Book(s) on post Conquest England?

I'm looking for recommendations for a book covering the period right after the Battle of Hastings when the rest of the country still had to be subdued. Long, long ago I read Kingsley's novel, Hereward the Wake, and more recently Bryher's wonderful, This Jaunuary Tale. Now I want to read some serious history. Is there a good narrative history of this period?

After 6 months of no response, I'm answering my own message, but any additional info would be appreciated. I've found two books by Peter Rex, an author I know little about: The English Resistance: The Underground War Against the Normans and Hereward: The Last Englishman.

Anybody with any comments about author or works?

Well, here I am, talking to myself again. I've finished The English Resistance: The Underground War Against the Normans and find it exactly what I was looking for. I'm looking forward to the second one, with more detail about Hereward, who, as I learned from the first book by Rex that I read, was never called the Wake by contemporaries. He got the name when the Wac (later Wake) family was trying to claim him as an ancestor.

Why, hello!

FYI, David C. Douglas has several good books on Norman England, and on Norman history/culture in general. William the Conqueror: The Norman Impact Upon England springs foremost to mind.

The book on the English Resistance you mentioned looks interesting. I will have to look it up.

Add Norman Cantor's books to the list and A World Lit Only By Fire and the Domesday Book which is available in a really nice facsimile edition that you can find in discounted book piles for about $10 and sometimes in used book stores for less.

laceyvail: I picked up The English Resistance and a Hereward book by Victor Head at Kzoo* last spring. The Resistance book was the better of the two, in my opinion.

*Kzoo: the International Congress of Medieval Studies, where medieval books of all sorts throw themselves into my hands as I wander through the book exhibiters.

A world lit only by Fire = yuck!

William the Conqueror by Douglas - obviously this will cover both pre and post-conquest. Also William Rufus by Barlow.

Really, anything in the Yale English Monarchs Series is good for the respective English history period you're studying.

I have never read the Peter Rex books but I should tell you guys we were warned not to use them at university (the UEA in Norwich, England)- in fact the lecturers wanted to have them thrown out of the library. One of them, worthy of respect, said the Hereward book was "lunatic".

I'd check out The English and the Norman Conquest by Ann Williams, a top quality book. William Rufus by Barlow is really good too, as the person above me recommended- that king is an often overlooked and entertaining sort of character. If you'd like a primary source, go with William of Malmesbury, who saw William Rufus and Henry I at first hand.

The Rex book didn't impress me terribly, but compared to the Hereward book, it was brilliant 8-) Sometimes a title catches my eye and I later regret buying it. At least both were discounted.

You might want to try looking for The History of the Norman Conquest of England by Edward A Freeman. I say "try" because it was originally published as a 6 volume set in the late 1800's. You might get lucky finding a reprint edition at a local library, or using inter-library loan.There's also The Norman conquest :
England after William the Conqueror by Hugh Thomas. I haven't read either one but the Freeman books are used as a source for the book I'm currently reading 1066: The Year of The Three Battles by Frank McLynn.

The Ann Williams book that ZimAlDev mentioned is good if you're interested in the native English in the period immediately after the Conquest. If you're interested in the Norman conquerors during that period, beyond the kings and upper nobility, Judith Green's "The Aristocracy of Norman England" is one of the better ones. Hugh Thomas's "The Norman Conquest: England After the Norman Conquest" is an overview aimed at grad students or advanced undergrads, but it's up to date (published 2007) and readable, with plenty of insights. There are also some recent histories that cover the post-Conquest period but also the twelfth and parts of the thirteenth centuries, notably Robert Bartlett's "England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225" (not a narrative history, but a thematic overview) and David Carpenter's "The Struggle for Mastery" (more of a narrative history with some thematic chapters, and covering all of the British Isles, not just England, from the Conquest to the late 13th century).

You can also just browse through my library under the tag "norman history":

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/dkathman&tag=norman%2Bhistory

Hi Laceyvail I've only just started with librarything so this message may come a little late for you. I refer only to historical novels set in that period as it's a fun way of absorbing history if they are well researched. ((Thomas Costain )) wrote 2 novels of the era, the classic ('The Black Rose') and ('Below the Salt'), both great books. ((Elizabeth Chadwick))'s ('The Conquest') and ('Lords of the White Castle') are both rewarding and very well researched. (( Stephen Lawhead))'s new Trilogy ( a retake on the legend of Robin Hood, here 'Rhi Bran' ) set in the Welsh Borders as the Normans are making their first incursions into Wales -('Hood'), ('Scarlet') and ('Tuck') - are fun and, again, well researched. Enjoy. JRS

In the 1950s Thomas Costain also wrote a series of very readable histories about the Plantagenet Kings, beginning with William the Conquerer and going all the way until the fall of Richard III at Bosworth Field. There are four volumes: The Conquering Family, The Magnificent Century, The Three Edwards, and The Last Plantagenets. Unfortunately they have been out of print for a long time but might still be found in libraries, used book stores or sales.

I can't recommend this, obviously, but it looks like David Bates has written a new biography of William the Conqueror which is available for pre-order on Amazon (due out June 30).

That raises the question - has Yale ever replaced an English Monarchs Series book with another before?

cemanuel -- Thanks for pointing that out. At first I thought that might be not a new book by Bates, but a reissue of his short (200+ page) book on William the Conqueror that was first published in 1989 in the UK by Hamlyn, then by the History Press in a second edition (2001) and a third edition (2004). The book jacket picture on Amazon is the same as the book jacket picture of the History Press editions on Amazon.co.uk, though I realize that's not definitive. But I see that the Amazon.com listing says it's the first edition and 352 pages, longer than any of the above editions, and it's being published by Yale University Press as part of the English Monarchs series. Maybe it's a revision of the earlier books, with enough added so they can call it a new book and have it be part of the series. I believe David Douglas's 1962 bio of William the Conqueror was the first book in the English Monarchs series, when it was being published by the University of California Press before Yale took it over in the 1970s. So if they're going to start replacing books in the series, that would seem to be a good place to start. Douglas's book is still valuable after all this time, but a lot has been discovered in almost 50 years, naturally.

The mystery deepens. Yale UP's web site shows no trace of any William the Conqueror book by Bates, either by title or on the page for the English Monarchs series:

http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/SeriesPage.asp?Series=64

They do, however, show a new book in that series on Edward II, written by J. R. S. Phillips and coming out on December 21 of this year. That looks interesting.