History of the Norman Conquest, vol. 1

202. I use this familiar name prospectively, as I know not what other to put in its place. I may add that Capet was at no time really a family name, as people fancied during the French Revolution, and ludicrously described Lewis the Sixteenth as “Louis Capet.”

203. Sir Francis Palgrave has altogether upset the vulgar error which looks on the later Karlings as a line of utterly incapable Kings, like the later Merwings. No two sets of men could be more completely different both in position and in character.

204. See the story of the taking of Luna by mistake for Rome, Dudo, 65.

205. Regino in Anno (Pertz, i. 602), and our own Chronicles.

206. On the battle of Saulcourt, see the Chronicle in Duchesne, p. 4.

207. The Ludwigslied will be found in Max Müller’s German Classics, p. 37.

208. See Benoît de Ste. More, p. 76, and M. Michel’s note. Cf. Dudo, p. 66.

209. See Flod. A. 923, 930 (Pertz, iii. 379), et pass. On the Loire, as at Bayeux, the Normans had Saxon forerunners. Greg. Tur. ii. 18, 19; Zeuss, 386.

210. “Richardus pyratarum dux apoplexia minore periit” is one of the last entries in the history of Richer (t. ii. p. 308, Guadet).

211. The genuine name is Hrolfr, Rolf, in various spellings. The true French form is Rou. The love of the Old-French tongue for making all nouns end in s, that is, for making them all of the second declension, made this into Rous, and hence came a strange Latin form Rosus. The true Latin form is Rollo, like Cnuto, Sveno, &c. From this Latin form modern French writers have, oddly enough, made a form Rollon. The strangest form is Rodla, which occurs in a late manuscript of the English Chronicles (A. 876. Thorpe’s ed.). This was clearly meant to be an English form of Rollo. The English masculine ending a was substituted for the Latin o, just as Giso and Odo are in English Gisa and Oda. The writer also clearly thought that Rollo was a name of the same type as Robert and others, and he fancied that by putting in a d he was restoring it to its genuine Teutonic shape.

212. Flodoard was perhaps contemporary with the settlement, but we have no narrative of those years from his hand. Richer, if he was very old when he died, may have been an infant at the time of the settlement, but that is all.

214. Lappenberg (Thorpe), ii. 60.

215. In some accounts he seems to appear even earlier than 876. Duchesne, 25 D.

219. Dudo, 80 B. Cf. Duchesne, 25 A, 34 B.

220. See above, p. 53.

222. See Appendix W.

223. See Appendix W.

224. See Appendix T.

225. I cannot but think that Sir Francis Palgrave has made too much of this last title, which is surely only a piece of Dudonian rhetoric, like the “satrapæ” and “archontes” of our own charters.

226. See above, p. 164.

227. See the stories in Dudo, p. 85; Benoît de Ste. More, 7146 et seqq.

228. On the division of the land, just like the division of Northumberland and Danish Mercia, see Depping, i. 125.

229. See further on in this Chapter.

230. See Palgrave, i. 700; Lappenberg’s Anglo-Norman Kings, 97; and, more at large, Depping, ii. 339. Such names as Dieppedal (Deep dale) and Caudebec (Cold beck) are good examples. In forming local names from the proper names of men, the familiar Danish by often appears under the form of bœuf; but it is more usual to couple the Danish name with a French ending. Haqueville, for instance, answers to the English Haconby.

231. Palgrave, ii. 68, 259.

232. Dudo, 76 D. “Quo nomine vester senior fungitur? Responderunt, Nullo, quia æqualis potestatis sumus.”

233. Several examples are collected by Lappenberg, p. 19. The dealings of the Assembly touching the abdication of Rolf are given at large by Dudo, 90 D, et seqq. So in 85 B we read, “Jura et leges sempiternas voluntate principum sancitas et decretas plebi indixit.”

