The Struggle for Mastery

"The years from 1066 - marking the Norman conquest of England - to 1284 - when the English conquered Wales - were momentous ones in the history of Britain. In this comprehensive synthesis canvasing the peoples, economics, religion, languages and political leadership of medieval Britain, David Carpenter weaves together the histories of England, Scotland, and Wales. Arguing that English domination of the kingdom was by no means a foregone conclusion, Carpenter analyzes the multiple struggles for mastery of Great Britain. He explains why English monarchs focused on continental landholdings more than the British islands and narrates the loss of Normandy, Anjou, and Acquitaine. In the process, the creation of a new English identity from the Norman and Anglo-Saxon peoples emerges. He recounts how the Welsh kings strove to recover areas lost to the Normans and to assert dominion over one another, and how the kings of Scotland expanded their realm to create a united Scotland."--Jacket.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.