The Normans

maybe there has already been some discussion about this topic.
I'm looking for some good introductions to the history of the Normans in Europe (especially France and South of Italy); all tips welcome.

Yes, I'd like that too. I've read a fair amount them during the Crusades. But I don't know a general one.

I know there was a discussion of the Normans here on LT, but if it was in this group, I can't find it right now. I have a "normal history" tag that will point you to a lot of books that I have on the subject, albeit weighted toward the Norman conquest of England and their later presence there:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/dkathman&tag=norman%2Bhistory

As for general overviews, there have been several pretty good ones published in the past few years, including:

The Normans: The History of a Dynasty by David Crouch
The Normans (The Peoples of Europe) by Marjorie Chibnall
A Brief History of the Normans by Francois Neveux

If you're specifically interested in the Normans in Italy, I believe Donald Matthew's The Norman Kingdom of Sicily is still the standard work. Gordon S. Brown's The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily is more recent and is useful, though Brown is not an academic.

Queen Emma and the Vikings touches on the Normans, just previous to the Norman Invasion of England.

Oops, I just noticed that I wrote "normal history" instead of "norman history". But the link should work, and you know what I mean.

The other standard text for the Normans in Sicily, besides Donald Matthew, is John Julius Norwich's 'The Normans in Sicily' (2 vols, 1967 & 1970) - perhaps a little dated now but a good read.

I also have Trevor Rowley's 'The Normans' (2004) & Elisabeth van Houts' 'The Normans in Europe' (2000).

Oh yeah, van Houts is one that I've been meaning to get, but haven't yet. Also David Bates's "Normandy Before 1066", which deals with the continental Normans and is about to come out in a second edition (the first was published almost 30 years ago). Norwich is a popularizer who is not generally very well thought of by academic historians, but his books are popular.

What about The Norman Achievement, 1050-1100 (pub. 1969) and The Norman Fate, 1100-1154 (pub. 1976) by David C. Douglas. I own the Folio Society's combined edition, but must admit I have not read it.

The Normans in Sicily: The Normans in the South 1016-1130 and the Kingdom in the Sun 1130-1194, I only have the spanish edition which haven't find the time to read.

Some years ago, a Norman specialist told me about The Normans (The Peoples of Europe) byMarjorie Chibnall, which I not only found very solid, but it got me started on that series, of which I by now have quite a few. I have a couple others: The Normans and their Myth by
R. H. C. Davis and The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily by Gordon S. Brown. To be honest, it's been too long since I read the last one to comment on it, but I do remember the Davis book, though rather slight, was interesting.