234. See Depping, ii. 128, 129.

235. Flod. A. 923. “Ragenoldus princeps Nortmannorum qui in fluvio Ligeri versabantur, Karoli frequentibus missis jampridem excitus, Franciam trans Isaram conjunctis sibi plurimis ex Rodomo prædatur.”

236. The well-known duchy of after times, with Dijon for its capital. This part of the earliest Burgundy always retained its connexion with the kingdom of the West-Franks, while the rest formed the Burgundian kingdom of Boso.

237. Here Lewis the Eleventh was kept in durance by Charles the Bold, on which Philip of Comines remarks (ii. 7), “Le roy qui se vid enfermé en ce chasteau (qui est petit) et force archers à la porte, n’estoit point sans doute: et se voyoit logé rasibus d’une grosse tour, où un comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien predecesseur roy de France.” There is a curious notice of Charles’s imprisonment in Thietmar of Merseburg (i. 13. Pertz, iii. 741); “Fuit in occiduis partibus quidam rex, ab incolis Karl Sot, id est stolidus, ironice dictus, qui ab uno suimet ducum captus, tenebris includitur carceralibus.” Both Thietmar and Widukind (i. 33) attribute to the Eastern King a powerful intervention in favour of Charles, which is perfectly possible, but which it is hard to find in the French writers.

238. On the siege of Eu (Auga), see Flodoard, A. 925; Richer, i. 49. On Eu, see vol. iii. ch. xii. § 2. The way in which Flodoard (A. 923) mentions the first invasion of Normandy is remarkable; “Itta fluvio transito ingressus est [Rodulfus] terram, quæ dudum Nortmannis ad fidem Christi venientibus, ut hanc fidem colerent, et pacem haberent, fuerat data.”

239. See Appendix T.

240. Flod. A. 924. On Maine, see vol. iii. ch. xii. § 3.

241. Dudo gives the account in full, p. 90 et seqq. He makes Rolf survive his abdication five years. Florence of Worcester makes him die in 917, probably by omission or misreading of a letter. Richer seems (but compare his two versions) to kill him at Eu in 925. The one certain thing is that William did homage to Charles in 927. “Karolus igitur cum Heriberto colloquium petit Nortmannorum ad castellum quod Auga vocatur, ibique se filius Rollonis Karolo committit, et amicitiam firmat cum Heriberto.” Flod. in anno. So Richer, i. 53.

242. On the history of the Saxons of Bayeux, see Lappenberg, Anglo-Norman Kings, p. 2. There were also Saxon settlements in Anjou and at Sens.

243. In the Capitulary of Charles the Bald in 843 (Pertz, Legg. i. 426), which Lappenberg refers to, the “Ot lingua Saxonia” is distinguished from the “Bagisinum.” It might seem that the Saxon speech survived in some parts of the country, but not in the city. The document is a list of royal missi and of the districts to which they were sent.

244. There would be whatever difference there may have been—one probably not very perceptible—between the Saxons of Bayeux and the Angles of Eastern and Northern England; there also is greater chance of a certain Celtic intermixture at Bayeux than there is at Derby or Stamford.

245. No country is historically more interesting to Englishmen than Aquitaine, on account of its long political connexion with England; but the connexion was purely political; there are no such abiding traces of real kindred as we see in Normandy, and especially in the Bessin.

246. Benoît, v. 8342;

“Ici trespasse Rous li proz et li vaillanz

Od fin duce e saintisme, e pleins de jorz e d’anz.”

247. The tale is told by the Aquitanian chronicler Ademar (iii, 20, Pertz, iv. 123), and M. Francisque Michel (note on Benoît, v. 8349) is inclined to believe it. It runs thus; “Postea vero [Rosus, see above, p. 165] factus Christianus a sacerdotibus Francorum, imminente obitu, in amentiam versus, Christianos captivos centum ante se decollari fecit in honore, quæ coluerat, idolorum, et demum centum auri libras per ecclesias distribuit Christianorum in honore veri Dei in cujus nomine baptismum susceperat.” But the manuscript which Pertz follows in his text does not make the sacrifice take place immediately before his death, and it is as well to see how Ademar’s whole story hangs together. He makes his “Rosus” be defeated by King Rudolf in the battle of Limoges in 930; he then retreats, and finding Rouen unoccupied, takes possession.

