The defeat of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 remains one of the major landmarks in English history, heralding the establishment of the line of Norman kings and their Angevin successors that ruled the country for centuries to come. The pattern of conquest and settlement in England is well charted, but the Norman impact in Wales, Ireland and Scotland has generally been analysed within the limits of national history alone. In this succinct overview of the Anglo-Norman period, David Walker examines Norman influences in all parts of the British Isles as a unified theme.