Modern historians of the Normans have tended to treat their enterprises and


achievements as a series of separate and discrete histories. Such treatments are


valid and valuable, but historical understanding of the Normans also depends


as much on broader approaches akin to those adopted in this book. As the


successor volume to Norman Expansion: Connections, Continuities and Contrasts,


it complements and significantly extends its findings to provide a fuller appreciation


of the roles played by the Normans as one of the most dynamic and


transformative forces in the history of medieval ‘Outer Europe’. It includes


panoramic essays that dissect the conceptual and methodological issues concerned,


suggest strategies for avoiding associated pitfalls, and indicate how far


and in what ways the Normans and their legacies served to reshape sociopolitical


landscapes across a vast geography extending from the remoter corners


of the British Isles to the Mediterranean basin. Leading experts in their fields


also provide case-by-case analyses, set within and between different areas, of


themes such as lordship and domination, identities and identification, naming


patterns, marriage policies, saints’ cults, intercultural exchanges, and diaspora–


homeland connections.


The Normans and the ‘Norman Edge’ therefore presents a potent combination


of thought-provoking overviews and fresh insights derived from new


research, and its wide-ranging comparative focus has the advantage of illuminating


aspects of the Norman past that traditional regional or national histories


often do not reveal so clearly. It likewise makes a major contribution


to current Norman scholarship by reconsidering the links between Norman


expansion and ‘state-formation’; the extent to which Norman practices and


priorities were distinctive; the balance between continuity and innovation;


relations between the Normans and the indigenous peoples and cultures they


encountered; and, not least, forms of Norman identity and their resilience over


time. An extensive bibliography is also one of this book’s strengths.