The feudal system was not democratic, and people were not treated as equals. Because one of Costain's primary concerns is accuracy of detail, his treatment of politics, religion, violence, and the relationships between men and women reflects the era about which he writes. As a result, some readers could fault him for being too nonjudgmental on matters of social concern. Although Costain does not emphasize the conflicts between church and state, he does note that William was excommunicated upon his marriage, but that the next pope lifted the decree. Costain is never brutally graphic, but he does reveal the violence of the period in his battle scenes, and England's Harold dies from an arrow through his eye. Women play a subservient role in this work: William's wife, Mathilda, is depicted essentially as an object whose primary role is motherhood; and William's mother is barely mentioned except...