248. Dudo, 77 D; Benoît, v. 4122.

249. Will. Gem. iii. 2. See Appendix X.

250. Will. Gem. ii. 22. “Repudiatam Popam ... iterum repetens sibi copulavit.” See more in detail, Benoît, v. 7954. So Roman de Rou, 2037.

251. Dudo, 97 C; Will. Gem. iii. 3.

252. Ademar, iii. 27. “Roso defuncto, filius ejus Willelmus loco ejus præfuit, a pueritia baptizatus, omnisque eorum Normannorum, qui juxta Frantiam inhabitaverant, multitudo fidem Christi suscepit, et gentilem linguam obmittens, Latino sermone assuefacta est.” So, in the same words, in the Chronicle of Saint Maxentius, Labbé, iii. 202. On the use of Latinus for French, instead of Romanus, see Appendix V.

253. Flodoard, A. 928.

254. Ib. A. 929; Richer, i. 56.

255. Ib. A. 930. “Aquitanos sibi subditos fecit.” Of course this implies nothing more than homage. Cf. above, p. 156.

256. Flodoard, A. 931. “Brittones qui remanserant Nortmannis in Cornu Galliæ subditi consurgentes adversus eos qui se obtinuerant, in ipsis solemniis sancti Michaelis omnes interemisse dicuntur qui inter eos morabantur Nortmannos.”

258. The Chronicle of Saint Maxentius, under 937 (Labbé, iii. 202), speaks of Saint Michael’s Mount as founded “in ea Normannia quæ antea vocabatur marchia Franciæ et Britanniæ.”

259. On these marriages see William of Malmesbury, ii. 126, 135. He describes at length the splendid embassy sent by Hugh (see Flod. A. 926) to demand Eadhild. Oddly enough, in c. 135 he calls Hugh “Rex Francorum,” while in c. 128 he utterly confounds the whole genealogy and history of the Parisian Dukes.

260. Her name is by French writers tortured into Ethgiva, Ogive, and what not. She is “Headtgiva” in Aimon of Fleury, Pertz, ix. 375. He says that Lewis [see Appendix A.], “calamitatis paternæ procella semet involvi metuens, ad Anglos-Saxones, maternæ affinitatis invitatus gratia, se contulit, in transmarinis arbitratus se tutiorem manere regionibus, quam inter suos dominus si foret in cubiculo, rex in convivio.”

261. Richer, ii. 1, 73. He was carried out in a bundle of hay or some such stuff (“in fasciculo farraginis”); but whither was he carried? “In partes transmarinas et prope in Rifeos.” As Lewis certainly went as far north as York, does this flourish mean the Cheviots, the Grampians, or what?

262. Dudo, 93 C. “Ipse vero in Britannia, nec in tota Francia usquam morari ob metum Willelmi ducis nequivit, sed profugus expetivit auxilium Alstemi Anglorum regis.” Benoît, 8834;

“En Engleterre au rei engleis
Alestan, au proz, au corteis,
Là se remist, là s’en foï
Deserité e mauballi.”

263. Dudo, 97 B. “Franciscæ gentis principes Burgundionumque comites famulabantur ei; Dacigenæ et Flandrenses, Anglique et Hibernenses parebant ei.” Ib. D. “Non solum monarchiam, quam tenebat, regebat; verum etiam affinia regna strenuo consilio moderabat. Angli parebant ejus mandatis, Franci et Burgundiones ejus dictis.”

