INTRODUCTION
Invasion like revolution creates a series of catastrophic events in the evolution of any
political system. These events often become dates by which the memories of individuals
and groups judge the development of their own societies and institutions. For social
scientists attempting to explain and analyze the development of these same societies and
institutions they become signposts in their evolution and development. The Norman
invasions and conquests of Sicily, England and Ireland in the eleventh and twelfth
centuries were major catastrophic events for the underlying societies and institutions in
the three regions. The invasions had major implications for the regions that still resonate
in political and cultural life nearly a thousand years later. The degree to which these
events shifted the trajectories of these islands is a subject that provides an interesting as
well as sobering topic for examination by the political scientist seeking to understand
how societies and institutions evolve and become modern and democratic.
The basic research question is to what degree did the Norman invasions shape or
influence the historical trajectory of contemporary institutions in these regions? It is
clearly not possible in this paper to examine the impact of the Norman invasion on each
of these societies and institutions in any detail over the past one thousand years. Instead
it will concentrate on the political and social conditions in each region prior to the
invasion and the broad political and social conditions in the two to three centuries
following the invasions. The social conditions in each area will be used to examine the
impact the Normans had on the development of the political community in each of these
regions and therefore the implication for the political institutions in each region. It will
conclude that the response of the Normans to the underlying political conditions played a
major role in determining the nature of the political community and institutions that
developed in each of the regions. It will indicate that a major factor in determining this
response was shaped by the nature of the underlying social and political structures
already in place. This reactive response by the Normans strongly influenced the
historical trajectory from the time of the invasion but that the response was shaped less
by Norman innovation than by Norman adaptation.
2
Convention