Abstract EN:

By the mid-twelfth century the Norman nobility had emerged as a distinct group within society. Dominating both society and the economy, its social cohesion developed through the memorialisation of ancestors and the cultivation of the ideals of knighthood. Its distinctiveness was acknowledged by both legal custom and by the rulers of Normandy, so that it acquired legal as well as social status. Its members participated in the administration of the duchy, but its relations with the duchy's rulers remained tense. The Plantagenets adopted oppressive policies, punishing any "treachery" severely and exerting tighter control over men and castles. As the dukes became more autocratic, aristocratic disaffection spread. While Richard earned the aristocracy's affection through his charisma, his image as a chivalric king, his brother John suffered from his bad reputation, and his poor relations with his nobles played a decisive role in determining the outcome of his conflict with Philip Augustus