2 Normans and Normandy

In the course of the 10th century the initial destructive incursions of Norse war bands into the rivers of GaulGallia (in English Gaul is the Latin name for the region of western Europe occupied by present-day France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river. In English the word Gaul commonly ref evolved into more permanent encampments that included women and chattel. The paganPaganism (or Heathenism ) is a catch-all term which has come to bundle together (by extension from its original classical meaning of a non- Christian religion) a very broad set of not necessarily compatible religious beliefs and practices that are usually culture was driven underground by the Christian faith and Gallo-Romance languageThe Gallo-Romance branch of Romance languages includes French, Oil languages, Catalan, and Occitan, among other languages. These languages present some similarities. Catalan is considered a transitional language between Gallo-Romance and Ibero-Romance. of the local people. With the zeal of new converts they set forth in the 11th century from their solid base in Normandy. Characteristically it was younger sons, like William the Bastard who were largely dispossessed at home, that headed the adventurous raiding parties.

Geographically, Normandy was approximately the same region as the old church province of Rouen. It had no natural frontiers and was previously merely an administrative unit. Its population was mostly Gallo-Roman with a small Frankish/ Germanic admixture, plus Viking settlers, who had begun arriving in the 880s, and who were divided between a small colony in Upper (or eastern) Normandy and a larger one in Lower (or western) Normandy.

In Normandy they adopted the growing feudal doctrines of France, and worked them, both in Normandy and in England, into a logical system.

The Norman warrior class was new and different from the old French aristocracy, many of whom could trace their families back to Carolingian times, while the Normans could seldom cite ancestors before the beginning of the 11th century. Most knights remained poor and land-hungry; by 1066, Normandy had been exporting fighting horsemen for more than a generation. Knighthood at this time held little social status, and simply indicated that a man was a professional warrior.

The Norman language forged by the adoption of the indigenous oïl language by a Norse-speaking ruling class developed into the regional language which survives today.

3 The Normans in England

Main articles: Norman Conquest; Anglo-Normans

In 1066, the most famous Norman leader, Duke William II of Normandy, conquered England. The invading Normans and their descendants replaced the Anglo-Saxons as the ruling class of England. After an initial period of resentment and rebellion, the two populations largely intermarried and merged, combining languages and traditions. Normans began to identify themselves as Anglo-Norman; indeed, the Anglo-Norman language was considerably distinct from the " Parisian French ", which was the subject of some humour by Geoffrey Chaucer. Eventually, even this distinction largely disappeared in the course of the Hundred Years war, with the Anglo-Norman aristocracy increasingly identifying themselves as English, and the Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon languages merging to form Middle English.

See also:

• Norman Yoke
• Norman architecture

4 The Normans in Scotland

One of the claimants of the English throne opposing William the Conqueror, Edgar Atheling, eventually fled to Scotland. King Malcolm Canmore of Scotland married Edgar's sister Margaret, and came into opposition to William who had already disputed Scotland's southern borders. William invaded Scotland in 1072, riding as far as the Firth of Tay where he met up with his fleet of ships. Malcolm submitted, paid homage to William, and surrendered his son Duncan as a hostage, beginning a series of arguments as to whether the Ecottish Crown owed allegiance to the English King.

Normans came into Scotland, building castles and founding noble families who would provide some future kings such as Robert the Bruce as well as founding some of the Scottish clans in the Highlands. The Norman feudal system was applied to the Scottish Lowlands, but the influence on Scots language was limited.

See also History of Scotland

Norman keep in Trim, County Meath, Ireland.

5 The Normans in Ireland

The Normans had a profound result on Irish culture, history and ethnicity. While initially the Normans in the 12th century kept themselves as a distinct culture and ethnicity, they quickly subsummed into Ireland, and it is often said that they became more Irish than the Irish themselves. The Normans settled mostly in an area to the east of Ireland, later known as the Pale, and also built many fine castles and settlements, including Trim Castle and Dublin Castle. Both cultures intermixed, borrowing from each other's language, culture and outlook.

See also: Castles in the Republic of Ireland

6 The Normans in Russia

See Kievan Rus' and Rus' (people)

7 Norman Conquests in the Mediterranean

Opportunistic bands of Normans successfully established a foothold far to the south of Normandy. Groups settled at Aversa and Capua, others [?] conquered Apulia and Calabria.

From these bases, more organised principalities were eventually able to capture Sicily and Malta from the Saracens.

See:

• Tancred of Hauteville
• Robert Guiscard
• Roger I of Sicily
• Roger II of Sicily
• Roger III of Sicily
• William I of Sicily

[The decline of Norman power in the south?]

[The disappearance of Norman identity more generally?]

8 References

• Brown, Elizabeth (see Feudalism)
• Maitland, F. W., Domesday Book and Beyond: Three Essays in the Early History of England (feudal Saxons)
• Muhlbergher, Stephen, Medieval England (Saxon social demotions)
• Reynolds, Susan (see Feudalism)
• Robertson, A. J., ed. and trans. Laws of the Kings of England from Edmund to Henry I. New York: AMS Press, 1974. (Mudrum fine)

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