Norman-French Origins

The region now known as France was known to the Romans as Gaul, or Gallia. Julius Caesar opened his famous "Commentaries" on the Gallic Wars with the line, "All Gaul is divided into three parts." These were the regions inhabited by the Belgae, in the north, the Aquitani, in the south, and the Celts (or Gauls) in the middle. The division line on the south was the Garonne river. That in the north were the Seine and Marne rivers. Other lands that we consider to be part of France today were known to Caesar as the Narbonnaise or Provincia Romana, today's Provence, and Cisalpine Gaul, the French-Italian border region.

In the Roman period the Chartrain, the area around Chartres, was inhabited by the Carnutes, a Celtic people who lived in the heart of independent Gaul in a territory between the Sequana (Seine) and the Liger (Loire) rivers. This territory had the reputation among Roman observers of being the political and religious center of the Gallic nations. The chief fortified towns were Cenabum, the modern Orleans, and Autricum (or Carnutes), the modern Chartres. The great annual Druidic assembly mentioned by Caesar took place in one or the other of these towns.

The Carnutes were a dependency of the more powerful Remi, themselves a Belgic tribe who lived between the Mosa (Meuse) and Matrona (Marne) rivers. The Belgae were known to the Roman's as the bravest, which perhaps really meant the least civilized as they were furthest away from Mediterranean influences.

The region was organized as part of the imperial province of Gallia Lugdunensis, with its captial in Lugdunum, today's Lyon.

In the Roman period Normandy was part of Armorica, the coastal region between the Loire and Seine. It was inhabited by several tribes of the Gauls, the Veliocassi, in the Vexin, the Lexovii, in the Lieuvin, the Unelli in the Cotentin, and in the Pays-de-Caux where Fécamp is located, the Caleti. These were the Caletae of Ptolemy and Calleti of Pliny. A Gaulish people of the Belgic tribe, noted in Caesar's history of his conquest of Gaul for the energy of their resistance, even after the defeat of Vercingetorix. Their chief towns were Caracotiunum, Harfleur, and Juliobona, Lilebonne, in the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. They occupied the coast from the mouth of the Seine to that of the Bresle, beyond which is Picardy. Its people today are known as the Cauchois.

Normandy was part of the Provincia Lugdunensis Secunda and the chief town was Rouen, Civitas Rotomagensium. There were six other civitates: Bayeux, Lisieux, Coutances, Avranches, Seez, and Evreux.

The word German was Latin and originally described a single tribe, the Germani. Another tribe, the Allemani, was the origin of the French and Spanish name for this people. The Germans described themselves as piuda, the people. The word Deutsch only arose in the 9th century.

Ethnically, the Germans were a Scandavian people who inhabited the southern shores of today's Norway and Sweden, Denmark and northern Germany. They pushed south looking for arable land as their population swelled. A cooling period between 600 and 300 BC adversely affected growing conditions and exacerbated this southern movement. By the 5th century AD Germanic tribes populated the entire Roman border from the North Sea to the Black.

The Romans engaged in many wars with the German people and, at the height of their power, they controlled present-day Germany as far east as the Elbe river. However, after the disaster of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the Teutoburg Forest, the Empereor Augustus pulled the legions back behind a defensible border based on the Rhine and Danube rivers. After this most of Rome's wars with the Germans were in the nature of retalitory raids. Later a forward defense was established with two provinces, Germania Inferior and Germania Superior, on the eastern shore of the Rhine.

The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes, the Chatti, the Ripuarians, and the Salians, who, in the Roman period, occupied the eastern shore of the Rhine from Mainz to the sea. They are said to have been an offshoot of the Scythians, a tribal group that clustered around the Ukraine, though many peoples claim such an origin. Archaelogical evidence indicates that the Franks did originate in the region around the mouth of the Danube river, on the Black Sea, an area known to the Romans as Scythae Minor, so the assumption is not totally without merit. The Franks migrated to the region of the Rhine in the 1st century AD. St. Gregory of Tours claimed the Franks came from Pannonia, approximately today's Slovakia/Hungary, which may have been a stop on their western migration.

The Franks claimed that their name came from an early leader, Franko. This name may actually be derived from the word franca, meaning javelin or lance, just as the name for the Saxons derived from a weapon, the saxe, a kind of axe. The throwing axe of the Franks was known as the francisca, but this was probably a later naming. The Frank's language was Germanic, similar to Old Dutch.

In the 3rd century the Franks were already infiltrating the border and settling in Belgic Gaul on the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. The Romans were unable to expel them and eventually accepted them as foederati, allies. Rome granted a large part of the province of Gallia Belgica to the Franks, which became known as Francia.

During the great collapse of the Rhine border in 406 the Franks, under their King, Merovech, aided the Romans in trying to halt the Gothic onslaught. In this they failed, but it is unclear how this affected the Franks. The Visigoths apparently skirted the Frankish lands and continued south, where they established kingdoms in Acquitaine and Spain. The Franks gradually took control of most of Gaul north of the Loire valley and east of Aquitaine, continuing to support the Romans who, with Frankish help, maintained control of Paris until 486.

