Introduction

In this review of 1066: the year of the conquestI will identify Howarth’s purpose in writing this book and discuss how well it served its purpose. I will also evaluate the merits and shortcomings of this book in relation to the themes, fonts used, and the author’s writing style.

Author’s topic

Howarth’s 1066 was a description of the “tremendous drama [in England] which began on January 6 with the burial of King Edward in Westminster Abbey and ended on Christmas Day in the same place with the coronation of King William. “(7) Howarth balances his book by offering insight into life and character of all the people in England, from the peasants to the ruling classes, before and after the conquest.

The author’s purpose

Howarth states that it was not “intended to be read as a work of scholarship, only as an evocation of the excitement, pleasures, and miseries of that year” (7). Howarth recognizes the difficulty of establishing a strictly factual account of a time when sources were sparse and / or biased. Because of this, Howarth necessarily had to make some assumptions and conclusions in his account of the conquest.

Author’s writing style

When reading Howarth’s book, it was very easy for one to forget that it is a historical account of the Norman invasion. His writing is very descriptive and colorful. Howarth superbly managed to keep the reader engrossed in the book. The book is so much like a historical novel that one wonders how factual it is. Howarth admitted that he added his own opinions and advanced his own conclusions to the account to fill in the gaps for which there are no sources. For example, Howarth believes that the change in King Harold’s behavior between the Battle of Stamford Bridge and the Battle of Hastings is due to his learning that William had the papal blessing. This conclusion may be correct, but Howarth offers no supporting evidence. He never mentions that someone specifically told King Harold of that fact, he only says that someone must have. Therefore, Howarth does not base its conclusions on factual evidence, but on what stayed the longest that must have happened. This may be necessary when there are very few sources, but, to me, it casts doubt on the validity of their claims.

Howarth’s writing style is the folk style, not academic. The portrait he paints of medieval England is very vividly done. Through his words, an image of exactly what the country was like at that time comes to mind. In addition to the image of England, Howarth is also very successful in giving us insight into the characters of the men involved in the battle, from the villagers turned into soldiers to the rulers they fought for. For example, it is very easy for the reader to see the disappointment and indecision on Duke William’s face after hearing that King Edward was dead and that Harold had been crowned the new king.

I really enjoyed the way Howarth included the customs of the people involved. I think customs determine why people act the way they do, so it’s important to keep that in mind when reading the story. For this reason, I find the first chapter very informative and entertaining, detailing the life of the average Englishman.

I also appreciate how Howarth included previous political and social events that influenced the way people acted before, during and after the Battle of Hastings. For example, William’s invasion would have seemed puzzling if Howarth had not informed us of King Edward’s promise to him and of William and Harold’s meeting in Normandy.

Author sources

Howarth used primarily primary sources for this book. He claims that of the twenty sources he used, “twelve were written in the living memory of 1066, and all but two within a hundred years” of the Battle of Hastings (7). Howarth also varied his sources to present the different versions of what happened; the different versions belonged to the English, Normans and Scandinavians.

Conclution

Altogether, I think this was a good text on the Norman Conquest. Although some of its conclusions seem suspicious to me, the book is written in an entertaining way, at the same time that it offers valuable information about the life of medieval peoples during one of the most important dates in Western history.