The Normans and the 'Norman Edge': Peoples, Polities and Identities on the Frontiers of Medieval Europe

ISBN-13: 9781472459787 / Angielski / Twarda / 2019 / 348 str.

Andrew Jotischky;Alex Metcalfe

Opis

This volume complements the one published in 2013 as Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts, and provides a European-wide treatment of the Norman diaspora and polities they established between the 10th and 12th centuries in France, the British Isles, southern Italy and the Levant. While providing strong links with the first volume, it offers at the same time a distinctive interpretative framework and new material. The Introduction lays out the nature of the Norman Edge project and its aims, and the approaches taken in the previous volume. It assesses the current state of the literature on 'Normanness' and Norman power-building, and shows how the book contributes to the development of such topics through innovative scholarship. Each chapter is informed by at least one of the following terms of reference: the nature of Norman power and rule; the extent to which Norman practices and priorities were distinctive; how far Norman elites retained their own specific culture and traditions; the relationship between such elites and the peoples they encountered; and the balance between continuity and change. The contributors, all notable experts in their field, also reflect on recent historiography as well as exploring new areas of scholarship. The essays in this volume, therefore, represent an informed combination of overview and recent research. No significant geographical area is ignored; the contributors often focus on more than a single region in order to develop illuminating comparative perspectives; and the specific themes addressed include state-making, identities and identification, acculturation, periphery-core relations, the role of castles, naming patterns, marriage policies and saints' cults.