Green is intent on cutting through the chainmail of hype. This is a very serious book thats bound to delight her academic colleagues.Gerard DeGroot, Times (UK)
Normansthe culmination of a lifes work as a medieval historian . . . really gives a flavour of what it means even to try and reconstruct what happened, and how life felt, nearly a millennium ago. . . . A salutary reminder that history very often needs to be rewritten.Tim Smith-Laing, Daily Telegraph
Greens book is immensely readable and based on impeccable scholarship.Tony Barber, Financial Times, Best summer books of 2022
This is a faultless study. . . . Throughout, Green tries to pin down the secret of the Normans success, but she finds broad conclusions hard to reach because, like many of the most capable conquerors before them, the Normans were chameleons. Wherever they went, they came, they saw, they conquered, then they melted into the background.Dan Jones, Sunday Times
Untangles the mystery of how, as Europe emerged from the Dark Ages, and became richer and more populous, the Normans managed to seize territory right across the continent, from Byzantium to Sicily to England.Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph, Best History Books 2022
Green covers a lot of ground and makes good use of new evidence, notably the Chew Valley hoard (a cache of post-Conquest coins found in Somerset in 2019), in opening broader discussions of representations of power. . . . A valuable addition to the field.Leonie V. Hicks, Times Literary Supplement
[ Green] approaches her subject with intellectual rigour and thoroughness. . . . Green describes the Normans fascinating transformation from pirates to Christian princes in a clear, authoritative voice . . . allowing the reader to settle into a deeply impressive account of a warrior race in the century that marked its zenith.Charles Spencer, The Spectator
For those who want to learn more, [ Green] offers an impressive compendium of endnotes and an exhaustive bibliography; these alone should ensure that the book becomes the go-to index for Norman scholarship in the next decade at least.Charles C. Rozier, History Today
Seeks to punctuate some of the more overblown myths about the dynasty and its achievements. . . . In doing so, it never loses sight of the real personal relationships at the heart of the story.BBC History Revealed
One of the interesting things is that Green places the Normans in a huge European context. In particular, she writes about the Normans in Sicily, which doesnt necessarily link in the popular mind to that very English story.Rana Mitter, BBC History Magazine
Power is key to explain the history of the Normans in eleventh-century Europe, so Judith Green argues in her magisterial new book. It offers a compelling analysis of the distinctiveness of each power grab in England and across the Mediterranean.Elisabeth van Houts, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
Judith Green paints a novel portrait of evolving Norman identity, character, impact and achievement in a bold new perspective. Richly and impressively documented, this lucidly written study weaves together British, continental, Scandinavian, and near-Eastern sources leading to novel, sometimes bold, conclusions.Sally N. Vaughn, University of Houston
A thoughtful and carefully-crafted exploration of the Normans at the height of their medieval power. Judith Green brilliantly writes the Normans in Europe through meticulous research, illuminating the times, places and people that made these exciting and diverse worlds.Katherine Weikert, University of Winchester