264. It is curious to compare the different ways in which the return of the Bretons is told by Flodoard and by Dudo. Flodoard (A. 936) is willing to magnify even an Englishman in comparison with a Norman. William is not named. “Brittones a transmarinis regionibus Alstani Regis præsidio revertentes terram suam repetunt.” Dudo mixes up their return with the return of King Lewis, which in Flodoard follows it, and he makes Æthelstan something like a suppliant to William (95 D.) He calls Æthelstan “Anglorum Rex pacificus.” Was he thinking of Eadgar, who may have come within his own memory?

265. Dudo, 98 A. “Ipseque Alanus postea Willelmi mandatis indesinenter inhæsit.” Cf. 102 B, C; 113 D; 117 D.

266. Flodoard seems to imply that some of these independent Normans entered Britanny, about the same time as this suppression of the Breton revolt, perhaps even in concert with Duke William (A. 931); “Incon Nortmannus, qui morabatur in Ligeri, cum suis Britanniam pervadit victisque et cæsis vel ejectis Brittonibus regione potitur.” Of the return of the Bretons he has two notices. The first is under the year 937; “Brittones ad sua loca post diutinam regressi peregrinationem, cum Nortmannis, qui terram ipsorum contiguam sibi pervaserant, frequentibus dimicant prœliis, superiores pluribus existentes et loca pervasa recipientes.” The second is in the next year, 939; “Brittones cum Nortmannis confligentes victoria potiuntur, et quoddam Nortmannorum castellum cepisse feruntur.” See Palgrave, ii. 178–182.

267. The general line of thought in this paragraph is suggested by Palgrave, i. 106.

268. See above, p. 155.

269. Dudo, 94 et seqq.

270. From this scheme he was dissuaded by the good sense of the Abbot Martin. Those who care to read the Abbot’s sermon on the practical and the contemplative life will find it in Latin (diversified with a little Greek) in Dudo, p. 101 et seqq., and in Old-French in Benoît, v. 11057 et seqq.

271. William of Jumièges (iii. 9) makes Harold Blue-tooth, driven from his kingdom by his son Swegen, take refuge with William Longsword, who allows him to settle in the Côtentin till he can recover his kingdom. Now Harold’s expulsion by Swegen did not happen till long afterwards, and Swegen could hardly have been born when William died. The story no doubt arises from some confusion with Harold’s dealings with Normandy in the next reign, but it may very well preserve a memory of some real Danish colonization of the peninsula with or without William’s permission.

272. Dudo, ii. 112 D. See Appendix V.

273. Richer (i. 47) distinctly calls the immediate subjects of Charles the Simple “Germani.”

274. I of course assume that Hugh had no share in the murder of William, a point which I shall discuss elsewhere.

275. Flod. A. 933. “Willelmus, princeps Nortmannorum eidem regi [Rodulfo] se committit; cui etiam rex dat terram Brittonum in ora maritima sitam.”

276. Flod in A. “Heribertus comes ad Heinricum proficiscitur, eique sese committit.” The matter was serious enough for Rudolf and Hugh to make special peace with Henry, and to give hostages.

277. Richer, ii. 1–4. See Appendix Y.

278. Richer, ii. 2. “Adelstanus rex in urbem quæ dicitur Eurvich, regnorum negotia cum nepote Ludovico apud suos disponebat.” Mark the accuracy of the plural form regnorum (we shall come to it again), as applied to the dominions of the Emperor of Britain.

279. Ib. 3. “Acsi barbaris non satis credens.” The Persians in Æschylus call themselves βάρβαροι, and Plautus says, “Menander scripsit, Marcus vortit barbarè;” but why should Richer call his own people barbari as contrasted with the English? Is the word put dramatically into the mouth of Æthelstan, and does barbari literally translate Wealas?

280. Richer, ii. 3. “Secus ipsas litoreas arenas collecti, tuguriorum incendio præsentiam suam iis qui in altero litore erant ostendebant.... Cujus [Adelstani] jussu domus aliquot succensæ, sese advenisse trans positis demonstrabat.” The passion for setting fire to everything sometimes seems to be specially Norman; here it is also English and French.

