Another Digression

Not content with “off piste” in my last post I am looking at books in this post. The thread of wargaming is still there and my current painting enthusiasm waxes and wains around what I am reading.

To sustain a period of painting I need the books to back it up. Until recently the Normans had been a period admired from a distance but avoided. My interests at best for the years 500-1200AD were mostly Byzantine. One of my favourite authors has been John Julius Norwich. He wrote Normans in Sicily many years ago and it is still recommended reading. This book had always been on the edge of my reading list not least because the Mediterranean Normans appear in other books by John Julius Norwich – notably the Middle Sea.

So my interest kept returning to Southern Italy and this period. It was not a large step to head north to Normandy and then England. I have begun to read more about the Normans in England. Previously I had just given a nod to Hastings.

A visit to Sicily furthered my interests. The multi ethnic multi religious nature of the Normans in Sicily seems unique for the period. Then a speculative purchase found in a discount bookstore got me reading about the Normans in a broader context.

“A brief History of the Normans: The conquest that changed the face of Europe by Francois Neveux caught me eye. Francois being Professor of History at Caen University was well placed to talk about the people of that area.

Published by the Little Brown Book Group in 2005 ISBN10 – 1845295234.

The book starts well before the Normans could even claim Normandy. And in this sense I enjoyed this particular book linking as it did the Carolingian era to that of Normandy and the rise of France.

In fact the chapters before Hastings were a mine of information and written in a way that kept me turning the pages rapidly. Somehow after that the story line lost its edge although it was still an enjoyable read.

My next foray into the period was on the Saxon side. Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II Ironside, the potential heir returning to England in August 1057 was killed within 2 days of his landing. Its author Gabriel Ronay made the pre-Hastings era an interesting and broader story than simply Harold versus William.

Both these books offer a more European perspective of the English problem of succession.

And then I picked up Marc Morris’s Norman Conquest. I hoped I would enjoy his story and I have not been disappointed. Suitably detailed, the narrative moves along quickly without becoming superficial.

The James Aitcheson Trilogy of historic fiction I found by pure accident. I picked up the second part in a charity shop and then bought the first book on kindle.

Not a great fan of historic fiction stories the trilogy covers a rather overlooked period post invasion. The author reveals his historian first author second character. Some good observation of the period makes the story settings believable and engaging. The whole story line though is incredulous – hang on this is fiction though – and the main characters move around a bit too easily. The very modern conversation style mixed with using old Saxon and Welsh place names did not really work for me.

Given these fiction books are the first ones I have finished in a long time thats a compliment. And at least the cover picture is of the period – too many historical books having sloppy front covers simply then disappoints me on reading as well.

Right now I am reading some modern travelogue – fingers crossed my Norman painting does not dry up.