Medieval fiction: The Norman Conquest (Norman England 1066–1133)

Bell214: Historical fiction set in the Middle Ages (5th–15th century): The Norman Conquest (Norman England 1066–1133)

The medieval Normans were Norsemen who originally settled in northern coastal France. At the Battle of Hastings (1066), invaders from Normandy conquered England and, for the first half of medieval period, a Norman French elite ruled an Anglo–Saxon majority.

William of Normandy became king of England on winning the Battle of Hastings in 1066. A leader in the Saxon uprisings that followed was Hereward, said to have made his base on the Isle of Ely, surrounded by treacherous marshes.


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Bell214: Saxon resentment of the Norman aristocracy was behind the legend of Robin Hood, a Saxon outlaw said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. (Many Robin Hood tales are set during the reigns of Richard the Lionheart and/or King John).
(See: Shadows of Sherwood: Robin Hood in fiction)

Bell214: Another popular legend was Lady Godiva’s nude horseback ride through Coventry to force her husband to remit an oppressive tax. Godiva, or Godgifu, was a real woman, the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, although no documents of her time allude to the legend.

Bell214: The next king, William Rufus, died in a hunting accident on 2 August, 1100. Because 2 August was celebrated as Lughnasa by the pagan Celts, some have speculated he was killed as a pagan sacrifice. His brother Henry succeeded him. Henry’s will named his daughter Matilda (or Maud) to succeed him, but his nephew Stephen of Blois claimed the throne, causing a civil war that ended only when the dying Stephen named Matilda’s son Henry as his successor. Henry II became the first Plantagenet king. (See: The Angevins)

Bell214: During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, mercenary soldiers from Normandy migrated to southern Italy and Sicily, gradually displacing the Muslim Saracens who had ruled there during the tenth century. (See: Medieval Sicily: Norman Italy and Sicily (11th–13th century.)

See also: Medieval fiction: Anglo–Saxon England from Alfred the Great to the Norman invasion (Club: Historical Novels Fans )

Bell214: Read more (non–fiction):
1. William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England (English Monarchs) (1967) by David C. Douglas
2. 1066: The Year of the Conquest (1981) by David Howarth
3. Harold: The Last Anglo–Saxon King (1997) by Ian W. Walker (Re–issued 2004)
4. 1066: Year Of Three Battles (1999) by Frank McLynn
5. The Godwins: The Rise and Fall of a Noble Dynasty (2003) by Frank Barlow
6. 1066: The Battles of York, Stamford Bridge and Hastings (Battleground Britain) (2004) by Peter Marren
7. William the Conqueror (2004) by David Bates
8. Brief History of the Normans (2008) by Francois Neveux

Bell214: Selected novels:

I. The Norman Conquest (Battle of Hastings, the reign of Willliam the Conqueror (1066–1087), Hereward…) and Henry I Beauclerc

● Harold, The Last of the Saxon Kings (1848) by Edward Bulwer–Lytton

● Hereward, the Last of the English (1866) by Charles Kingsley

● The Conqueror (1931) by Georgette Heyer

● The Fourteenth of October (1952) by Bryher (pseudonym of Annie Winifred Ellerman)

● The Last Englishman: The Story of Hereward the Wake (1952) by Hebe Weenolsen

● The Golden Warrior: The Story of Harold and William (1962) by Hope Muntz

● The Firedrake (1966) by Cecelia Holland

● This January Tale (1966) by Bryher

● The Norman Trilogy by Jean Plaidy:
1. The Bastard King (1974)
2. The Lion of Justice (1975)
3. The Passionate Enemies (1976)

● A Memory of Lions (1976) by Parke Godwin

Bell214: ● Norman series by Valerie Anand:
1. Gildenford (1977)
2. The Norman Pretender (1979)
3. The Disputed Crown (1982)

● The Wind From Hastings (1978) by Morgan Llywelyn

● William the Conqueror (1983) by John Wingate

● Warriors of the Dragon Gold (1987) by Ray Bryant

● Jackals in Iron (1988) by Merlin Douglas Larsen

● Odo’s Hanging (1993) by Peter Benson

● Domesday series (1993–2000) by Edward Marston
(Mysteries set during the reign of William I) (See: Medieval Mysteries)

