The First English Empire: Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093-1343

by R.R. Davies

Book Overview

The future of the United Kingdom is an increasingly open question. This book traces the issue's roots to the Middle Ages, when English power and control came to extend to the whole of the British Isles. By 1300 it looked as if Edward I was in control of virtually the whole of the British Isles. Ireland, Scotland, and Wales had, in different degrees, been subjugated to his authority; contemporaries were even comparing him to King Arthur. This was the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0199257248
• ISBN13: 9780199257249
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A must read

Davies continues his excellence in scholarship and fresh perspective on the interaction of Norman/"English" influences on the existing cultures of the British Isles during the immediate two centuries following the invasion. It elegantly reflects that this process of "integration" of Wales, Ireland and Scotland was not natural or inevitable and could only be accomplished by force - or a forceful ruler (Henry I, Henry II. Edward I). In fact, the process of integration may have fostered the development of cultural unity that could only be overcome by force. It sheds an exceptional light on the question of "natural" British unity. As with all of Davies works, his writing style can hold the reader's attention while still being well-documented in facts.