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Review of The Normans: Power, Conquest and Culture in 11th-Century Europe. By Judith A. Green. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2022. ISBN978-0-300-18033-6. ix + 351 pp. £25.

The paper examines the Frankish presence in Byzantium during 11th century. It was stressed that the mentioned period was the time of a great influx of westerners to the East. At first, most of them visited Constantinople as pilgrims during return journey from the Holy Land. The author points out that the term Franks (Frankoi) was basically attributed to the Eastern Franks/Germans, while in the course of time the Byzantines started to use it to identify rather Western Franks (i.e. French, Normans, Burgundians etc.). The author studies the circumstances in which the new mercenaries and adventurers meet the Empire, trying to define the reason of their success. Another issue investigated in the text is the extent to which Franks got promoted within the social hierarchy in Byzantium during the 11th century. Finally, the author argues that before the presence of great families such as Petraliphai, Raoul or Rogerioi there was at least one house of Frankish descent, which was raised significantly earlier and whose founder was Herve Frankopoulos.

The Basilian monks of the greek’s rite, are rooted in the whole territory of Messina and build many monasteries. Among the most important archimandriato of the Holy Savior of Messina, main church of the order, and the monastery of San Filippo of Demenna (or Fragalà), near to Frazzanò, in the province of Messina. The two monasteries are linked not only by the period of the foundation but also from the relationship between both the Norman house of Sicily, in fact Adelaide del Vasto, wife of Roger I and mother of Roger II, despite being the cause of the Latinization of the island protect both monasteries and endows them with possessions that ensure survival. Both buildings are the subject of the restoration based on an anti-sismic intervention, the archimandriato in the first half of the seventeenth century, while Fragalà in the first half of the twentieth century, in both cases we see how the focus on the existing structures and the use of materials try to ensure the buildings "durability" to the earthquake.

The article presents a report from a November 19-21, 2015 workshop in Freiburg, Germany on the history of feudalism. Topics of presentations delivered include the history of barter and exchange economics in eighth- and ninth-century historiography, the legal history of fiefdoms, and the personal relations between southern Italian Normans and the papacy.

The article discusses the co-called Norman Theory of of the origin and development of the Russian nation, developed in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the 19th century and which relates to Russian history from the 9th and 10th centuries following Norman invasions. The author describes the difficulty in determining the meaning of the term, despite the existence of a Norman school and Anti-norman schools in 19th century Russian historiography. German historians of Russia, Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer (1694-1738) and August Ludwig Schlözer (1735-1809), are mentioned as being influenced by Norman Theory, and the theory itself is evaluated and the lack of a cultural approach to history during the period discussed.

The article presents the summary of a conference that focused on King Louis the Pious' reign over the Carolingian Empire from 814 to 840. It was was held March 16-19, 2011 in Limoges, France. Topics under discussion included how the Holy Roman Emperor Louis the Pious dealt with pagans in his empire, the monastic reforms that Louis the Pious ordered in his kingdom, as well as the challenges presented by the invasion of the Normans in Louis the Pious's Frankish Empire.