The history of the Norman conquest of England, its causes and its results, Volume 3 (of 6)

About this volume

Edward A. Freeman follows the crisis of 1066 through the reign of Harold and the interval before a new royal order was secured. Questions of succession, competing claims, military preparation, and the battle traditionally known as Hastings are examined in considerable detail. The volume treats the conquest as a contest shaped by institutions, political relationships, and the decisions of particular people, rather than as a single battle detached from its causes.

This is the third volume of a six-volume history, so readers are entering an extended scholarly project rather than receiving the whole narrative in one book. Freeman combines close accounts of events with discussions of conflicting authorities, geographical evidence, and later traditions. His nineteenth-century judgments and strongly expressed interpretations form part of the reading experience; they can be considered alongside the sources he presents. The reward for sustained attention is a detailed view of how a historian constructs an account from uneven evidence, especially when a famous event has acquired meanings far beyond the circumstances in which it occurred.

Things You May Not Know About The Norman Conquest, Volume 3

• The third of six volumes. The volume’s subtitle is The Reign of Harold and the Interregnum, defining a narrower subject than the complete history named on the cover.
• Published at Oxford in 1869. The source title page identifies the Clarendon Press and the year 1869, locating the study within Victorian historical scholarship.
• Battlefield research mattered. Freeman explains that revisiting the battlefield and obtaining a military ground plan affected his treatment and delayed publication of the volume.
• Senlac is Freeman’s preferred name. Readers will encounter the name Senlac in the discussion of the battle more commonly called Hastings, an important point of orientation.
• Authorities are openly compared. The narrative repeatedly weighs Norman and English accounts, making disagreements between historical witnesses visible rather than hiding them behind a single smooth chronology.