The Normans: From Raiders to Kings

by Lars Brownworth

  If Frederick’s reign was the Indian summer of Sicilian greatness, winter came quickly. Sixteen years after his death, Charles of Anjou invaded the island killing both Frederick’s son and grandson, bringing the Hohenstaufen59 line – and that of Roger II – to an end. The kingdom remained territorially intact until the nineteenth century, tossed between the crowned heads of Europe. But it never again had a native monarch, or was anything more than a secondary concern of those who controlled it.

  Epilogue

  The Norman Legacy

  By 1154, the Normans were disappearing. That year saw the death of Roger II, and although Norman rule would technically continue through Frederick II’s reign, it was the beginning of the long decline of Hauteville rule in Sicily. In that year the Norman line in England had also been supplanted. Stephen of Blois, the Conqueror’s grandson and the last full Norman king, had expired in 1154 and was succeeded by the first of the Angevin dynasty. Only in Bohemond’s principality of Antioch, did a direct Norman descendant of the founder still rule, but that state was a poor shadow of its former self.

  Norman Antioch was surrounded by hostile powers, and only managed to survive thanks to the disunity of its enemies. Bohemond’s descendants clung to power until 1268 when the invading Mongols brutally sacked the city, bringing the longest lasting crusader state to an end. The title, Prince of Antioch, continued to be claimed by Bohemond’s family in exile, but it was of decreasing value and usually granted to junior members of the family. Eventually the title was acquired by a Portuguese prince in 1456, and when he was poisoned by his own mother-in-law the next year, no one bothered to claim it.

  By then Norman rule was an anachronism, and the world itself was a vastly different place than that encountered by Rollo or William the Conqueror, or Robert Guiscard. Although they had not set out to do so, each of them had played a pivotal role in creating a new Europe.

  The Norman achievement is all the more astonishing considering how brief it was. The Normans held sway only for the two centuries between the tenth and the twelfth. Norman rule in Sicily bloomed for barely two generations, and then lingered for another four decades without the same vitality. In the East, the Norman decline was considerably quicker. Despite clinging to life for almost two centuries, the principality of Antioch only had two effective rulers, the last of whom, Tancred, died prematurely in 1112.

  Time diluted the restless energy of the Normans. They were always a minority in places that they ruled and were eventually absorbed by those they conquered. The Normans in England became English, and those in Sicily became Italian. Normandy itself was swallowed by France in 1204, and the native Normans disappeared into the surrounding population.

  But for two magnificent generations, they had the world at their fingertips. William the Conqueror, Robert Guiscard, and the great count Roger were all contemporaries – as were their children William II of England, Bohemond of Antioch, and Roger II of Sicily. In each case an exceptional conqueror had been followed by an effective administrator who consolidated the gains and laid the foundations of a lasting state. In 1054 the three men who would become the most famous Normans were an illegitimate duke, a glorified pirate, and a penniless knight. A hundred years later their descendants ruled over the two most powerful and glittering courts of Europe, and the greatest of the Crusader states.

  There was also a more enduring and important change. The Norman centuries of dominance had seen a fundamental shift. No observer in the tenth century would have guessed that anything lasting would come out of Western Europe. It was surrounded by powerful Byzantine and Muslim neighbors, and fragmented into dozens of minor, decentralized states that incessantly squabbled and seemed incapable of unifying themselves. It was defensive and inward-looking, buffeted by Viking attacks from the north, Arab raids from the west, and Magyar invasions from the east. By the twelfth century that had changed. Europe was confident and expansive on all sides, beginning to roll back the Muslim conquest in both Spain60 and Asia Minor. In the place of weak feudal states were centralized kingdoms poised for the explosive growth which would eventually see it dominate the globe.

  The Normans are at the great tipping point of European history. It was their energy and daring that transformed Europe, their dynamism that was at the forefront of the new spirit of the Age. It’s not a coincidence that the First Crusade was led by Norman princes and fought by Norman knights. Nor that successive reforming popes were propped up by Norman arms, or that armies as far apart as Asia Minor and Spain had Norman mercenaries at their core.

  They are the great rags-to-riches story of the Middle Ages, a stark reminder of Virgil’s maxim that fortune favors the bold. Between Hannibal and Napoleon there were few greater adventurers.

  They demonstrate, if proof is needed, that exceptional individuals can change the course of history.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Primary Sources

  Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.

  Choniates, Nicetas. O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates. Trans. Harry J. Magoulias. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1984

  Comnena, Anna. The Alexiad. Trans. E. R. A. Sewter. New York: Penguin Books, 1969.

  Falcandus, Hugo. A History of the Tyrants of Sicily. Trans. G. A. Loud and T. E. J. Wiedemann. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1998.

  Houts, Elisabeth van, ed. The Normans in Europe. Trans. Elisabeth van Houtes. New York: Manchester University Press, 2000.

