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The Norman Conquest
- The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England
- Narrated by: Frazer Douglas
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
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The Norman Conquest
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Summary
A riveting and authoritative history of the single most important event in English history: The Norman Conquest.
An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful and unified kingdom in Christendom. An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans. One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles ever fought.
This new history explains why the Norman Conquest was the most significant cultural and military episode in English history. Assessing the original evidence at every turn, Marc Morris goes beyond the familiar outline to explain why England was at once so powerful and yet so vulnerable to William the Conqueror’s attack; why the Normans, in some respects less sophisticated, possessed the military cutting edge; how William’s hopes of a united Anglo-Norman realm unraveled, dashed by English rebellions, Viking invasions, and the insatiable demands of his fellow conquerors.
This is a tale of powerful drama, repression, and seismic social change: the Battle of Hastings itself; the sudden introduction of castles and the massive rebuilding of every major church; the total destruction of an ancient ruling class. Language, law, architecture, and even attitudes toward life itself were altered forever by the coming of the Normans.
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Editor reviews
Historian Marc Morris presents an enjoyable and modern account of the Norman invasion that created the foundation for the English nation. Beginning with the Saxon kings and the constant conflicts besetting England as she fell prey to both Vikings and Normans, Morris lays bare the intrigues and betrayals that marked the Anglo-Saxons' rule. With his silken voice and impeccable timing, narrator Frazer Douglas recounts these events with great familiarity and relish. Morris sets the stage for William the Conqueror's invasion and shows how his hopes for a united Anglo-Norman realm were dashed by rebellions, Viking invasions, and the demands of his fellow conquerors. Listeners will be entertained by this rambunctious look at the most important period of English history.
What listeners say about The Norman Conquest
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mark Holmes
- 11-11-13
Thorough and entertaining
Would you consider the audio edition of The Norman Conquest to be better than the print version?
This is an excellent overview of the Norman Conquest, from it's pre-history in the early 11th Century to it's lasting legacy through British History. Morris will be criticised for being pro-Norman, but he does illustrate quite convincingly that Harold's claim to the throne was less than dubious. He's certainly no Norman apologist when it comes to the Harrying of the North and their ruthless political (if not literal) decapitation of the Saxon nobility.
What Morris does manage to do is to incorporate the source material effectively into the narrative. As such, he provides an insight into the way that Historian's handle the contemporaneous accounts of the Conquest whilst turning their author's into characters in their own right.
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
Frazer Douglas' reading is slightly odd. He has a tendency to ponderous hesitancy and some of his pronunciation of place names is irritating (his rendering of Ely, the Cambridgeshire town, as EE-LIE rather than EE-LEE was particularly poor). Also, his adoption of a 'posh vicar' voice when quoting from the original source material grated after a while.
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13 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Antony
- 09-12-15
Great book but an odd narration style
Where does The Norman Conquest rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
The content was excellent, very well researched and presented the sources at much more than their face value. The critical evaluation of the evidence really added a lot to this book.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Edmund Ironside, the evidence suggests that he was a brave and strong leader but the hand he was dealt was spectacularly unlucky
What didn’t you like about Frazer Douglas’s performance?
The intonations were all wrong, giving the emphasis in the wrong places. He also paused mid-sentence and then resumed as if he were starting a new sentence. Some of the names and words were pronounced in a strange way. It took some getting used to at first but this did not detract from the excellent content.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No real emotional reaction just a series of "what if" pontifications
Any additional comments?
Great book, I'll seek out more by the same author
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 20-06-20
Most annoying, reader ever
Odd pauses, mid-sentence along with horrible mispronunciations of some names made this a disappointing listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lauren of Normandy
- 22-05-17
gripping!
was gripped. found it hard to leave it when I had to do everyday things.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Keith
- 16-06-18
Really engrossing story/narrative
Really engrossing narrative of this transformational period of history. May well change your preconceptions. It did mine.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MC
- 21-09-18
Let down by the narration
Over all the story of the build up to the Norman Conquest and its aftermath is a fascinating one, and the book is excellent for this, this audiobook is let down by failures of the narrator to pronounce even quite simple places correctly. In one chapter vineyard and Cymru were not pronounced correctly, following on from Caen, Rhuddlan, and Grufydd ap Llewelyn,
This throws the listener out of the narrative too often.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sean
- 09-08-21
An excellent summary
Great book, deliving into the sources and reviewing the Norman invasion in an engaging way. Where is Eli though?
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 14-08-21
A great story poorly told
A well written history of the Norman conquest, ruined by the narrator, who cannot pronounce well known names and place names.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- A. H. John
- 21-11-21
Let down by halting narration
Well researched history. Sound on the detail. Lacking in excitement so feels a little dry. Narrator has a halting style adding pauses in the middle of sentences where they don't belong. Very poor pronunciation of Welsh names and place names. Narration is otherwise clear and coherent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Phil Wain
- 10-11-21
Detailed
Lots of details and covers the whole period so you have a full picture. I have read books on the conquest so expected it to focus a lot on the battle of Hastings but that is not the main part of the book which doesn’t harm it.
Enjoyed listening but at times it seemed to jump in playback.
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