WELCOME TO NORMANDY - 2

From « WELCOME TO NORMANDY » :
I - Normandy of our ancestors

2 – The Norman invasions

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Photo Gérard ROGER

Montesquieu wrote : “ We know only four great changes in Europe since the etablishment of the Greek and Phoenician colonies : the firts caused by the Romans conquests, the second by the barbarian invasions which destroyed the same Romans, the third the victories of Charlemagne and the last by the Norman invasions...”

In the north of England a fleet of Scandinavian ships landed on Lindisfarne. A horde of seasoned warriors pillaged the monastery and killed the monks.

The new spread quickly in the Empire to AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, the capital of the Francs, where the dignitaries received it with incomprehension, even incredulity.

THEY WERE GOING TO UNDERSTAND !

This attack was a prelude to more than a century of raids, "hand to hand" fighting, battles,             and skirmishes between the Scandinavian warriors and the Francs, whose heavely equipped army was at times handicapped when faced with the tactic of lightning srikes from the Vikings.

In the northern countries the name “VIKINGS” came to  mean the men whose warrior operations always came from the sea.

These “sons of the sea” on board their “drakes", known as such because of the dragon’s head which decorated the prow, had been redoubtable sailors and fantastic explorers. Il was indeed they who, four centuries before Colombus, has crossed the nord Atlantic ocean in the year 1000 A.D. under the leadership of "LEIF L’HEUREUX" before establishing themselves on the north-east coast of America and creating a colony called “VINLAND”.

It was also they who to the east had established a vast domain with Novgorod as the capital.From there, their expeditions continued towards Kiev, then the Black Sea, establishing trading relations with  Byzanthium while overs via the Volga and the Caspian Sea reached Baghdad.

They struck as much in England, Ireland and Scotland in the Franc Empire. No western region was soon spared.

The estuaries were often chosen by the VIKINGS who could penetrate far up the rivers with their “esneques” thanks to the incomparable nautical quality of these flat bottomed boats. But these ships were equally capable of confronting the high seas being driven either by sail or by oars.

After a first place of pillaging, fighting and other skirmishes, the VIKINGS would profit from their superiority by “exploiting” the invaded territories with frequent ranson demands notably in the east of England, in the region of  YORK where “Danelaw” a form of colonisation was applied.

When there was noting left to plunder they established themselves and developed settlements in more hospitable areas than the harsh landscape and climate of Scandinavian. It suited many of the rough warriors to settle permanently at the mouth of the SEINE, the LOIRE, the GARONNE, around the HUMBER in Great-Britain and also in IRELAND and SCOTLAND.

The routes of penetration are obvious especially for the Carolingian empire : passing from the North Sea or the direct route via " le Pas de Calais” and the Channel.

At this start of the 10^th century, the Carolingians kings, like the Saxons kings in England, weakenad bu divisions, not even counting on their “faithful supporters” made more or less lasting treaties.

We know of one wonderful example. Suffice it to say that in 911 at SAINT-CLAIR-SUR-EPTE, in eastern region, King Charles III, called “The Simple” and the VIKING chief ROLLON, called “The Walker”, concluded an angreement which conceded a vast territory and the estuary of the Seine ( corresponding roughly to today’s departments of Seine-Maritime, Eure and part of Calvados).

This shy norwegian warrior was a Prince, son of ROGUALD THE RICH. One must note,however, that if at this moment the confrontation continued between Francs, Angles, Scots and Irish and the Scandinavians and the momentary agreements came and went... 


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