● When Christ and His Saints Slept (1994) by Sharon Kay Penman (The first book in the Eleanor of Aquitaine series) (See: The Angevins)

● The Conquest (1996) by Elizabeth Chadwick

● The Last English King (1997) by Julian Rathbone

● Lord of Sunset (1998) by Parke Godwin

● Sir Geoffrey Mappestone medieval mystery series by Simon Beaufort
(Mysteries set during the reign of Henry I Beauclerc. See: Medieval Mysteries)

● Harold the King (2000) by Helen Hollick (also titled I am the Chosen King, 2011)
(See: Club: Historical Novels Fans )

Bell214: ● Housecarl (2001) by Laurence J. Brown

● Godiva and the Golden Dragon (2001) by Steven James

● To Catch and Conquer (2001) by Aileen Armitage
(originally published 1973 as King Bastard under the name Aileen Quigley)

● Interim King series by J. Colman McMillan:
1. The Interim King: Of Dukes and Earls (2003)
2. The Interim King: Of Kings and Conquerors (2003)

● Cold Heart, Cruel Hand: A Novel of Hereward the Wake and the Rebellion of 1070–71 (2004) by Laurence J. Brown

● The Needle in the Blood (2007) by Sarah Bower

● Shepherd Warrior (2007) by David T. Peckham

● The Legend of Hereward (2007) by Mike Ripley

● The Healer (2008) by John Wright

● 1066 Knight Haralde (2010) by John Wright (sequel to The Healer)

Bell214: ● Brainbiter: The Saga of Hereward the Wake (2009) by Jack Ogden

● The Outlaw Chronicles: Outlaw (2009), Holy Warrior (2010), King’s Man (2011), Warlord (Coming July 2012) by Angus Donald
(See: Shadows of Sherwood: Robin Hood in fiction)

● The Sacred Stone (2010) by The Medieval Murderers (five interlinked mysteries beginning in 1067) (See: The Medieval Murders)

● 1066 A Year of Swords (2010) by Geoffrey E. Gibbons

● Sworn Sword (2011) by James Aitcheson

● Matilda: Queen of the Conqueror (2011) by Tracy Borman

● Making of England Trilogy by Stewart Binns: Conquest (2011), Crusade (2012)

● Hereward Series by James Wilde: Hereward (2011), The Devil’s Army (2012)

Bell214: *****

Bell214: II. The Reign of William II Rufus 1087–1100

● The Paladin (1972) by George Shipway

● The Wolf Time (1973) by George Shipway (sequel to The Paladin)

● Flambard’s Confession (1984) by Marilyn Durham

● King of the Wood (1989) by Valerie Anand

● The King’s Arrow (2008) by Michael Cadnum)

Bell214: *****

Bell214: III. The Anarchy: The Wars between Stephen and Matilda (1135–1153)

● Knight in Anarchy (1969) by George Shipway

● Norman Kings Trilogy by Juliet Dymoke:
1. Of the Kings and Earls (1970)
2. Henry of the High Rock (1971)
3. The Lion’s Legacy (1974)

● The Earl (1971) by Cecelia Holland (titled Hammer for Princes in the U.K.)

● The Oath and the Sword (1972) by Graham Shelby
(titled The Villains of the Piece in the U.K.)

● Cadfael Series (1977–1994) by Ellis Peters
(Mysteries set during the wars between Stephen and Matilda. See: Medieval Mysteries)

● Godric (1980) by Frederick Buechner

● The Pillars of the Earth (1989) by Ken Follett

● The Forgotten Queen (1998) by Haley Elizabeth Garwood

● Medieval series by Joan Wolf:
1. No Dark Place (1999)
2. The Poisoned Serpent (2000)
(Mysteries set during the wars between Stephen and Matilda. See: Medieval Mysteries)

● The Templar Magician (2009) by Paul Doherty
(See: The Knights Templar: Most Powerful Military Order of the Crusades)

Bell214: More novels:
1. http://www.thehwa.co.uk
2. http://www.historicalnovels.info/Medieval-Normans.html