William the Conqueror by David Bates (review)

The present biography of William the Conqueror succeeds David Bates's popular biography of the ruler (William the Conqueror (London: George Philip, 1989; repr. Stroud: Tempus, 2001)), and represents the culmination of a lifetime of careful scholarship. The work offers an exceptionally thorough overview of the life of the most important figure in Anglo-Norman history, covering the period from William's conception through to his death and continuing into an evaluation of the long-term effects of his rule, not only within Normandy and Britain, but within a larger European framework. The work is not a simple biographical retelling of William's life, but rather it benefits from a crossdisciplinary view of the period, bringing together scholarship on the social and political climate in Normandy and England. Bates draws on a broad range of research, including primary sources, some of which were incompletely exploited in the past. He combines these medieval sources with recent scholarship in a number of different fields, including theories drawn from work on 'culture, social norms, gender, power, trust (sociologically defined) and identity' (p. n). This unique methodology allows Bates to present a more complete and nuanced vision of who William may have been, and leads him to reevaluate what is known about the man and the monarch and how he shaped political events in Normandy and England. The opening chapters of the book trace the early influences and events that may have contributed to shaping the man William would become, from his familial relationships through the cultural and social influences in his adolescence. Throughout, Bates carefully balances conflicting (near-) contemporary accounts of William's life with documentary evidence and modern interpretations of the events of the period, seeking to examine how and why William would seize the crown of England. This pivotal event marks the mid-point of the book, which then continues with a re-examination of the post-Conquest period and William's role in the violent aftermath and the consolidation of his two reigns in the following years, despite political and personal turmoil. This work will no doubt, deservingly, become the standard reference work for all future work on the Anglo-Norman realm as well as a model for biographies of medieval rulers. The extensive bibliography alone will prove an indispensable tool for study in the field.