This vivid and and comprehensive account of the politics, religion, and culture of England in the century and a half after the Norman Conquest lays bare the patterns of everyday life and increases our understanding of a medieval society at a time when England was more closely tied to Europe than ever before.

Introduction ; 1. Political Patterns: The Struggle for the Succession, 1075-1225; The Cross-Channel Realm; Court Politics; Predatory and Punitive Rule; Rebellion ; 2. England and Beyond: England and the British Isles; England and the Wider World ; 3. Lordship and Government: Kingship and Lordship; Regality; The Household and Household Administration; Itineration; Assemblies; Territorial Administration; Royal Finances; Courts and Judgements; Records and Record-Keeping ; 4. The Aristocracy: The Structure of the Aristocracy; The Aristocratic Estate; The Life of the Aristocracy ; 5. Warfare: Waging War; Recruitment; Castles ; 6. The Rural Foundations: The Physical Framework; Population; Settlement Patterns; Land Use and Agricultural Techniques; The Manorial Economy; Rural Social Structure ; 7. Towns and Trade: Urbanization; Town Law; Urban Self-Government; London; Urban Unrest; The Jews; Trade, the Framework; Commodities; Coinage and Monetization ; 8. The Institutional Church: The Hierarchy; Kingly Power and Priestly Power; The Religious ; 9. Religious Life: Concepts of the Holy; Devotion; Saints and their Cults; Overseas Pilgrimage; Dissent ; 10. Cultural Patterns: Languages and Literature; Education and Higher Learning; The Visual Arts; Performance; The Value of the Arts ; 11. The Course of Life: Childhood; Naming Patterns; Love, Sex, and Marriage; Manners; Medicine and Healing; Death and the Dead ; 12. Cosmologies: Time; The World; The Chain of Being; Beings Neither Angelic, Human, nor Animal ; Chronology of Political Events ; Bibliography ; Index

`there can be few who will not read this book with profit... good value...well illustrated...this volume is a good read, from whom all readers, at any levels, will learn much.' John S.Moore, Journal of the Society of Archivists, `This is a superb work of scholarship that will inspire future generatioins to cherish and to further investigate the medieval past. No reader could fail to be impressed by its scope and its flair.' Nicholas Vincent, English Historical Review `One of the most brilliant and idiosyncratic books ever to have been published on the history of medieval England. The freshness of Bartlett's approach is entirely exhilarating. Much as we might presume to know the chief twelfth-century sources, time after time Bartlett will throw in some new authority, or reintroduce us to the familiar, scattering spice for even the most jaded of palates ... This book deserves to command a wide popular readership.' Nicholas Vincent, English Historical Review The thematic approach works extremely well, especially for the chapters on religion: his explanation of ecclesistical organization can hardly be bettered. His coverage of cultural, social, and economic matters is enlivened by amy anecdotes and dicersions; throughout he brings to the fore the humanity of the age and the concerns of the indiviual. `[Includes] startlingly clear and often unusual images of life under the Norman and Angevin kings.' B.R. O'Brien, CHOICE Vol. 38, No.3. `The book makes brilliant use of contemporary writers.' B.R. O'Brien, CHOICE `...fresh, direct, and appealing and will reward readers at many levels.' B.R. O'Brien, CHOICE `The New Oxford History of England series replaces the Oxford History of England, the first volume of which was published in 1934. Replacing those venerated works was a daunting task. New scholarship and a wider vision of history required a new synthesis. It has been accomplished in this volume with superb success...This huge but not terribly expensive book has a little of everything.' Spring 2000. `In bringing to life the anxieties of twelfth-century Englishmen, Bartlett rescues from oblivion sources which are either unknown or far too little known.' John Gillingham, TLS