The English Resistance

I put this book on my TBR list as a consequence of reading Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake. This book tells of the real English resistance to Norman invaders in the first five years after the Battle of Hastings. Peter Rex, the author, tells us that the transition to a new King, William, went as smoothly as it did because much of the administrative body of the kingdom accepted William as ruler. But people lower down in the hierarchy resisted, in part because many of them stood to lose property and livelihood.

Two chapters near the end are devoted to Hereward “the Wake,” the legendary resistance fighter against the Normans. Rex examines the historical records to see what support there is for the commonly accepted parts of Hereward's story and to try to determine where he lived and who his family was. This is the aspect of history of that is fascinating to me: when authors are explicit about what can be known and what can only be suspected or speculated about, given what is left to us in the historical record. Throughout the book, Rex references the Domesday Book, Orderic Vitalis' Ecclesiastical History, and other sources from the period. He gives reasons for his interpretations, which I'm not really in a position to evaluate, but it is the method of building a picture of what happened long ago from scant surviving evidence that fascinates me.

The last real chapter of the book is called “the protagonists,” and it would have been more helpful to have it at the beginning of the book. It names the main characters in the conflict, the names of the well known resisters and collaborators, as well as officials and royal household members. There is a large cast of characters to keep straight, and I had difficulty knowing my Aethelwigs from my Aethelhelms, so I appreciated the help.

There are also maps and genealogies, a bibliography and index, and a few pages of black and white photo plates.