281. Richer mentions Oda only, Flodoard mentions several Bishops and Thegns (fideles).

282. Richer, ii. 4. “Quod si nolint, sese ei daturum suorum aliquod regnorum, quo contentus et suis gaudeat et alienis non sollicitetur.”

283. Ib. “Dux cum reliquis Galliarum magnatibus id sese facturum asserit, si rex creatus a suis consiliis non absistat.” The relation thus mildly described is in cap. 6 called “procuratio.” So Flodoard, A. 937.

284. Richer is an excellent authority for all matters personally concerning Lewis. He got his information from his father Rudolf, a brave and trusty servant of the King. The description here (ii. 4) is highly graphic.

285. Richer, ii. 5; Flod. in anno.

286. Flod. A. 937. “Ludowicus rex ab Hugonis principis se procuratione separans, matrem suam Lauduni recipit.” Richer, ii. 6. “Rex felicium rerum successu elatus, præter ducis procurationem absque eo jam disponebat. Laudunum itaque tendit, ibique matrem suam Ethgivam reginam ad urbis custodiam deputat. Ac exinde quæcumque præter ducem adoriebatur.”

287. See above, p. 161.

288. On this siege, which is of some interest in a military point of view, see Flodoard, A. 938; Richer, ii. 9, 10.

291. Flod. A. 939; Richer, ii. 11–15. These writers know something of William’s personal share in the campaign, which is asserted by Dudo, 103 B; Will. Gem. iii, 10. According to Benoît (11873 et seqq.), the men of the Côtentin specially distinguished themselves.

292. Flod. A. 939. “Uxorem ipsius Herluini trans mare cum filiis ad Alstanum regem mittit.” Richer, ii. 12. “Erluini uxorem cum natis Ædelstano regi Anglorum servandos trans mare deportat.”

293. Flod. A. 939. William is excommunicated “ab episcopis qui erant cum rege.”

294. Richer, ii. 18. “Cum ejus [Ottonis] pater Saxoniæ solum propter Sclavorum improbitatem rex creatus sit, eo quod Karolus, cui rerum summa debebatur, adhuc in cunis vagiebat.” But Henry was elected in 918, just before Charles’s troubles began, but when he had been a good many years out of his cradle.

296. Ib. “Anglorum classis ab Alstano, rege suo, in auxilium Ludowici regis transmissa mari transito loca quæquæ Morinorum mari deprædatur contigua; nulloque negotio propter quod venerant peracto, remenso mari, propria repetunt loca.” Richer, ii. 16. “Nec multo post et ab Ædelstano Anglorum rege classis regi cum copiis missa est. Audierat enim illum ab iis qui maritima incolebant loca exagitari, contra quos classis dimicaret regique nepoti auxilium ferret. Comperto vero contra regem illorum neminem stare, ipsumque regem in partes Germaniæ prosperum secessisse, mari remenso ad propria remeat.”

There is a marked difference of tone in these two accounts. Flodoard clearly wishes to make as little as he can of the English intervention, while Richer is anxious to make the most. Nor are their statements easy to reconcile. If Æthelstan’s fleet ravaged the Flemish coast, while Arnulf was still not an avowed enemy, that would at once explain Arnulf’s sudden defection. But, according to Richer, it would seem that Æthelstan heard some rumour of Arnulf’s intended treachery, but that, as it was not yet carried out, he had no excuse for action. That we do not hear of English interference during the next stage of the history is probably accounted for by Æthelstan’s death in 940.

297. Flod. A. 939. “Otho rex colloquium habuit cum Hugone et Heriberto, Arnulfo et Willelmo Nortmannorum principe; et acceptis ab eis pacti sacramentis, trans Rhenum regreditur.”

