norman

The Norman Kingdom of Sicily is somewhat one of my most favorite states of history, and for good reason: it was rich, advanced, and tolerant of Muslims. In particular I have been fascinated by the Kingdom’s attempts to expand into Tunisia and North Africa, and how it governed its territories...

What if Alexios had won a decisive victory at the Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081) ? IOTL, Alexios had had the Normans pinned down in a siege between the Citadel at Dyrrachium. His advisors were split in two groups, those who counseled a more conservative approach of continuing the siege and those...

The Norman "Kingdom of Africa" is a fascinating yet extremely brief era in North African history. Lasting only twenty years, the "Kingdom" never really amounted to anything beyond a constellation of Norman-held towns along coastal Ifrīqiya, later conquered by the Al-Muwahedeen/Almohad Caliphate...

Stone castles have been something I've taken for granted regarding the Middle Ages. But it recently occurred to me that castles weren't really a thing in England until after the Norman invasion which were used as a way to control the Anglo-Saxons. Before then the closest example of sophisticated...

King William II of Sicily died in 1189 in OTL, leaving no surviving children by his queen, Joan of England, a Plantagenet princess and sister of Richard the Lionheart. The chronicler Robert of Torigni records that a son was born at some point, Bohemond, Duke of Apulia. His death led to his...

What would be the consequences of England, despite failing to conquer all of France, managing to retain control over the region of Normandy in the aftermath of the Hundred Years’ War? Would the English kings from there on in oversee the strengthening of Normandy as a military province in...

I have posited this question before, but why didn't French or Anglo-Norman French become the dominant spoken language in England after the Norman Conquest and subsequent Plantagenet kings. With ties to the Continent, why didn't England and Scotland gradually become predominantly French-speaking...

This may have been done, but I'm legitimately curious about Stephen I of the House of Blois winning the war in the era known as the Anarchy. I am curious as to how this might turn out. Ultimately, I have William, Count of Boulogne succeeding Stephen as William III. Would it be possible to create...

He would no doubt have gone on the face his Norman cousins under William. What do you guys think would have happened in a battle between these two Viking descendants? How would their fighting styles have compared?

Triumph of the Gael: A Hibernian TL Chapter 1 (15th Century anachronistic depiction of Clontarf) ***** “...the Earl came with all his host on Palm Sunday to Dublin, and there too was come Brodir with all his host. Brodir tried by sorcery how the fight would go, but the answer ran thus...

The Norman army sets sail a month earlier and lands in Pevensey on the 28th of August. Two weeks later King Harold the Second of England meets Duke William of Normandy just outside of Hastings on September the 14th and achieves a decisive victory. Duke William is dead and his army limps back to...

WI Rollo the count of Rouen continues to practice in association with the new Norse aristocracy their native ways in secret and somehow ensuring that this is carried on through the generations after them with the outside world seeing them as basically good old French Catholics. While I will...

Using whatever POD you think best accomplishes it, imagine a world where the Carolingian Empire does not collapse during the 9th century, but instead survives as a cohesive and powerful entity for at least several more centuries (in such a scenario it'd probably be colloquially referred to as...

It's the 14th of October, 1066 at Hastings. The now legendary Battle of Hastings rages on. As we know, at one point in the battle, William was believed by his troops to have been struck down, and to prevent his army from going into a full panicked retreat, William raised his helmet to show his...

Instead of marching north in 1066 to defeat the Norwegian invader Harald Hardrada, Harald stays in the Thames valley and consolidates power there. How would this affect William the Bastard's plans of invading England? What about the Scots and the Welsh? Whither the French? Will the...

What if a series of storms like the one in 1588 occurred in 1066, forcing the Norman fleet off-course, east and north around England? Scenario 1: William's fleet lands in Yorkshire Scenario 2: William's fleet lands in Orkney or the Faroes. Scenario 3: William has to round Great Britain...

So, William II Hauteville died in 1189 at just 36 years of age, he had not direct male descendants, so he left his Kingdom to his aunt Costanza and, through her, to the Hohenstaufen Imperial family. (Before they could actually claim the Kingdom of Sicily they had however to beat the illegitimate...