What was the effect of the Norman and Angevin kings possession of Normandy on the government of England?
… the effect that the close association between the two states had on it. It has long a matter of dispute amongst historians as to how integrated England and Normandy became once they were united under a common ruler. Professor Le Patourel argues that Norman and English landholders saw themselves as a single society.1 CW Hollister goes further by remarking that William and Henry rule as though Normandy were, “the southern part of trans-channel kingdom.” 2 However, Golding describes Le Patourel’s idea of a Norman Empire as too simplistic, arguing that the states were simply governed by a common ruler without any kind of collective administrative structure.3 Furthermore, he persuasively argues that England and Normandy could never be united because the Duke of Normandy was a vassal of the King of France while as king of England he was an autonomous ruler. That said, it is certainly true that many of …
