Empires of the Normans cover art

Empires of the Normans

Makers of Europe, Conquerors of Asia

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Empires of the Normans

By: Levi Roach
Narrated by: Luke Thompson
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

The first global history of the Normans, who—beyond the conquest of England—came to dominate Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

How did descendants of Viking marauders came to dominate Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East?

It is a tale of ambitious adventures and fierce freebooters, of fortunes made and fortunes lost. The Normans made their influence felt across all of western Europe and the Mediterranean, from the British Isles to North Africa, and Lisbon to the Holy Land. In Empires of the Normans we discover how they combined military might and political savvy with deeply held religious beliefs and a profound sense of their own destiny. For a century and a half, they remade Europe in their own image, and yet their heritage was quickly forgotten—until now.

©2022 Levi Roach (P)2022 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Europe Great Britain Western Europe England Scandinavia Military Viking

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Empire of the Romans cover art
Byzantium cover art
The Anglo-Saxon World cover art
Crécy cover art
The Thirty Years War cover art
The Wolf Age cover art
Conquered cover art
The Eagle and the Lion cover art
The Burgundians cover art
The Dissolution of the Monasteries cover art
Historiography for Beginners cover art
Devil-Land cover art
The Oxford History of the Biblical World cover art
The Anglo-Saxon Settlement of England cover art
In Search of the Dark Ages cover art
Theoderic the Great cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
A thoroughly enjoyable and wide ranging history of the Normans. In keeping with many recent medieval histories (Dan Jones, Cat Jarman et al) the author aims to show you the whole world of their subjects, not just well known examples e.g. England's Norman Conquests or Norman Sicilly.

The book is well written, easy to read and very well balanced. It explains differing view points on events well, and the pacing of the narrative is spot on.

A great read.

A Tour De Force of the Norman World

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very well read and a fascinating story. I knew about the Norman Kingdom of Sicily - but not in any detail, come to that aside from "1066 and all that" knew little or nothing about the Normans in Normandy or how they got there. Much better informed now and have listened all the way through twice.

Very well read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Before listening to this I knew a little bit about the various Normal invasivions from school history and visiting Bayeaux and other tourist spots.

The book did a great job of putting Norman history into context and showing the wider world of the Normans beyond The Conqueror and Strongbow.

I was impressed at the good integration of Church History and the Reformatio movement of the time into the story. These elements are often left out, particularly in an Irish and Welsh context.

One complaint stood out, I was initially impressed by the narration and the attention to correct pronunciation, particularly in Wales and Italy. Once the story crossed into Ireland this seemed to go completely out the window!

Irish place names got mangled beyond recognition or there were comic moments such as Tuam rhyming with Guam.

Asides from that complaint it was a good book that produced a lot of "What if" moments and joined up a lot of dots.

Interesting listen casting light on a story I only partly knew

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
some of the best stuff out there about the Norman's scholarly without being inaccessible, and told at a pace as often history books can be unnecessarily long.
would highly recommend.

excellent

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.