/English Kings began to colonize Wales, Ireland and Scotland. The author strives to point out that military conquest was not the only form of domination. A must for anyone with an interest in British Medieval History.