298. Ib. “Proficiscitur Elisatium, locutusque cum Hugone Cisalpino.” Richer, ii. 17. “Rex in pago Elisatio eum Hugone Cisalpino principe locutus.” On this use of the word “Cisalpinus,” see Appendix T.

300. Ib. A. 940. “Rex Ludowicus abiit obviam Willelmo principi Nortmannorum, qui venit ad eum in pago Ambianensi et se illi commisit. At ille dedit ei terram quam pater ejus Karolus Nortmannis concesserat.”

301. Richer, ii. 20. “Wilelmus piratarum dux ... regis factus, tanto ei consensu alligatus est ut jam jamque aut sese moriturum, aut regi imperii summam restituturum proponeret.”

302. Flod. A. 940. Richer (ii. 22) does not mention the presence of William at the siege.

303. Flod. A. 940. “Dedit autem rex Artoldo archiepiscopo, ac per eum ecclesiæ Remensi, per præceptionis regiæ paginam Remensis urbis monetam jure perpetuo possidendam; sed et omnem comitatum Remensem eidem contulit ecclesiæ.”

304. Flod. A. 940; Palgrave, ii. 244.

305. Flod. A. 942. More fully, Richer, ii. 28.

306. See Appendix Z.

307. See above, p. 180, and Appendix X.

308. See above, p. 192.

310. Flod. A. 943. “Rex Ludowicus filio ipsius Willelmi, nato de concubina Brittanna, terram Nortmannorum dedit.” So more fully in Richer, ii. 34.

311. The original authority, such as it is, for these stories is of course Dudo, with the metrical chroniclers, who mainly follow him, Benoît sometimes adding details of his own. The English reader will find all he can want in Sir Francis Palgrave. I cannot help also mentioning Miss Yonge’s tale of the “Little Duke,” where the whole legend is very pleasantly told, though with too great a leaning to the Norman side.

312. Richer, ii. 37; R. Glaber, i. 3.

313. See above, p. 206.

314. On the influence of Conrad, see Flodoard, A. 948, 949, 952; Richer, ii, 82, 97. Conrad afterwards lost his duchy. Bruno, Archbishop and Duke, brother of Otto, brother-in-law of Lewis and Hugh the Great, uncle of Lothar and Hugh Capet, plays a most important part somewhat later.

315. See above, p. 186.

316. Flod. A. 943; Richer, ii. 35. The Norman writers pass over their Duke’s apostasy, which of course proves very little as to the personal disposition of a mere child, though it proves a great deal as to the general state of things in the country. But Flodoard and Richer are both explicit. “Turmodum Nortmannum, qui ad idolatriam gentilemque ritum reversus, ad hæc etiam filium Willelmi aliosque cogebat.” (Flod.) “Ut ... defuncti ducis filium ad idolatriam suadeant, ritumque gentilem inducant.” (Richer.)

317. Flod. A. 943. “Quidam principes ipsius se regi committunt, quidam vero Hugoni duci.” Richer, ii. 34. “Potiores quoque qui cum adolescentulo accesserant, per manus et sacramentum regis fiunt.... Alii vero Nortmannorum, Richardum ad regem transisse indignantes, ad Hugonem ducem concedunt.”

318. Flod. A. 943. “Rex ei ducatum Franciæ delegavit, omnemque Burgundiam ipsius ditioni subjecit.” Richer (ii. 39) says, “Eum rex omnium Galliarum ducem constituit.” This last cannot have been a formal title; it is merely Richer’s characteristic way of affecting classical language in his geography.

319. Flod. A. 943. “Hugo dux Francorum crebras agit cum Nortmannis, qui pagani advenerant, vel ad paganismum revertebantur, congressiones; a quibus peditum ipsius Christianorum multitudo interimitur at ipse nonnullis quoque Nortmannorum interfectis ceterisque actis in fugam, castrum Ebroas faventibus sibi qui tenebant illud Nortmannorum Christianis, obtinet.” Richer does not mention this.