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Historical The English Resistance: The Underground War Against the Normans by Peter Rex $35 / Tempus Publishing / 2004 Most books about William the Conqueror focus on his famous victory at Hastings in 1066. But Peter Rex concentrates on the aftermath of that battle, when William cemented his grip on power. Rex begins his study at a distinct disadvantage .Most of the contemporaneous records concerning the Norman Conquest were written by Normans-or those in their hire-writers who minimized the English resistance against the Normans while presenting William as a benevolent and popular king. Later English writers erred in the opposite direction, exaggerating Norman atrocities and Anglo-Saxon heroism. So to offer a balanced account, Rex compares the accounts of Anglo-Saxon, French, Norman and Norse sources in an attempt to discover the scope of English resistance and Norman counter-resistance during William's reign. In contrast to the records of the time, which concentrated on the wealthy and powerful, Rex's book focuses on the dispossessed thanes and Saxon nobility. There are scattered references to a great famine and to Norman knights behaving arrogantly toward the populace, but we never get a feel for how life changed for the common people after the Battle of Hastings. Indeed, William was ruthless toward rebellious towns but was Norman rule any worse than Saxon rule for those who did not resist his coronation? Rex has little to say on this subject. Rex also never explains William's justification for ascending to the English throne. The half-Norman Edward the Confessor promised William the throne in 1051 during a civil war between Edward and King Harold's father. (To be fair, this book was published in England and intended for British audiences who are likely familiar with the events leading up to the battle of Hastings). But if you are not familiar with this, you may not understand why William invaded England or why many Saxons so quickly accepted his claim to the throne. If you know nothing about the Norman Conquest, you will likely get lost in the thicket of names, alliances, and counter-alliances provided here. But those with a basic grounding in English history may find this book an enlightening study of the bumpy transition from Anglo-Saxon England to Norman Britain .And if you are a fan of Robin Hood, you may enjoy Rex's analysis of the Silvatici, green-clad "wild men" who hid in the forest and launched punitive raids against Norman sheriffs from the forest during the Middle Ages. The English Resistance is a challenging read, but worth the effort for those with a serious interest in the history of Britain as it moved from the Dark Ages into the Middle Ages. —Kevin Filan

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