Charles D. Stanton (1)

Less focused than the title might imply, this is a naval-oriented military history of the Norman dominions of southern Italy and Sicily (and briefly parts of North Africa) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The bulk of the work is narrative, with what's known of the technical and organizational details of the Siculo-Norman fleet put in a capacious appendix.

The narrative bits, which combine readability with clarity and a proper delineation between what's attested and what's inference or conjecture, are very good, as is the appendix. When Stanton stands back and looks at the big picture, he's got a tendency to wax grandiloquent about Historical Significance, which I appreciate less. But that's easy to forgive him; on balance the book is easily to be recommended.… (mehr)