This workshop will review and assess the current state and future directions for Norman Conquest archaeology, with a programme emphasizing theoretical approaches, problematizing continuity and change, and research questions with interdisciplinary value. Key themes emerging from this workshop will help us begin designing a research agenda for the period which will be circulated among network participants and eventually disseminated.

December 8th, 2017 Department of Archaeology, University of York

The second workshop will highlight particular methodologies and techniques which have the potential to redefine the questions we are able to ask of the Norman Conquest. Contributions will emphasize a wide range of methods, including those which have been refined in other areas of archaeology, but which are potentially highly valuable in this period, as well as the integration of scientific and humanities-focused approaches. Potential future research projects and funding bids will be a key point of discussion, as will further work on the research agenda.

February 12th, 2018 Department of Archaeology, University of Exeter

The final workshop will focus on communicating the archaeology of the Norman Conquest to wider audiences, and on how collaborations between academics and heritage bodies can improve public understanding of the material dimensions of the 11th and 12th centuries through outreach and education. The workshop will facilitate the formation of cross-sector partnerships and future research on existing datasets and collections. Discussion (informed by all three workshops) will contribute to Norwich Castle Museum’s Stage 2 HLF application to restore its 12th-century keep and revitalize display of its Norman collections.

26th April 2018 Norwich Castle Museum, Norwich

In Britain, the vast majority of the work focusing on the 11th and 12th centuries naturally coalesces around the end of Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest, and this perspective has become so entrenched that 1066 has become an iconic watershed and the shorthand for dividing the “early” and “late” Middle Ages. It has also resulted in the Norman Conquest being seen either as the end of one discrete period and the beginning of another. As a consequence, we have only rarely interrogated how it relates to much longer-term, larger-scale trends, processes, and patterns. The British focus on the specific interactions of the Normans and the English in the political context of the Conquest has also resulted in very insular viewpoints about what "matters" in this period. As such, this workshop will focus specifically on international perspectives on the 11th and 12th centuries, highlighting themes and research directions which resonate throughout Europe, but also drawing out where there might be key regional distinctions and variations, and why they might have arisen. The discussions from this workshop will feed into the creation of the materially-focused research agenda for the 11th and 12th centuries that is the central aim of the project, and will also hopefully spot areas where future research collaborations and new avenues of research could develop.

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13th December 2018 The East Residence Seminar Room, British Museum