Product Description

Now in its fifth edition, this hugely successful text remains as vivid and readable as ever. Frank Barlow illuminates every aspect of the Anglo-Norman world, but the central appeal of the book continues to be its firm narrative structure. Here is a fascinating story compellingly told.

At the beginning of the period he shows us an England that is still, politically and culturally, on the fringe of the classical world. By the end of John’s reign, the new world that has emerged was in outlook, structure and character, recognisable as part of the modern age.

Incorporating the findings of the most recent scholarship in the field – much of it Barlow’s own – the fifth edition includes new material on the role of women in Anglo-Norman England.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #238345 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Review
 '...readable and scholarly, and goes very far to enable us to see the life of those times clearly and to see it as a whole.'  English Historical Review

From the Back Cover
Few books have weathered the test of time as well as Frank barlow's classic survey of late Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman England from the threshold of the Norman Conquest to the aftermath of Magna Carta.  And rightly so, for Professor Barlow is both the doyen of British Anglo-Norman scholars - a hugely influential figure who has left his stamp on a whole academic generation - and also one of medieval history's master communicators: The Feudal Kingdom of England (originally published as part of the History of England series under the General Editorship of the late W.N. Medlicott) remains as vivid and compellingly readable as ever in this handsome new Fifth Edition. One of the main reasons for that, as thousands of satisfied readers have attested, is the book's firm narrative structure.  For all the wealth of explanation and analysis on the way, Frank Barlow's main concern is to tell a story - the story of the comprehensive and momentous transformation of England across these crucial years. At the beginning of the period, he shows us an England that is still, politically and culturally, on the fringe of the classical world, its formal aspects recognisably Roman in inspiration, though inhabited by English and viking 'barbarians'.  Their world was to be changed in almost every respect by the extraordinary revolutions of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.  By the end of John's reign, the new world that had emerged, though still remote from our own time in certain respects, was nevertheless in outlook, structure and character recognisably a part of the modern age. This Fifth Edition, the first reworking of the text for a decade, has been revised, expanded, redesigned and reset.  It incorporates the findings of the most recent scholarship in the field - the new text, for instance, includes interesting material on the role of women in Anglo-Norman England.  Much of this recent activity is indeed Professor Barlow's own, for he has been notably busy himself since the Fourth Edition came out in 1988, having published two new volumes of the English Episcopal Acta, an edition of the charters of the bishops of Exeter 1046-1257, fresh versions of his standard biographies of Edward the Confessor and Thomas Becket (with William Rufus to follow shortly), contributed a number of articles on leading Anglo-Norman figures to the New Dictionary of National Biography, and completed a new edition and translation of Guy of Amiens' poem on the Battle of Hastings, the Carmen de Hastingae Proelio. This vigorous activity has left its mark throughout the latest version of The Feudal Kingdom of England, one of his earliest and favourite works.  The Fifth Edition comes up as fresh as paint: the legions of admirers of the book in its earlier versions will warmly welcome its latest incarnation; new readers are in for a treat. FRANK BARLOW is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter, and a Fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature.  He was awarded the CBE for services to medieval history in 1989. 

Customer Reviews

A thorough study of a forgotten time
Frank Barlow goes into considerable depth in this extensive book on the 11th th 13th centuries. Packed with details about all formf of life in that era but mainly concentrating on the rulers and their squabbles. I picked this book up without much more knowledge than knowing the names of the odd king or battle but I put it down with a great understanding of the times. At times I did find it hard going, especially when reading the descriptions of the land organisation but the rest of the time it flows along very nicely. At the back there are very handy maps and, especially, family trees that are essential for understanding the convulated politics that existed then.

Everything you always wanted to know about Norman Britain but were afraid to ask
I am jointly reviewing Frank Barlow's The Feudal Kingdom of England and Robert Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings. They deal with the same period, they are remarkably complementary, and I highly recommend reading them together.

Barlow's book, first published in 1955, takes a traditional approach and reviews the events of the Norman and early Angevin period chronologically. Bartlett's, benefiting from recent research, offers a more static but broader picture of the period's trends and features. To the newcomer (as I was) or, I think, to someone with basic knowledge of 12th century England, the combination will be as instructive as it is exciting to read.

The Feudal Kingdom of England recounts the main political events from the Norman invasion to the forced grant of the Magna Carta by king John. Barlow tells the drama of the conquest, the tales of dynastic intrigue, the blow-by-blow of three-sided feuding between king, church and baronage in sometimes gory, sometimes inspiring detail. Some stories simply need to be given chronologically, which Bartlett doesn't do: the manoeuvrings of William's sons, the dispute between Becket and Henry II, Richard's crusade and capture, the crafty king John's miserable reign. Though the narrative remains central to it, the book also contains chapters on aristocratic society, the church, and the English towns and countryside. In fact, it begins with an overview of England under Edward the Confessor which is invaluable for understanding change in post-invasion England.

Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings paints a multi-faceted panorama of 12th and early 13th century England. It is equally awesome in breadth and depth. And it is free of the typical fault of medieval history, in which 90% of space is devoted to the doings of 10% of the population. Bartlett devotes more than half his book to ordinary people's lives, urban and rural: their work, their habitat, their relationship to the lords, their money problems, their beliefs. He offers fascinating information on perceptions of the world, how the day was spent and divided, on marriage, manners and pastimes, even on sex. His section on culture and language isn't the boring recital one often finds, but is lively and relevant to the rest of the book. He describes the church at all levels, not just that of the bishopric, and from both the institutional and the spiritual perspective. He makes the best use of available data to discuss economic developments, themselves key to some of the period's political events (e.g. late 12th century inflation and the disasters of John's reign). And of course, Bartlett describes government and political patterns, only not in sequence.

These two books are complementary in other ways. Where Barlow tends to use original words, Bartlett prefers their more explicit equivalents (for example danegeld in one book is called a land tax in the other). If you only have time to read one, I would probably recommend The Feudal Kingdom of England, as it will leave you with the period's basic milestones. Still, it would be a shame to miss the fun of Bartlett's big canvas.