Anglo-Norman Studies XLIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2020 ed. by S. D. Church

Abstract

Reviewed by: Anglo-Norman Studies XLIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2020 ed. by S. D. Church Lindsay Diggelmann Church, S. D., ed., Anglo-Norman Studies XLIII: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 2020, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2021; hardback; pp. 216; 6 line, 10 colour illustrations; R.R.P. £50.00; ISBN 9781783276059. The latest volume of Anglo-Norman Studies continues the tradition, dating back to 1978, of publishing the proceedings of the annual Battle Conference in a series that has long since become indispensable for scholars of the Norman period. Now under the editorship of Stephen Church, the 2021 edition—based on the 2020 conference held online—contains a fascinating array of essays on Norman affairs. As is customary, the opening chapter is based on the Allen Brown memorial lecture, given by an invited eminent scholar. Martin Aurell examines the possibilities for mixed marriages between members of the Christian and Moslem nobilities during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. He takes as his starting point the proposed union between Joan of England, sister of Richard the Lionheart, and Al-ʿÂdil, brother of Saladin, as part of the negotiations to bring an end to the Third Crusade in 1191. Joan refused to take part in the deal, which anyway would have been impossible under canon law. Aurell asks whether any similar marriages did in fact occur, and what conditions would have allowed them to proceed. Using imaginative literature as well as chronicle sources, he offers some limited but intriguing evidence to suggest that diplomatic marriages could, on occasion, occur across religious boundaries. Perhaps the most significant contribution for scholars of the Normans is Christopher Norton’s essay on the Bayeux Tapestry. It makes a compelling argument that the famous artefact (actually an embroidery) was intended for display at Bayeux Cathedral, and was created under the patronage of Odo, Bishop [End Page 231] of Bayeux, and perhaps of William the Conqueror himself. Odo has been the traditional consensus candidate, but his role in the Tapestry’s creation has been challenged in recent years, as has the object’s likely location. Using architectural and archaeological evidence, Norton shows how the Tapestry could have been displayed in a way that fit perfectly with the contours of Bayeux Cathedral, as it existed in the eleventh century before later reconstruction. Other studies span the range of the period associated with the Normans, from Charles Insley’s examination of Lancashire in the early tenth century to Richard Barton’s scrutiny of judicial and ecclesiastical inquests (enquêtes) in western France during the thirteenth century. Insley argues that pre-Domesday Lancashire, an area relatively neglected in scholarship, is best understood as part of an ‘Irish Sea cultural zone’ (p. 122). Barton is concerned to rescue records of inquests from the theoretical approach of legal scholars and to find instead the basis for a rich social history, while also using them to question the longstanding ‘progressive scholarly narrative of administrative kingship and state formation’ (p. 196). A strength of the volume is that emerging scholars are recognized alongside their established peers. Hannah Boston and Gabriele Passabì, winner and runner-up of the Marjorie Chibnall Essay Prize (Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies), contribute essays on topics with a long tradition in Norman historiography: post-Conquest lordship and chronicle writing. Boston argues for the possibility of multiple tenancies in the Norman feudal model, boldly challenging both the received wisdom on the ‘tenurial revolution’ dating back at least to F. M. Stenton, and the more recent rejection of feudalism itself as a useful term. Passabì examines a little-known text, the Continuatio Ursicampina, to show how Geoffrey of Monmouth’s pseudo-historical but highly influential Historia regum Britanniae, with its appealing Arthurian core, could be both questioned by and integrated within later historical writing. Remaining essays deal with connections between forests and the siting of elite residences, using Cheshire as a case study (Rachel Swallow); Harold II’s coinage, reappraised in light of a substantial hoard unearthed as recently as 2019 in the Chew Valley near Bath (Gareth Williams); the coronation of the Conqueror’s wife, Mathilda of Flanders, as the first Anglo-Norman queen at Pentecost in 1068 (Laura Gathagan...