William the Conqueror

Edward Augustus FreemanProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 326K words
Chapters: 33

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.William the Conqueror by Edward A. FreemanAuthor: Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus), 1823-1892,Language: English, Class: DA: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Great Britain, Ireland, Central Europe, Release Date: Oct 1, 1997

Editor's review

Edward A. Freeman's William the Conqueror is an important biographical work on the Norman Conquest in nineteenth-century British historiography. Freeman excelled in narrative history and stressed continuity in institutions and political structures; the book systematically traces William I's political career from Duke of Normandy to King of England, the course of the Norman Conquest, and its impact on English law and the aristocratic order. As a public-domain historical text, its value lies not only in the life of its subject but also in showing how a Victorian historian understood conquest and kingship. The language is English, and the prose carries the weight of nineteenth-century academic writing; it is suitable as supplementary reading for special topics in English medieval history. Readers may wish to consult maps and a Norman dynasty genealogy and note the author's era-bound choices of sources and moral judgments. For those seeking a basic outline of the Norman Conquest or interested in historiography, this is a classic worth close reading but requiring patience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in English medieval history and the Norman Conquest
History or English majors who need to read original English historical works
Readers who enjoy nineteenth-century narrative history and are willing to read slowly

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a quick, modern, concise overview of English history
Readers with weaker English reading ability who find nineteenth-century prose difficult
Readers expecting abundant illustrations, charts, or popular story-style narration

Reading tips

First read a modern general history of the Norman Conquest to establish a timeline, then turn to Freeman's original.
While reading, consult maps of England and Normandy and mark major battles and territories.
After each chapter, briefly note the author's core judgments to help assess his historiographical stance.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no background in English history at all?

Not really. Freeman's narrative assumes some knowledge of the late Anglo-Saxon period and the Duchy of Normandy, and the English prose is archaic. Readers with no background should start with a modern general history and then return to this book to better grasp its historiographical value.

Is this a complete biography or does it focus on the Norman Conquest?

According to the available information, this is Freeman's William the Conqueror, falling within the categories of historical biography and English history. Its content centers on William I and the Norman Conquest, combining biography with institutional history. The specific chapter structure should be checked against the original; readers may regard it as a conquest narrative from a nineteenth-century historiographical perspective.

What should readers note when reading the public-domain electronic edition?

This is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, set mainly in plain text and possibly lacking modern notes and maps. It is advisable to enable the dictionary lookup function on your reading device and supplement it with maps and genealogical tables to make up for the limitations of the electronic edition.

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About the author

Edward Augustus Freeman Author · British · 1823–1892

Edward Augustus Freeman (1823–1892) was a British historian, architectural draughtsman and Liberal, born at Harborne in Warwickshire. Orphaned in early childhood, he was raised by his grandmother, graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, and from 1884 held the Regius Professorship of Modern History at Oxford. He died of smallpox at Alicante, Spain, in 1892. A prolific author, he is represented here by nine works spanning constitutional history, European history and travel writing. His constitutional histories trace the origins of English institutions in a careful, comparative manner, while his travel and local histories reflect an architectural draughtsman's eye for churches and townscapes observed on the ground. Public information on the details of his life is limited, yet the range of his subjects and the sober manner of his narrative still convey his approach to history.