1066: The Year of the Conquest

David Howarth's book 1066: The Year of the Conquest would prove to be a useful and important aid for teaching a course dealing with the history of medieval Britain. The book is outstanding in several areas. First, the book is written well. The development of the story is flawless. The reader always knows where he/she stands in the framework of the history. Howarth's decision to allow chronological time to dominate the development of the book is a wise choice. The use of flashback is restricted to several special cases, and the book precedes in an orderly, rational manner. The reader is not constantly being forced to jump ahead to upcoming events; nor is the reader forced to skip back to earlier events in the narrative. Howarth's approach allows the story to develop naturally. Nothing in the book is forced. Oftentimes authors will become so excited about their findings that they display their information before they have developed a proper foundation upon which to base their case. Howarth has the personal restraint to withhold pertinent information until such a time as its true impact and import can be fully felt. Where the author does feel a need to flashback, he does so with precision and efficiency. Howarth is careful not to lead the reader off of the trail that he is developing in the present time when he flashes back; he simply presents small amounts of valuable information in a brief, coherent manner. The reader never becomes lost or confused, and the information revealed is more fully digested and appreciated.

A second strength of the book is the author's use of sources. Howarth's use of all relevant contemporary sources allows him to create a fuller, more balanced history. Howarth carefully attempts to weed out the facts from the propaganda and constant religious overtones which dominate the era's literature. The author knows that the spoils of war go to the victors. The conquest of England resulted in a Norman victory; therefore, the story of the conquest is seen mostly through Norman eyes, and is described mostly by Norman words. Howarth is careful to scrutinize his primary sources. He analyzes their contents at face value. Where conflicting accounts of the same topic exist, Howarth makes certain that he illustrates the discrepancies between the different reports. The author offers his own insights as to the reasons for one account interpreting a situation one way, and a second account interpreting the same situation from a totally different perspective. The author also states which of the accounts he personally feels is the most credible, and he then precedes to defend his choice. However, Howarth leaves the door open and allows his readers to make the final decision as to which account they will accept and which account they will discard. Howarth does not attempt to force-feed his readers; he allows for, and in many ways encourages/ personal interpretations of the data and disagreement with his findings.

The points mentioned above are mostly technical in nature and do not concern what I consider to be the heart of Howarth's work. The greatest achievement of Howarth's book is its ability to present and illustrate something which I call the "medieval mind." Howarth does not make the mistake of interpreting eleventh-century history from a twentieth-century perspective. Howarth's book is valuable because it shows the beliefs, values, traditions, and superstitions which forced men like Ulfer, Harold, and William to act as they did. Not only does Howarth show how these factors affected the great men of the periods. He also pays close attention as to how these forces influenced the everyday life of the common man.

Irrationality is allowed to play a major role in the development of the story. Of course, as Howarth illustrates, that which the modern reader considers irrational may have been considered perfectly logical by the medieval mind. Where Howarth succeeds, others have failed. Howarth does not abuse his twentieth-century gift of hindsight. For example, because the Roman Catholic Church no longer possesses the tremendous influence which it once had in the shaping of world events, a modern reader may balk at Howarth's belief that Harold had already resigned himself to defeat, and that he was fighting, by his own admission, his last battle. A present-day army which marches under a Papal banner will not, in all likelihood, gain an advantage over its enemy. However, because of the way medieval society was structured, Howarth shows that the Papal banner was actually William's greatest weapon against Harold and his army. Howarth never forgets the lesson that the interpretation of history must not be based solely on facts; he knows that historical interpretation must also be based on how the players in the story perceived facts. Hindsight tells us that the Papal banner should have had no influence on the outcome of the battle, but the banner would have had a great effect on the battle according to the workings of the medieval mind, and this extremely important fact is often forgotten by other modern historians.

Here lies the book's greatness. The author constantly forces the reader to look at the situation from the medieval mind's point of view. Howarth strips away twentieth-century prejudices and delivers the reader a living history. Howarth's key figures are not mythic characters fated for greatness or doomed to failure. Harold, William, and all the others are real men with real goals, real hopes, and real fears. Howarth does these men a great service by allowing us to judge them according to their own criteria, not ours.

In conclusion, I would encourage instructors of medieval history courses to add 1066: The Year of the Conquest to their reading lists. The book is both interesting and academically sound, and it provides the reader with a unique opportunity to observe the process of everyday living during the medieval era. Howarth's sense of humanity sets this volume apart from other texts dealing with a similar subject. Many histories dealing with the middle ages have a tendency to clutter the reader's mind with visions of musty, dim, academic libraries. Howarth's book summons forth visions of a quiet field, gently bathing beneath the autumn sun, passively waiting for its cue to enter the stage and play its part in the development of a nation.