ÈNGLAND´S MEDIEVAL NAVY 1066-1509

We are accustomed to think of England in terms of Shakespeare’s precious stone ser in a silver sea, safe behind its watery ramparts with its naval strength resisting all invaders. To the English of an earlier period – from the eighth to the eleventh centuries- such a notion would have seemend ridiculous. The sea, rather than being a defensive wall, was a highway by which successive waves of invaders arrived, bringing destruction and fear  wake.