The Norman Conquest, Marc Morris, Windmill Books, 2013, 440 p.  Paperback £8.99. ISBN: 9780099537441

Marc Morris will be known to many from his appearances as a television historian and he was a very popular lecturer the recent Historical Association Conference at York. He been the main presenter on Castle but, in addition, he has written several well researched history books and this work on the Normans is of that same standard.

His starting point for one of the most memorable years in English history is the remarkable piece of evidence that is the Bayeux Tapestry. This has a wealth of detail, still in its original coloured silks, which is vital evidence for the historian. Its very survival over nearly a thousand years of conflicts and natural disasters is amazing in itself. It gives us a picture of life at the time of the Norman Conquest, including ordinary people, not just the leaders and far more than the events at Hastings. The author has also made good use of contemporary chronicles, but warns of the bias displayed in these documents. He has tried, where possible, to steer a middle course between those who consider that the Normans brought overdue law and order to a chaotic Saxon England and those who consider the Conquest to have been a disaster for a peaceful folk and the base for a class system of ‘us' and ‘them', as shown by the Feudal system, where the Normans were the rulers and the Saxons were the slaves.

He treats the Conquest as the fact it was and shows clearly how it came about. He follows the stories of the main protagonists before 1066 and afterwards. Careful source-based research is displayed in the writing, taking the reader through the main events which eventually saw William victorious and change English history. Unlike the Tapestry, which finishes with Harold's death at Hastings, the author explores the aftermath of the Conquest and takes the account to the death of William in 1087. The book is well illustrated, with useful photographs and maps. Many will feel that they already know the story of 1066 well, but Marc Morris has given us a good account, shedding light on many dark areas.