  Jumièges, William of. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni: Volume 1: Introduction and Books I-IV. Trans. Elisabeth M. C. van Houts. London: Oxford Medieval Texts, 1992.

  Jumièges, William of. The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni: Volume 2: Books V-VIII. Trans. Elisabeth M. C. van Houts. London: Oxford Medieval Texts, 1995.

  Psellus, Michael. Fourteen Byzantine Rulers. Trans. E. R. A. Sewter. New York: Penguin Books, 1966.

  Poitiers, William of. The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers. Trans. R. H. C. Davis and Marjorie Chibnall. London: Oxford Medieval Texts, 1998.

  Savage, Anne, ed. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. Trans. Anne Savage. Wayne: BHB International Inc, 1997.

  Vitalis, Ordericus. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy. Trans. Thomas Forester. Charleston: BiblioBazaar, 2009

  Modern Works

  Barbera, Henry. Medieval Sicily: The First Absolute State. Brooklyn: Legas, 2000.

  Barlow, Frank. Edward the Confessor. London: Yale University Press, 1997.

  Benjamin, Sandra. Sicily: Three Thousand Years of Human History. Hanover: Steerforth Press, 2006.

  Brown, Gordon S. The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily. London: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003.

  Brown, R. Allen. The Normans and the Norman Conquest. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1985.

  Chibnall, Marjorie. The Normans. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.

  Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. 7 vols. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1993.

  Gravett, Christopher and David Nicolle. The Normans: Warrior Knights and their Castles. New York: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2007.

  Kreutz, Barbara M. Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth & Tenth Centuries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.

  Neveux, François. A Brief History of The Normans: The conquests that changed the face of Europe. Trans. Howard Curtis. Philadelphia: Running Press, 2008.

  Norwich, John Julius. The Normans In Sicily: The magnificent story of ‘the other Norman Conquest’. New York: Penguin Books, 1970.

  Runciman, Steven. A History of the Crusades, Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951.

  Also by Lars Brownworth

  The Sea Wolves:

  A History of the Vikings

  “An axe age, a wind age, a wolf age”. Thus the Vikings described Ragnarok - the end of the world
- a time of destruction and death that would follow three bitter years of ice and snow without the warmth of a summer. To Western Europeans during the two and a half terrifying centuries of Viking attacks, Ragnarok seemed at hand. The long winter began in the eighth century, when Norse warriors struck the English isle of Lindisfarne, and in the traumatized words of the scholar Alcuin “laid waste the house of our hope, and trampled on the bodies of saints in the temple of God.”

  Wave after wave of Norse ‘sea-wolves’ followed in search of plunder, land, or a glorious death in battle. Much of the British Isles fell before their swords, and the continental capitals of Paris and Aachen were sacked. Turning east, they swept down the uncharted rivers of central Europe, captured Kiev and clashed with mighty Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.

  But there is more to the Viking story than brute force. They were makers of law - the term itself comes from an Old Norse word - and they introduced a novel form of trial by jury to England. They were also sophisticated merchants and explorers who settled Iceland, founded Dublin, and established a trading network that stretched from Baghdad to the coast of North America.

  In The Sea Wolves, Lars Brownworth brings to life this extraordinary Norse world of epic poets, heroes, and travelers through the stories of the great Viking figures. Among others, Leif the Lucky who discovered a new world, Ragnar Lodbrok the scourge of France, Eric Bloodaxe who ruled in York, and the crafty Harald Hardrada illuminate the saga of the Viking age - a time which “has passed away, and grown dark under the cover of night”.

  Coming in Autumn 2014 from Crux Publishing

  Also from

  A Short History of the World

  Christopher Lascelles

  ‘A clearly written, remarkably comprehensive guide to the greatest story on Earth - man’s journey from the earliest times to the modern day. Highly recommended.’

  Dan Jones, author of

  The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England

  There is an increasing realisation that our knowledge of world history – and how it all fits together – is far from perfect. We might all know about the odd event, but there is a good chance that if we had to talk about what was happening in the world before or after, or even at the same time, we would not be quite as knowledgeable.

  A Short History of the World aims to fill the big gaps in our historical knowledge with a book that is easy to read and assumes little prior knowledge of past events. The book does not aim to come up with groundbreaking new theories on why things occurred, but rather gives a broad overview of the generally accepted version of events so that non-historians will feel less ignorant when discussing the past.

  To help readers put events, places and empires into context, the book includes 32 original maps to accompany the text. The result is a book that is reassuringly epic in scope but refreshingly short in length. An excellent place to start to bring your historical knowledge up to scratch!

  OPEN

  David Price

  ‘From every perspective OPEN will open your mind to some of the real implications of digital technologies for how we live and learn in the 21st century.’

