Norman England 1066-1204, Trevor Rowley (Shire Living Histories, Oxford and New York, 2010) 80pp., paperback, £8.99, U.S. $15.95, CAN $17.95, ISBN 978 0 74780 800 6.

This is a modest but useful contribution to the literature on Norman England.  It is No. 8 in the Shire Histories which aim to show how we worked, how we played and how we lived.  Scholars have of course debated for many years how the Norman Conquest changed English society, did it transform the Anglo-Saxon way of life or was there a considerable measure of continuity.  Trevor Rowley, formerly Deputy Director of Continuing Education for Oxford University and now Emeritus Fellow of Kellogg College, has already published on the period.  Here using a range of historical, archaeological and architectural source Rowley offers an authoritative and wide ranging assessment, showing that where at first the monarchy and the nobility were chiefly affected, change came to wider sections of society in the twelfth century. He explores in a fascinating way many aspects of life, from the church to the monastery, the castles to the smaller houses, the towns to the countryside.  Despite the inevitable compression the text is easily accessible and commendably illustrated with numerous pictures, many in full colour.

The sources are not particularly well given, though many are clearly from the Bodleian and there is a one-page index.  In addition there is a list of places to visit which is annotated informatively.  The volume is a bargain introduction to a crossroads in our history but no more than a brief introduction.