Many people are about to teach the Norman Conquest at GCSE for the first time – these items may be useful to you.
Item 1. Two videos of 20 minute lectures by Carl Watkins of the University of Cambridge discuss key aspects of the Conquest – the words are both valuable and interesting even if the video quality suggests they were filmed by a KGB spy in the 1950s using a camera hidden in a briefcase. As they are on the Cambridge History Faculty website I assume nothing underhand was going on!
Lecture 1 HERE …
Lecture 2 HERE …
Item 2. The Royal Armouries is holding a two day conference on the Conquest on the weekend of 14-15 October at the Tower of London. The programme consists of a battery of 40 minute talks by a host of eminent academics but the intended audience for the conference seems to be teachers and the interested public rather than academics.
Full details HERE …
Item 3. There’s a host of books around about the Conquest and William the Conqueror but I’ve recently much enjoyed two books in the Penguin Monarchs series which has a 100pp book for each reign from Athelstan to Elizabeth II. The two for this period which are currently out are:
William II: The Red King by John Gillingham – Gillingham is always been one of the most readable historians so this is the ideal introduction to William ‘Rufus’.
See Amazon HERE …
Stephen: The Reign of Anarchy by Carl Watkins – you probably aren’t teaching about Stephen but it’s an engrossing book nevertheless, exploring whether this really was a period of ‘anarchy’ and the various contingent circumstances that led to both Stephen’s succession and the ensuing civil war.
See Amazon HERE …
(I’ve provided Amazon links so you can see the contents list but they’re cheaper on Book Depository and elsewhere!)
The book on William I by Marc Morris is due out in August (on my birthday if anyone in my family is reading this).
Item 4. The Historical Association has a range of material on aspects of the Conquest, some of which are free to non-members
See HERE … and HERE …
Item 5. A series of short films by historian, Marc Morris:
See it on YouTube HERE …
Item 6. In Our Time Radio 4 programmes on
The Battle of Stamford Bridge HERE …
Domesday Book HERE …
The Norman Yoke HERE …
Hope this is useful
Ian