Popular history account of the period, often taking sides and prioritising anecdote over analysis.

Although advertised as an easy introduction to the period I didn't actually find it that easy to follow. Medieval nobles were often referred to by multiple names: a family name; a place name and a sobriquet / nom de guerre. JJN delights in using all of the names interchangeably. This technique adds colour but it doesn't make it easy for a reader unfamiliar with the personages.

I think the period is exciting enough already without needing to spice it up with colourful prose.

Norwich's history of a kingdom we mostly never learned about; the Normans in southern Italy, Sicily & the Levant. A great history well told of Europe's most multi-cultural Middle Age kingdom.

La historia de como un puñado de mercenarios normandos se abrieron camino en la convulsa Italia medieval, enfrentándose a papas y emperadores, hasta fundar el reino de Sicilia, de cómo éste se convirtió en uno de los grandes poderes de la época, y su decadencia y pérdida de independencia.

Una historia con un comienzo fascinante, pero que pierde ritmo una vez que los antiguos mercenarios se hacen con el control del sur de Italia. La conquista de la isla de Sicilia acaba haciéndose pesada, y aunque una vez terminada ésta la narración retoma algo de interés no llega a enganchar como en su primera parte.

La culpa de esta falta de ritmo puede atribuirse tanto a la desaparición de una figura tan carismática como Roberto Guiscardo como a una cierta falta de brío en la escritura de Norwich, lejos del nervio que muestra en Historia De Venecia o Breve Historia De Bizancio/ A Short History of Byzamtium, temas donde se le nota bastante más cómodo.

Nasty, brutish and tall--that was the Normans. They were the original "men who came to dinner" but in their case, thugs who came to dinner fits better. They were descendants of the Vikings but, if we are to believe the author, traded their boats for horses and headed south to make their fortune. They arrived in Italy by chance after a pilgrimage and took over. Then conquered Sicily and a part of north Africa. They even tried for Constantinople.

They took the best and squabbled (that means had wars, killed, raped, pillaged, destroyed whole towns--all the things that everyone was doing those days). They squabbled among themselves, with the Germans from the Holy Roman (some say evil northern) Empire, with the Popes and anti-Popes for a century or so. Finally a Norman King had no sons after foolishly marrying off his daughter to the Emperor and pffft, the Emperor took over. The Normans were finished as Kings (in Sicily and Italy; they still had England).

The book tells the story in many, many pages. But is a big story with many characters, that is fine. The Normans were not kind to us readers in that half seem to be named Roger, but there are charts to help. And maps with all the obscure city names. This is the perfect nighttime book, just interesting enough to pick up but not so interesting that you cannot put it down at a decent hour and get some sleep. Also, since the Normans had a campaign every year where some were killed and some were not, you can lose you place and not notice too much.

The author's voice keeps the book alive. It is not just one damned thing after another. Norwich applauds bravery and all the "good" qualities of his fighters. He would have made a great fighting Pope, with all the right values for those years. He evaluates the major characters when they die. William the Bad was not really so bad and his son William the Good was just lucky.

I do recommend this book. I learned much. How those Normans were not only in England but also in Sicily. Who would have thought?

Everyone talks about the Normans in Britain - all old William's fault - fewer talk about the Norman Kingdoms in Palestine and Cyprus and fewer still remember that between the Greek and Roman remains and those of the Arabs and the destructions by Mount Etna, there was a relatively brief but brilliant flowering of Norman culture on Europe's most African island. And of course the fusions that happened there came back north to influence Norman life as far away as Durham. JJN again has the knack of the British historian of making history eminently readable and fun as well as informative.

Captivating

Entertaining narrative history of how wandering Norman knights transformed themselves from mercenaries and cattle thieves into powerful lords and the rulers of Southern Italy and Sicily eventually forming a powerful Kingdom in 1130.

The Normans in the South Tells how simple, warlike, Norman pilgrims sent themselves up in southern Italy as the afore mentioned cattle thieves, mercenaries and adventurers, eventually acquiring lands and titles because they were good at fighting. This was a Norman habit for a couple of hundred years, much the same kind of thing happened in England, Wales, Ireland and bits of Syria too. Mysteriously at some point they collectively settled down. Anyway the first volume ends with all of southern Italy united and Sicily conquered from the Arabs, the entire region shaped into a polity that would exist, most of the time united, until Garibaldi.

The Kingdom in the Sun deals with the period of Normans rule over the Muslim, Greek and Italian communities of southern Italy, and the extension of Norman influence over the central Mediterranean to Northern Africa, their conflict with the Byzantine Empire and participation in the crusades.

Norwich produces an easy narrative, he has a taste for anecdote and taking sides, for instance renaming William the Bad William the Sad because he feels sorry for him (the dead King's opinion of this is unrecorded). Ideal as an introduction or for general readers interested in an alternative Norman conquest. For something more serious there is always The Norman Kingdom of Sicily by Donald Matthew.

This is detailed history of the 1100s in Sicily! It's beautifully written and makes one love history just for the sake of it (as well as being important to compare to what's going on today!).

This is a wonderfully written narrative history of the Norman kingdoms in Sicily. It is an absolutely essentially book for any one who is interested in Crusades as it places the wars conducted by the Normans in the Middle East in the proper historical context of the broader Norman drive to expand and acquire new territories.

Remember this book can never be superseded. The author has read all the relevant source documents. Nothing is hidden in the archives awaiting an eventual release. Any new book on the topic will in all probability be inferior to this admirable work by a great historian.