The Normans

From Raiders to Kings

By: Lars Brownworth

Narrated by: James C. Lewis

Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

There is much more to the Norman story than the Battle of Hastings. These descendants of the Vikings who settled in France, England, and Italy - but were not strictly French, English, or Italian - played a large role in creating the modern world. They were the success story of the Middle Ages: a footloose band of individual adventurers who transformed the face of medieval Europe. During the course of two centuries, they launched a series of extraordinary conquests, carving out kingdoms from the North Sea to the North African coast.

In The Normans, Lars Brownworth follows their story, from the first shock of a Viking raid on an Irish monastery to the exile of the last Norman Prince of Antioch. In the process, he brings to vivid life the Norman tapestry's rich cast of characters: figures like Rollo the Walker, William Iron-Arm, Tancred the Monkey King, and Robert Guiscard. The Normans presents a fascinating glimpse of a time when a group of restless adventurers had the world at their fingertips.

©2014 Lars Brownworth (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Lars Brownworth's The Normans is like a gallop through the Middle Ages on a fast warhorse. It is rare to find an author who takes on a subject so broad and so complex, while delivering a book that is both fast-paced and readable." (Bill Yenne, author of Julius Caesar)

Norsemen in Palermo

In the nutshell: Normans were Vikings invited to settle in Northern France by a French king, who thought giving them land was preferable to battling them or bribing them. Once settled in Normandy they perfected new military techniques, particularly use of heavy cavalry. Innovation, military success, discipline, love of combat, and thirst for wealth drove them to invade Britain in 1066. Nearly everyone knows about that. The book pays but passing attention to William the Conqueror. Its focus is the de Hauteville family, composed of brothers from a minor Norman clan who had great ambition and shrewdness. The de Hautevilles boys had "it" the way some families do for a time. Since William the Bastard owned England the brothers looked for other opportunities. They sailed to Sicily and Southern Italy. Authority there was in turmoil and possession of wealth was unstable. The area set at a juncture of grand political spheres: Byzantium, Muslim Arabia, the Vatican (which raised soldiers), and Germany (whose armies repeatedly invaded it by coming over the Alps). Sicily in particular was a gem. It had fertile soil and buzzed with trade going to and from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The Crusades made Sicily a fortune. The de Hautevilles conquered the island along with the heel of southern Italy; for two hundred years they stayed its dominant regents. They ducked going on Crusade but sold supplies to Crusaders, worked trade lines between Europe and the Mediterranean, and rented their ships to men sallying forth to Jerusalem. They captured the Pope a couple of times, defeated invaders, put down multiple rebellions, married into European aristocracy, and gave Sicily the most prosperous decades it had had for centuries—albeit ruling with an iron hand. The text details southern Normans fending off foreign hosts while waging internecine fights; interestingly, family winners were most often talented individuals. Two centuries later, however, whatever was bold and compelling in the personality of de Hautevilles leaked out and evaporated, so their regime fell. The Normans is worth listening to. It fills a knowledge gap for most of us history buffs with stories about remarkable personalities.

Far From Hastings (aka the OTHER Normans)

Surprise! This book is a history of the Normans who headed south - FAR south, into the Mediterranean region. I found it difficult to decide after listening whether they were bad news or good news in the long run for the countries and peoples they conquered and ruled. They appear to have implemented semi benevolent policies for their victims/subjects. However, they shared a fatal disposition to fight amongst themselves which caused great misery for everyone in their orbits. I purchased the book thinking it was about William the Conqueror's forefathers and foremothers. While I was startled to find little about that subject, I was entertained and enlightened by learning about something I had not intended to, and about which I knew nothing. I gave the "story" only three stars because I found patches of the narrative confusing and disjointed.

Interesting Book

Before reading this book, my knowledge of the Normans was primarily centered on William the Conqueror's conquest of England and the pivotal change that brought about to the history of Europe and eventually how that impact was manifested in the development of the new world. This books does go into detail on that but the vast preponderance of the book focuses on the other side of the Norman World - southern Italy and Sicily.

I did not realize how entangled Norman history was in the development of the Mediterranean world - and for the most part how a somewhat obscure Norman Knight's many sons played such a role in Italy, Germany, the Byzantine Empire, North Africa and the Levant. This side of the Norman empire lasted far shorter but the effects may have been even more far reaching. The perpetual wars, from Crusades, wars with the Pope, the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantines probably did as much to weaken Byzantium as did the Ottomans.

The book was interesting, I found the narration to be average.

great material, poor execution

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not recommend this, though a big fan of Euro history. The writing sounded at times like written for a k-12 text book. The read was poor, which made it even less desirable. I tried to get through it because I'm fascinated by the period, but couldn't get over the shortcomings.

Loved it!

This is a great book. It may well be the most interesting history book I've ever listened to. Perhaps it is down to the narration which is excellent and should be a study for other narrators on how to express the emotion and character of the events that are being described. It's more like a friend recounting an epic adventure from the weekend than a dry statement of facts and happenings.

Just a great listen.

I'll be curious to get some other perspectives on the topic but this was a hoot. I enjoyed it tremendously.

Normans fucking rock!

Inspiring. I worship Oden and Thor now. I am officially becoming a pirate now. God bless my peeps.

interesting but broad

good summary of a period of history but I think it could have used more historical context

An extended Norman centuries podcast

I enjoyed the Norman Centuries podcast and decided to give Lars’ book a go. It was pretty much an expansion of the podcast. I was not a fan of the narrator and would have preferred Lars’ narration like he did for his book Forgotten By The West.

A good overall introduction

If you are interested in the Normans and their contributions to European history, but know little to nothing about them, then this is a great starting point. It's concise, but provides an ample amount of detail on the subject matter for newcomers while not being overwhelming. Even for those somewhat familiar with their exploits, like myself, I did learn something new in each chapter. This was especially true concerning the de Hauteville's of southern Italy, and the creation of the Kingdom of Sicily, which I was rather pleased to discover. I'd personally prefer more dates, as they give me greater context relating to what was occurring elsewhere, though i understand the trend to down play "date memorization".
The narrator, while not terrible, would be better suited to a job as a DJ, he just has THAT voice. Some of his pronunciations are also strange, never heard "Duchy" pronounced that way, though that is the fault of the director/producer, or perhaps my ignorance.
On a side note, "William the Illegitimate"!?!? Really, NO, please..."William the Bastard" is his rightful moniker prior to the conquest. It must now not be acceptable to use a historically accurate phrase to literally describe a persons state at birth. I don't know, just irked me.

Highly enjoyable

Enjoyable and entertaining. Learned more beyond just Rollo and William the Conquerer . A short but, exceptional existence.

Superficial in too many ways but only choice for the Normans.

This is the only work I can find covering the Normans in Europe. Lors is an American historian and covers the period from outside Europe : he points out the most advanced society was more likely the Middle East caliphates. But equally he says somethings I know to be wrong: eg longboats had no keels!?. At several points in the book I found myself sceptical of what I was hearing.
Having said that being English Iam well aware of the Norman influence in England but not what they achieved in Europe even prior to 1066. This book goes a long way to answer that.

Not bad

Not bad expected more, you are just as well listening to the free podcast. That said, still worth a listen.