The Norman Heritage

1055-1200

By Trevor Rowley

1983

First Published

3.33

Average Rating

222

Number of Pages

6H46M

Audio Length

Part of Series

The Making of Britain

Series · 5 books

By Michael Reed, Michael A. Reed, Trevor Rowley, and more

Originally published in 1983, The Norman Heritage looks at the Norman Conquest as a turning point in English history. The book argues that not only was this the last time that England was successfully invaded, but it followed a complete change in the ruling dynasty, the introduction of military feudalism, the reform of the church and the rapid spread of monasticism. The book suggests that such social and political changes were accompanied by dramatic architectural and topographical developments. Frenzied building activity resulted in the construction of cathedrals, churches, monasteries and castles and stone was used on a scale unknown since the end of the Roman Empire. The Norman desire to exercise regional political control and to simulate trade resulted in a rash of newly planned towns across the country. In many more subtle ways, Anglo-Saxon landscape was altered and modified by Norman coercion and influence. Through their energy and administrative ability, the Normans transformed the face of town and country alike, and this book traces the impact of the Norman Conquest upon the British scene, through both a historical narrative, surviving structural remains of buildings and the patterns of settlements, communications and land use that developed during this period.

Avg Rating

3.33

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

17%

4 STARS

17%

3 STARS

50%

2 STARS

17%

1 STARS

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Author

Trevor Rowley

Author · 6 books

Trevor Rowley is Dean of Degrees and an Emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, University of Oxford, England. Trevor Rowley was educated at University College, London and Linacre College, Oxford. Although originally trained as a geographer, he moved his academic interests into landscape history and archaeology and promoted a flourishing programme of teaching, fieldwork, research and publication in these areas based in the Department for Continuing Education. He was for several years Honorary Secretary of the Council for British Archaeology and was a founding member of the Professional Institute of Field Archaeologists. He was closely involved with Rescue excavation, directing work along the line of the M40, in Dorchester on Thames and on Thames Valley gravel sites. For many years he directed a training excavation for continuing education students at Middleton Stoney in Oxfordshire. He was appointed Staff Tutor in Archaeology and Local Studies in the Department for Continuing Education (then the Delegacy for Extra-Mural Studies) in 1969, and until his retirement in September 2000 was the longest serving academic in Rewley House. In 1990 he was appointed Director of Public Programmes; he was twice Acting Director of the department. In addition to directing Public Programmes for over a decade he directed the Oxford-Florida Programme at Christ Church and established a national professional archaeology programme based at Rewley House. As Director of Public Programmes he was responsible for significant expansion of the Public Programme. He was a founding Fellow of Kellogg College and was Senior Tutor in 1993/4 and Vice President in 1994/5. He continues to teach regularly for OUDCE’s weekly class and certificate programme and summer schools as well as for Stanford in Oxford. He is the external examiner for the Historic Landscape Studies programme at the University of Wales Newport and is also a Vice-President of the Oxford Architectural and Historical Society. He has published extensively and his books include: The Shropshire Landscape( 1972); Landscape Archaeology (1974) with M. Aston; Villages in the Landscape (1978); The High Middle Ages (1984); The Landscape of the Welsh Marches (1986); Norman England (1997); The Normans (1999) and The 20th Century English Landscape (2006). He is currently working on A History of Oxford for Carnegie Publishing and a number of other major landscape history initiatives.