The Franks were a Germanic people, but more importantly a tribal people. That meant that they were basically eglatarian and intensely rural. The Gallo-Romans they now interacted with were, in constrast, highly stratified socially and much more urban. Women had a more significant, and more equal role in Frankish society; divorce was allowed, female inheritance was common, and women had equal rights in raising their children.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the west, the word Frank became almost a synonym for Europe. In Arabic the word is infranji and in Persian farangi. The noble qualities the Franks thought they possessed, of being open, forthright and sincere, came to be called, in English, frank. The word also means free, as in the "franking" privilege of sending free mail, or as in "franchise," which is the grant of a privilege or immunity.

See the excellent website at Francia, 447-Present for more.

In the winter of 406 the Vandals crossed the Rhine river border near its juncture with the Main and invaded the Roman province of Gallia, modern day France. The Franks, who had crossed the Rhine earlier and joined the Empire's service in exchange for land, resisted them. The Vandals were facing defeat when the Alans, a Sarmatian people, came to their rescue.

After this disaster Roman officials opened negotiation with the barbarians and convinced one of the Alan commanders, Goar, to enter Roman service.

"Interea Respendial rex Alanorum, Goare ad Romanos transgresso, de Reno agmen suorum convertit, Wandalis Francorum bello laborantibus, Godigyselo rego absumpto, aciae viginti ferme milibus ferro preemptis, cunctis Wandalorum ad internitionem delendis, nisi Alanorum vis in tempore subvenisset."
- from "History" by Gregory of Tours

Goar's followers were eventually settled in forward locations in northeastern Gaul, strategic to the defense of that province, including northern Switzerland. The other Alans, and their Vandal allies, continued their raids, eventually passing into Iberia.

Earlier a variety of Sarmatian peoples, include Alans, Roxolani and Iazyges, had settled within the Empire as military colonists, or laeti. In Gaul they had been settled from Amiens in the north through Sermaise (Oise), Sermoise (Aisne), Rheims, Sermiers (Marne), Semarize les Bains (Marne), and Langres in the south. These settlements were positioned to protect important roads and cities. Goar's followers were settled forward, towards the threat to the east, perhaps in Allains (Somme), 30 miles east of Amiens. Twenty-five miles to the southeast is Alaincourt (Aisne). Further to the southeast is Alland'huy (Ardennes) and another village named Alaincourt (Ardennes). To the south of Rheims are Allancourt (Marne) and Sampigny (Marne). Another Sampigny was established thirty miles east of Sermaize les Bains. The word Sampigny was derived from the Alan name Sambida. Near Metz is Allamont (Meurthe-et-Moselle) and to the south of Metz is Alaincourt-la-Cote (Meurthe-et-Moselle). To the south of Toul are Alain (Meurthe-et-Moselle) and Aillianville (Haute-Marne). There is another Alaincourt (Haute-Saone) east of Langres.

Other Alan placenames in France include: Twenty-five miles northeast of Lyons are three small towns, Alain, Aleins and Alaniers. Twenty-five miles east-northeast on the outskits of Bourge is the town of Allaigne. Across the border in Switzerland, near Geneva is a river formerly called Aqua de Alandons and just north of Lausanne is the town of Allens. - from "A History of the Alans in the West" by Bernard S. Bachrach.

The Visigoths, who had followed the Vandals and Alans in crossing the Rhine border, settled in southern France and northern Spain. In 442 Flavius Aëtius, dux et patricius, moved some of the Alans, under their king, Goar, to the Orleans region to counter Visigothic intrusions out of Aquitaine. The Alans also moved into nearby Armorica, where they soon replaced and intermarried with the local land-owners. Armorica was the part of Gaul that included the Brittany peninsula and the territory between the Seine and Loire rivers, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic coast.

In 451 the Alans, under their king Sangiban, joined the Romans to resist Attila's invasion of Gaul, fighting at the Battle of Chalons. In 481 the Loire valley was part of a Gallo-Roman state under the command of Syagrius, the last of the Roman dux. After the fifth century, and the conquests of the Franks under Clovis, the Alans of Gaul were subsumed in the territorial struggles between the Franks and the Visigoths, and ceased to have an independent existence.

The Alans not involved in the movement out of the Steppes and into the West were, in the face of further waves of invaders from the east, to retreat from the steppes into the Caucasus mountains. As a result, the Alanian population of the Northern Caucasus increased considerably. They eventually founded the regionally powerful kingdom of Alania. In the 11th century, however, they were overwhelmed by the Mongols. They re-emerged as the Ossetians, living in Georgia and southern Russia.

Thibaud. The son of Theobald "the Elder" of Tours. He was a vassal of Duke Hugh who held Chinon, Saumor and Bourgueil. Theobald the Younger reigned in Blois from 928 [940?] to 978. Sometimes called "the Cheat" because of the means he used to acquire Touraine and Chartres. He also held Dunois. While nominally a vassal of the Dukes of France, his increasing power allowed him to act autonomously. He married Ledgard, the daughter of Herbert II, Count of Vermandois and Champagne. She, apparently, had originally been the wife of Duke William I "Longsword" of Normandy.

