Meet the Normans

This intriguing documentary has two chapters: the first describes the Norman conquest of northeaster France, the second the Norman conquest of England.

Beginning in the 8th century AD, Normans from Denmark raided northeastern France every summer. From 790 on, they traveled down the Seine, sacking the Rouen in 840. In 845, they threatened to sack Paris but the Carolingian king of West Francia Charles the Bald paid them to withdraw. In 851, the Normans overwintered in France for the first time.

In 852, they sacked the Fontanelle Abbey and burnt it to the ground, in 876 under Rollo, the Vikings sacked Rouen. In 911 Rollo laid siege to Chartres and withdrew under the terms of the Treaty of Saint Clair sur Epte, which resulted in his marriage to the daughter of Charles III and a promise to convert to Christianity. Under the treaty he became a vassal (Duke of Normandy) of Charles III. He and 100 retainers were baptized a Christians in Rouen cathedral in 912. During his reign, he built the famous Mont St Michel monastery.

His son William Longsword succeeded him when he died in 927. Longsword expanded the duchy of Normandy slightly to the West and was assassinated by the Count of Flanders in 942.

In he was succeed by Richard I, an illegitimate on from a Breton concubine who had to be sent to Bayeux to learn Norse. He’s best known for the English/Irish slave market he operated (at the time contrary to Christian teachings).

In 996, his son Richard II succeeded him and married his sister to the king of England.

In 1026, his son Richard III succeeded him, only to be poisoned by his brother Robert a year later.

Robert was Duke of Normandy from 1027-1043, when his son William the Bastard (born of a concubine) succeeded him. The latter’s generation would be the last to speak Norse. Ironically between 912 and William’s accession to the dukedom, Normandy would be the only peaceful area of Europe.

As William was only 7 at the time of his father’s death, he spent much of his early reign putting down rebellion including one in 1057 backed by King Henry the first.

In 1066 when the childless king of England Edward the Confessor died, William (his cousin once removed via the sister of Richard II) was one of the main contenders for the throne. Edward’s 14 year old nephew was the closest heir, but for some reason no one took his claim seriously. The other contenders were the Earl of Wessex Harold Godwinson, Edward’s brother-in-law, and Harold the Viking, a distant relative of the Viking king Cnute, who ruled England from 1016 to 1035

Harold Godwinson was coronated on January 6 1066. In September 1066 Harold the Viking invaded with 200 long boats and marched to York where he confronted Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. After Harold the Viking was killed, William the Bastard loaded his cavalry onto dozen of ships and crossed the English channel. In October 14, 1066 Battle of Hastings 8,000 horseless Anglo-Saxon troops confronted William’s 8,000 Norman, French, Breton and Flemish troops protected by cavalry. After a nine hour battle, the Normans were victorious, killing King Harold. By Christmas day, William had conquered most of southeastern England and was the first to be crowned king in Westminster Abbey.  

It would take William six years to consolidate power:

• 1067 was a year of numerous small rebellions
• 1068 saw major rebellions in the West Country and the Midlands
• 1069 saw two rebellions in the north, supported by a Danish invasion. William ended the rebellions by laying waste to northern England. Known as the Harrying of the North, this resulted in a severe famine that killed 100,000 people and forced many northerners to sell themselves into slavery to survive.

William further consolidated his power by removing all the Anglo Saxon landholder and rewarding his military leaders with their lands. The Anglo-Saxon peasants who worked their lands became virtual serfs (slaves), causing William to be credited with establishing feudalism in Europe. He also appointed Normans to head England’s Catholic Church.

? explores the the role of the Bayeux tapestry and William’s Domesday Book in recording this history. In the latter, William required every estate in every English town to be recorded, along with the number of plows, mills and slaves they owned (for purposes of taxation.

William return to France in 1087 because the French king Phillip I was retaking peripheral Norman land. He died of a wound the same year and is buried at Caen. He bequeathed the Norman dukedom to his older son Robert and the throne of England to his younger son William Rufus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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