The rulers of Normany performed a complex juggling act: starting from a pagan Norse military power base round Rouen, they built an accepted political entity within the boundaries of the Christian state their ancestors had invaded. Successfully reconciling Viking, Frankish and Breton elements within their realm, the Norman rulers created -one people out of the various races-, in the words of one eleventh-century writer. As part of that effort, they revived and reformed the monasteries in the region, enlisting the aid of prestigious abbots from reform centres beyond Normandy. By the early...