Kinship & Conquest

"Historians of medieval Europe have long employed the family as a window through which to explore broader social, political, and economic issues. Drawing primarily on the abundant charter sources in the archive of S. S. Trinita at Cava dei Tirreni, Joanna H. Drell has reconstructed the history of family relationships in the Principality of Salerno from its conquest by the Normans in 1077 to the death of the last Norman king in 1194.". "In Kinship and Conquest, Drell challenges historians to modify their views on the nature of medieval family structure. Complicated ties of blood and marital kinship enabled the Norman kings to solidify their central authority in the Kingdom of Southern Italy and Sicily. The author finds that in the principality a broad range of kin participated in the management of family property and that kinship networks remained highly flexible."--BOOK JACKET.