The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth

For centuries, the Norman conquest of England in 1066 has been remembered as one of the most important events in English history. Duke William of Normandy's victory over Harold at the Battle of Hastings and his dogged efforts to enforce Norman rule in the years that followed have fascinated historians since the late eleventh century. But what happened to the losers? In recent decades, scholars have sought to explore the fate of the defeated English. We have arrived at a general consensus that while much changed for the English after 1066 (especially in the lives of those at the top of society), Norman emigrants also made considerable efforts to engage with English society and culture. This [End Page 331] brilliant new book by Eleanor Parker aims to extend debates on the impact of the Norman conquest by examining what life was like for a small number of individuals who were all children in 1066 and whose case studies have much to tell us about the evolution of English identity in the decades that followed.

Parker has divided the book into five main chapters, each focusing on a particular individual or clearly defined group of conquest-era children. Chapter 1 examines the English rebel leader Hereward, while Chapter 2 explores the life of Queen Margaret of Scotland and, through her, also the tumultuous career of her brother, Edgar Ætheling (who, by 1066, carried the closest bloodline claim to the English crown). Chapter 3 provides an intriguing narrative of the Godwinson family, whose most famous son, Harold, was killed as King of England in 1066; the fate of his children, his siblings, and their children is fascinating. In Chapter 4, Parker focuses on the contested reputation of Northumbrian earl Waltheof, who was publicly executed as a traitor in 1076. In the fifth and final chapter, Parker studies the life and works of monk and historian Eadmer of Canterbury.

This is a book about the development of English identity after 1066 in literary sources down to the later twelfth century. In particular, Parker highlights the enduring impact of English (and, to a lesser extent, Danish) culture on the new Anglo-Norman world. Parker argues that Hereward gave post-conquest generations a "fruitful way of thinking about cultural changes" (56) and elsewhere uses the examples of Margaret, Edgar Ætheling, and the Godwinson family to demonstrate that many children lost the ability to control their own lives after 1066 (68). There is balance in Chapter 5, with Eadmer's example highlighting how intellectuals benefited from the ways in which Norman conquest brought English scholars increased mobility and growing access to the intellectual networks of continental Europe. But even here, Parker rightly notes that Eadmer (and his friend Osbern) remained fiercely committed to producing written memorials of the pre-conquest English past well into the 1120s.

Parker's book does not aim for a sustained critique on the status of childhood in Anglo-Norman society. Nevertheless, her discussions offer plenty of discussion on the childhood experiences of noble and royal families, and there is a notably detailed re-creation of Eadmer's childhood and youth as a monk at Canterbury in Chapter 5. Moreover, Parker makes important contributions to our understanding of how vulnerable groups were treated in the decades after 1066, be they women, members of minority cultural groups, or individuals from now seemingly unwanted noble families. The book shows that, despite these obstacles, the last children of Anglo-Saxon England, and their descendants, could go on to be queens (in the case of Margaret's daughter, Edith, to be Queen of [End Page 332] England); they could be heroes of fable and literature or authors of long-lasting histories. One of these children, Eadmer, was responsible for writing some of the dominant historical interpretations of the entire Anglo-Norman period, which proves that the Anglo-Norman pen really was mightier than its sword.

Parker acknowledges the problems in her approach...