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Duke Robert of Normandy may well be one of the greatest kings England never had. The eldest son of the Conqueror, his reputation was distorted by the English chroniclers, anxious to give legitimacy to the claims to the throne of Robert's brothers, William Rufus and Henry I. Known to history as a rebel and a lazy ruler, Katherine Lack shows that Robert was the victim of medieval spin. He has had nine hundred years of bad publicity. In Conqueror's Son Katherine Lack redresses the balance of opinon on Robert Curthose. There is no doubt that Robert was rebellious, but the fact remains that the throne of England was meant to pass to him on the death of William the Conqueror. William Rufus and Henry I were thus usurpers, which casts a new light on English history. Had Robert succeeded, the Church would have been spared the depredations of Rufus's reign and there would have been better relations with Scotland. Key elements of later history would also have been changed for the better.

Dr Katherine Lack qualified as an inorganic chemist before turning her attention to Norman England. She has been a visiting lecturer in medieval studies at the University of Birmingham and is the author of The Cockleshell Pilgrim: A Medieval Journey to Compostela.