Empires of the Normans

Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia

By: Levi Roach

Narrated by: Luke Thompson

A brilliant global history of the Normans, who—beyond the conquest of England—spread their empire to eventually dominate Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East

14 October 1066.

As Harold II, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, lay dying in Sussex, the Duke of Normandy was celebrating an unlikely victory. William “The Bastard” had emerged from interloper to successor of the Norman throne. He had survived the carnage of the Battle of Hastings and, two months later on Christmas day, he would be crowned king of England. No longer would Anglo-Saxons or Vikings rule England; this was now the age of the Normans.

A momentous event in European history, the defeat of the Anglo-Saxons had the most dramatic effect of any defeat in the high Middle Ages. In a few short months, the leader of northern France became the dominant ruler of Britain. Over the coming decades, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom would be rebuilt around a new landowning class. During the next century, as the Norman kings laid the foundations of modern Britain, their power would spread irresistibly across Europe. From Scandinavia down to Sicily, Malta, and Seville, the Normans built magnificent castles and churches. They created a new Europe in the image of their own nobility, recording their power with unprecedented vision, including the Domesday Book.

Empire of the Normans tells the extraordinary story of how the descendants of Viking marauders in northern France came to dominate European, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern politics. It is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce pirates, of fortunes made and fortunes lost. Across the generations, the Normans made their influence felt across Western Europe and the Mediterranean, from the British Isles to North Africa, and even to the Holy Land, with a combination of military might, political savvy, deeply held religious beliefs, and a profound sense of their own destiny.

©2022 Levi Roach (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Great story and great reading

This book was enjoyable because it broke done the complex world the Normans made into edible bits. The Normans were everywhere and nowhere in Europe and the Mediterranean but the author deftly showed how they made their mark on their world and even ours. The reading was very good as well. It strongly supported the story of the author.

pretty good

has your typical modern biases, anti-crusade, anti-christian, etc...despite that, it was still mostly good info and enjoyable listen.

disappointing

I was very excited for this. Considering the outsized role Normandy played in medieval history, I was expecting to learn a lot. I know nothing about the history of medieval Normandy and am only vaguely aware that there were Normans in Sicily.

Unfortunately, most of the book focuses on the parts most familiar (William and the Norman invasion of England) and rather less on the rest. Not nearly enough on Normandy itself and it's contemporary history, minimal on the Mediterranean campaigns.

The timeline also made it challenging to follow, bouncing between jumping back and forth through time.

It argued that the Normans were unique because they were everywhere, but never explained what tied them together. It argued that the Normans spoke French and were therefore just like the rest of "Continental Europe". It never investigated why Normans and not the Angevins or anyone else in that region of France was conquering half of Europe - especially after arguing that Normandy was just like the rest of Northern France!

If you don't have a general history of the Norman invasion, then it's probably worth it. But if you came to this book for a deeper dive, then I'd leave it alone.