Campaigns of the Norman Conquest

Osprey Essential Histories #12

by Matthew Bennett

This book provides a full introduction to the Norman Conquest, an event which resulted in dramatic changes to the nation's aristocracy, church and administration. It brought a new language and cultural influences and revolutionised military architecture with the introduction of the castle. This profound impact was not brought about as the result of a single battle and it took a five-year war for William to establish control over his new kingdom. The campaigns are studied in detail, with maps showing how William's energy and strategic intelligence enabled him to defeat his formidable opponents and create a new order.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military History, Medieval, Medieval History, War

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2001

About the author

Matthew Bennett (b. 1954) is a historian specialising in Medieval warfare.

Reviews

[Michael Astfalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, it was such a fun read. While my prior knowledge of the Norman conquest and Medieval warfare helped, this book is a very accessible and comprehensive review of the Norman Conquest, definitely not a bad place to start for anyone interested in Medieval history.

[Brian Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual with Osprey titles, this was a compact look over the campaigns of William the Conqueror.
Good that it didn't just focus on the Hastings battle (see their Campaign Series #13 for that), but events before and after.
Even after Hastings, there was enough unrest and discontent to keep William running around the country, putting up forts and filling them with Normans.

A well written book that got the salient points over concisely.

[Henry Kline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much like the cutting of history down to concentrated nuggets. This was very clear and with pictures and maps for real detail.

[sienna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bread n butter for my history essay I fear

[Brian Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual with Osprey titles, this was a compact look over the campaigns of William the Conqueror.
Good that it didn't just focus on the Hastings battle (see their Campaign Series #13 for that), but events before and after.
Even after Hastings, there was enough unrest and discontent to keep William running around the country, putting up forts and filling them with Normans.

A well written book that got the salient points over concisely.

[Declan Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

On (almost) the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings this seemed an appropriate read. Concentrating on the after-effects on the Norman conquest in the immediate to the the long term.

Whilst - as an Osprey book - this concentrates on military history there is a lot of information on the non-military background and 'post-Hastings'.

Well written, good pacing, and very easy to read whilst picking up new information about events I didn't know despite it's impact on the current UK.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, richly detailed and involves lots of historical anecdotal remarks.