A selection from the abundant source material generated by the Normans and the peoples they conquered. As this study demonstrates, few other medieval peoples generated historical writing of such quantity and quality. Van Houts takes a wide European perspective on the Normans, assessing and explaining Norman expansion, their political and social organization and their eventual decline. This volume explores such areas as: the process of assimilation between Scandinavians and Franks and the emergence of Normandy; the internal organization of the principality with a variety of source materials from chronicles, miracle stories and chapters; the role of women and children in Norman society; the main chronicle sources for the history of the Norman invasion and settlement; the contacts between William once he became King of England and the territorial princes of France; and the progress of the Normans amongst the first settlers in Southern Italy and elsewhere in the Mediterranean.