Castles and the Anglo-Norman World is a major new synthesis drawing together a series of 20 papers by 26 French and English specialists in the field of Anglo-Norman studies. It includes summaries of current knowledge and new research into important Norman castles in England and Normandy, drawing on information from recent excavations. Sections consider the evolution of Anglo-Norman castles, the architecture and archaeology of Norman monuments, Romanesque architecture and artifacts, the Bayeux Tapestry and the presentation of historic sites to the public. These studies are presented together with a consideration of the 12th century cross-Channel Norman Empire, which provides a broader context. This work is the result of a conference held at Norwich Castle in 2012, which was part of a collaboration between professionals in the fields of archaeology, architecture, museums and heritage, under the banner of the Norman Connections Project.

Founded by William the Conqueror, the castle of Caen was 'rediscovered' after WWII, offering up more and more historical information thanks to archaeologists and historians working on the project, starting with Michel de Bouard. Although the evidence of the first duke's palace is today rather scant, the hall of the 'Exchequer' has retained some of the magnificence that it must have exuded in the XIIth century, despite the transformations it has undergone through time. As for the castle keep, which was torn down during the French Revolution, its foundations continue to fascinate many a visitor, drawing upon the Anglo-Norman origins of the edifice, whereas the porte des Champs built in the XIIIth century harks back to the days of the return of Normandy to French possession and finally the Saint-Pierre barbican recalls the Hundred Years' War. One should nevertheless not forget what the castle enceinte with its towers and drawbridge used to be in the Middle Ages - a town within the town, with its parish church dedicated to Saint-George. Today, the castle lies in the heart of the town, having been restored to its pride of place, and has become an essential cultural venue, housing none other than the Museum of Normandy, the Rampart Rooms and the Musee des Beaux-Arts which draw art and history lovers from across the world.

Exterranean concerns the extraction of stuff from the Earth, a process in which matter goes from being sub- to exterranean. By opening up a rich archive of nonmodern texts and images from across Europe, this work offers a bracing riposte to several critical trends in ecological thought. By shifting emphasis from emission to extraction, Usher reorients our perspective away from Earthrise-like globes and shows what is gained by opening the planet to depths within. The book thus maps the material and immaterial connections between the Earth from which we extract, the human and nonhuman agents of extraction, and the extracted matter with which we live daily. Eschewing the self-congratulatory claims of posthumanism, Usher instead elaborates a productive tension between the materially-situated homo of nonmodern humanism and the abstract and aggregated anthropos of the Anthropocene. In dialogue with Michel Serres, Bruno Latour, and other interdisciplinary work in the environmental humanities, Usher shows what premodern material can offer to contemporary theory. Examining textual and visual culture alike, Usher explores works by Ronsard, Montaigne, and Rabelais, early scientific works by Paracelsus and others, as well as objects, engravings, buildings, and the Salt Mines of Wieliczka. Both historicist and speculative in approach, Exterranean lays the groundwork for a comparative ecocriticism that reaches across and untranslates theoretical affordances between periods and languages.

Reproduction of the original: Architectural Antiquities of Normandy by John Sell Cotman