"The main aim of N-LINK is to compare England and Italy before and after the Norman Conquest, exploring specific European case studies of historic landscape evolution. The research questions are whether, how and why the Normans changed the settlement patterns within their Kingdoms, specifying similarities and differences between both countries by applying and developing new interdisciplinary landscape-focussed methods and tools (especially GIS and HLC).I will investigate the role of the Normans in shaping and exploiting two border lands in their Kingdoms of England and Sicily (in the former kingdom of Northumbria, northern England, and the medieval Principality of Capua, Italy, both border lands which were controlled by Norman conquerors). The hypothesis I seek to investigate in my research proposal is whether a specific Norman Identity (‘Normannitas’) was expressed in the ‘building’ of conquered landscapes.Thus, I have chosen to compare two Norman territories, scientifically selected, analysing the effects of the conquest on both landscapes, using a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach integrating archive research and archaeological data through GIS.Research objectives are: to analyse: geomorphologic conditions and previous use of natural resources; pre-existing settlement organization and land exploitation; results from archaeological excavations and surveys; to identify Norman settlements and features, reconstructing their networks and defining Norman development phases in medieval settlements; to test and apply GIS-based HLC in this analysis.This is the first time that the same project has ever expressly aimed to tie together British and Italian landscapes, sharing methodologies and historiographical issues in order to develop a new method of research. Therefore, N-LINK has to bridge two different European academic approaches, building new links across ‘cultural European borders’."