Febuary 2004

Guillaume le Conquérant et
aux Normands du XIe siècle

Par P.Bouet
Editions Charles Corlet – CRDP Basse-Normandie

The radiation of William the Conqueror and Norman through Europe and in the Méditerranéen world in XIe century was such as the legend sometimes took the step on the History. This book devoted to "William the Conqueror and Norman of XIe century", proposes a faithful image of a famous duke who became king d' Angleterre and shows the eminent role that it played in Europe. During a long reign of cinquante-deux years, Guillaume restored the order and peace public in his duchy and chaired the transformations which made of Normandy the most prosperous province and most dynamic of the Occident. After the principal stages of its animated life, the work evokes the action of the duke-king: In the organization of the company; In the development of the Church; Finally in the literary productions and the artistic achievements by which some astonish us still today. This historical evocation of civilization Norman of XIe century is pressed on a hundred and fifty iconographic or literary documents "

The opinion of Casteland: This beautiful work very richly illustrated is distinguished from the traditional biographies devoted to William the Conqueror, by leaving the beautiful share with medieval civilization in Normandy in XIe century. It thus offers instantaneous life social, political religious and cultural of these remote and disturbed times, where the tentacles Normans extended from the Southern Italy to the Hadrian's Wall. An aesthetic book and designed well.

P. Bouet, « Guillaume le Conquérant et les Normands au XIe siècle », coédituion Charles Corlet – CRDP Basse-Normandie, Condé-sur-Noireau, 2003. 175 pp. 30€.