  Sir Ken Robinson, world-leading expert on education and creativity

  What makes a global corporation give away its prized intellectual property? Why are Ivy League universities allowing anyone to take their courses for free? What drives a farmer in rural Africa to share his secrets with his competitors?

  A collection of hactivists, hobbyists, forum-users and maverick leaders are leading a quiet but unstoppable revolution. They are sharing everything they know, and turning knowledge into action in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago. Driven by technology, and shaped by common values, going ‘open’ has transformed the way we live. It’s not so much a question of if our workplaces, schools and colleges go open, but when.

  Packed with illustration and advice, this entertaining read by learning futurist, David Price, argues that ‘open’ is not only affecting how we are choosing to live, but that it’s going to be the difference between success and failure in the future.

  Notes

  1. The modern term for the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It was also sometimes referred to simply as ‘Byzantium’. See note On Romans, Holy Romans, and Byzantines.

  2. Although originally a late classical term meaning ‘Arab’, by the Middle Ages the word Saracen had become a generic phrase for any (Muslim) subject of the Islamic caliph.

  3. Vikings who were seized with an uncontrollable rage in the heat of battle were called ‘berserkers’. They would occasionally bite through their shields, ignore even the most hideous wounds and kill friends and foe alike indiscriminately.

  4. Muslim forces entered Spain in AD 711. By the end of the century they had largely conquered it, and would continue to hold parts of it until the Reconquista of Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in evicting them in 1492.

  5. The Northumbrian Ælla and the East Anglican Edmund. They were subjected to the ‘blood eagle’, a brutal form of torture where the ribs were broken near the spine and the lungs were pulled out through the wounds to resemble a blood-stained pair of wings. The still-living victim was then left to expire.

  6. Historians usually refer to this new state as the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ to distinguish it from the earlier empire of the same name. See note On Romans, Holy Romans, and Byzantines

  7. These numbers are provided by our lone eyewitness source, Abbo Cennus. Most modern historians view this as an exaggeration, however, putting the number somewhere between 10-15,000. In either case, it was the largest Viking invasion yet seen on the Continent.

  8. Rollo’s ancestry is a matter of some contention between Denmark and Norway. The earliest source refers to him as Danish, but calls all Vikings ‘Danes’, while the 12th-century Norse sagas claim that he was Norwegian. The Normans themselves were split on the matter. Since medieval sources generally gave him a Norwegian ancestry when they bothered to distinguish between different groups of Vikings, I’ve sided with Norway.

  9. Vikings nearly always fought on foot. Horses were only used to carry arms, and occasionally men, over long distances. Viking ponies, therefore, tended to be undersized by European standards.

  10. Charlemagne’s empire had crumbled to the point where no emperor was recognized. Charles had been crowned simply as ‘king’ of Western Francia, i.e. the French-speaking lands of the old empire.

  11. After discovering that a free white garment was given to those who received the sacrament, some of Rollo’s men were caught having themselves baptized numerous times.

  12. This is a clever Anglo-Saxon pun on the king’s name. ‘Ethelred’ means ‘wise counsel’ and ‘Unraed’ translates to something like ‘un-counseled’. One can imagine an exasperated English farmer thinking ‘Wise Counsel? More like Un-Counseled’.

  13. One of these was Olaf Haraldsson, the future king and patron saint of Norway

  14. The Fatimid Caliphate was a Shia state whose leaders claimed descent from Mohammed’s daughter Fatima. Although based in Egypt, they had captured Jerusalem in AD 969.

  15. Including a young William de Hauteville who was soon to earn the epithet ‘Iron-arm’. See chapter 8

  16. So many men were drowned that a mill several miles downstream was clogged with the bodies and had to cease operation.

  17. and quite short at four foot two inches

  18. Charlemagne’s title of ‘Roman’ emperor was claimed by the German king Otto I in 962. Although it is usually known as the Holy Roman Empire, for the sake of clarity I refer to this state as the ‘German’ empire.

  19. Norman sources argue that Edward always intended William to be his heir. Even given his Norman sympathies, this is hard to believe. In fact, during the course of his reign Edward dangled the promise of succession to a number of individuals. It was a shrewd, if dangerous, way to counterbalance the Godwin family’s influence.

  20. According to Norman propaganda, Godwin choked on a piece of bre
ad while angrily denying the old charge of his involvement in Alfred’s murder.

  21. The Welsh Marches were the rugged – and notoriously difficult to control –border between medieval England and Wales.

  22. He arrived to find that Malcom III had recently killed the High King Macbeth.

  23. Basil II. The brilliant Macedonian Dynasty had ruled over the Byzantine Empire for nearly two centuries

  24. Supposedly the Empress Zoë wanted to marry him, and when he refused, she threw him into a dungeon from which he (of course) had a daring escape.