The Normans

The Normans developed from a band of unruly, marauding Vikings into a formidable warrior force who conquered England in 1066. Historian Robert Bartlett explains how the Normans transformed into an unstoppable band of Christian knights, whose legacy surrounds us to this day and explores how they established order and obedience through brutal means and oppressive tactics.

The impact of the ruthless Norman conquest of Britain is still being felt today. Historian Robert Bartlett shows how the conquerors imposed a new aristocracy and savagely cut down opposition to intimidate and control. England was forced to adapt to its new masters and both the language and culture were transformed, creating a blueprint for colonialism in the modern world.

The Normans brutal expansion plans eventually won control of southern Italy. There they created a prosperous kingdom where Christianity and Islam co-existed in relative harmony. But events in the Middle East provoked the more aggressive side of the Norman character. As historian Robert Bartlett explains, this bloody encounter left a deep religious rift which is still being felt today.

The Domesday Book was the first great national survey of England, a record of who owned every piece of land and property. It also recorded the traumatic impact of the Norman conquest on Anglo-Saxon England, the greatest social and political upheaval in the country's history. Historian Stephen Baxter reveals the human and political drama that lies within England's earliest surviving public record.