The seven very satisfying essays of this collection offer detailed analysis of sources and stories connected to players in the 1204 English loss of Normandy to France. Among the essays, David Carpenter (King's College, U. of London) presents an innovative analysis of the royal charters from the reign of King John; Daniel Power (Swansea U.) writes a political biography of a Norman seneschal; Marie Lovatt (Wolfson College, Cambridge) writes engagingly on the circumstances, evidence, and ramifications of the illegitimate status of Geoffrey Plantagenet (later Archbishop of York), including the evidence for Rosamund Clifford as his mother. In these and the remaining essays, themes of shared Anglo-Norman history and sources are prominent. The papers were presented in earlier form at a 2004 conference at the Public Record Office in Kew, the UK. The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The major theme of this volume is the records of the Anglo-Norman realm, and how they are used separately and in combination to construct the history of England and Normandy. The essays cover all types of written source material, including private charters and the official records of the chancery and Exchequer, chronicles, and personal sources such as letters, while some 100 previously unpublished documents are included in a series of appendices. There are studies here of particular Anglo-Normans, including a great aristocrat and a seneschal of Normandy; of records relating to Normandy surviving in England; of the Norman and English Exchequers, between them the financial mainstay of the king/dukes; of the controversial origins of the English Chancery records; and of Rosamund Clifford, the King's mistress. CONTRIBUTORS: NICHOLAS VINCENT, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVID CROOK, MARK HAGGER, DAVID CROUCH, MARIE LOVATT, DANIEL POWER.
The official records of England are the focus of this volume - their origin, their use, and what they reveal of the time.