The Norman landscape is something of an enigma. The standard elements of castle, cathedral and abbey provide the conventional picture of what the Normans contributed to the English landscape. Yet beyond those features there is a curious lacuna. How much of what might be considered Norman is actually part of the continuum of the earlier middle ages? It is difficult to distinguish specific Norman towns, villages or field systems, although they all do exist, because the Norman era was a relatively short one sandwiched between the much longer Anglo-Saxon period and the High Middle Ages.
This day school will look at some of the new techniques and sources that are being employed to redefine the Anglo-Norman landscape, for instance, the analysis of animal and fish bones to understand changes in diet and social behaviour, which in turn had an impact on trade, commerce and marketing. Another new approach explored at this event will be the examination of spatial and chronological patterns of parish church construction and commemoration in Anglo-Norman England.
Ideas of space and place are crucial to our understanding of the Norman landscape, and the day will show how the Norman chronicles contain the idea that the landscape was the stage on which the nature of political territories and social relations was determined and changed. However, the landscape was more than just a backdrop to conquest, it was integral to the chronicler’s understanding of the environment around them, their own place and that of the Normans in it. All of this will be considered as part of a wider exploration of features of the landscape more traditionally associated with the Normans - Romanesque architecture, townscapes, parks and forests.