The two-and-a-half centuries after 1066 were momentous ones in the history of Britain. In 1066, England was conquered for the last time. The Anglo-Saxon ruling class was destroyed and and the English became a subject race, dominated by a Norman-French dynasty and aristocracy. This book shows how the English domination of the kingdom was by no means a foregone conclusion.
The struggle for mastery in the book's title is in reality the struggle for different masteries within Great Britain. The book weaves together the histories of England, Scotland and Wales in a new way and argues that all three, in their different fashions, were competing for domination
Chapter 1. The Peoples of Britain
Chapter 2. The Economies of Britain
Chapter 3. The Norman Conquest of England, 1066–87
Chapter 4. Wales, Scotland and the Normans, 1058–94
Chapter 5. Britain and the Anglo-Norman Realm, 1087–1135
Chapter 6. Britain Remodelled: King Stephen, 1135–54, King David, 1124–53, and the Welsh Rulers
Chapter 7. King Henry II, Britain and Ireland, 1154–89
Chapter 8. Richard the Lionheart, 1189–99, and William the Lion
Chapter 9. The Reign of King John, 1199–1216
Chapter 11. Britain During the Personal Rule of King Henry III, 1234–58
Chapter 13. Structures of Society
Chapter 14. Church, Religion, Literacy and Learning
Chapter 15. King Edward I: The Parliamentary State
Chapter 16. Wales and Scotland: Conquest and Coexistence