The Count made the mistake of attacking Normandy in 962 and, while initially successful, he did not get support from his suzerain, Hugh Capet, whom he had spurned, and was, in the end, heavily defeated. He died on 16 January 977.

Eudes. He reigned in Blois from 978 to 995. His sons, Theobald and Odo, both reigned in turn.

Thibaud. He reigned in Blois from 995 to 1004.

Eudes. Theobald II's brother, he reigned in Blois from 1004-1037, and in Champagne from 1019 to 1037. With the accession of Champagne the Counts of Blois had encircled the Royal domain of the Capets. Odo was one of the most warlike barons of a warlike time, adding the county of Troyes to his dominions. He disputed the crown of Burgundy with the Emperor, Conrad the Salic, and perished in 1037 while fighting in Lorraine. Through political manipulation the Capets ensured that succeeding Counts divided their realm between sons.

Thibaud. The son of Odo II, he reigned in Blois from 1037 to 1089. His brother, Stephen, reigned in Champagne from 1037-1048. Stephen's son, Odo, then ruled Champagne from 1048 to 1063. Theobald lost Tours to the Counts of Anjou, but, using his influence with the King of France, gained control of Champagne from his nephew and reigned there from 1063 to 1089. Young Odo then went on to serve in the army of William the Conqueror, fought at Hastings, married William's sister and became Count of Aumale and Holderness.

Etienne-Henri. He reigned in Blois from 1089 to 1102. His brothers, Odo and Hugh, reigned in Champagne from 1089 to 1125. He married Adela de Normandie at the cathedral of Chartres. She was the daughter of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England. He was one of the leaders of the 1st Crusade, along with Robert Curthose of Normandy. He returned home early, however, and his wife browbeat him into a second pilgrimage, where he was killed in 1102.

Thibault. He reigned in Blois from 1102 to 1152, and in Champagne from 1125 to 1152, finally reuniting the counties and bring the family to the zenith of its power. His brother, Stephen, usurped the English throne and reigned during the Anarchy as Stephen I. Another brother, Henry, became Stephen's powerful ally as the Bishop of Winchester. His sister, Mahaut, died in the disaster of the White Ship along with Henry I's son, the heir to the English Throne.

The Vikings were Scandanvian traders and raiders who came from the regions now known as Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The word vik in old Norse meant bay or fjord, so the Vikings were literally "men of the fjords." Reflecting their geographic orientation, the Vikings of Norway expanded into the north and west, to Iceland and Greenland; the Danes migrated south to England and France, settling the Danelaw and Normandy; and the Swedes moved east, into today's Baltic states, old Prussia, and Russia.

The recorded history of the Vikings began in 793 with their raid on the abbey church on Lindisfarne island, off the northeastern coast of Yorkshire, England. The Viking expansion that so troubled Europe was probably tied to increases in population and the lack of arable land for new farms. It ended with the establishment of royal authority in the Viking home countries in the 11th century.

Denmark, based on the Jutland penisula, the island of Zealand and the southern part of Sweden, was the best organized and most powerful of the Viking states. For a thirty year period early in the 11th century its King, Canute, ruled both Denmark and England.

The Vikings who invaded and made Normandy their home in the 800's were mainly Danes, though those of the Contentin penisula were Norwegians coming out of their colonies in Ireland, and those of Bessin, just east of the Contentin, were Danes from England.

As Scandanavians, the Vikings and their direct descendants among the Normans, were haplogroup I, and therefore not related to family.

Rolf was baptized in 912 and became known as Rollo or Robert, the first Duke of Normandy. He reigned from 912 to 927, passing the Duchy to his son before his death. His son was William.

He reigned from 927 to 942 and generally allied himself with Hugh the Great, Duke of France. William was killed on 17 December 942 in connection with a war he was waging with Arnolph, the Count of Flanders. His son was Richard.

He reigned from 942 to 996, coming to the throne as a minor. He entered a preferential alliance with Hugh the Great and married Hugh's daughter. Despite this the Counts of Blois pressured his borders.

He reigned from 996 to 1026 and built a strong adminstrative state. He fought border wars with the Count of Anjou and Count Odo of Blois. Note that through this period Danish Vikings had continued to use Normandy as a base for their raids on England. King Ethelred the Redeless of England requested Richard's aid in stopping them and sealed their alliance by marrying Richard's sister, Emma. Their son was Edward the Confessor who, upon his father's defeat by the Danes, took refuge in Richard's court. His mother, Emma, subsequently married Canute, Ethelred's successor as King of England. Their son was Hardicanute. Richard's sons were Richard and Robert.

Richard used the Danes living in Normandy to aid him in his wars with Blois and, after Count Odo's defeat, the pillaged the Loire and Eure valleys.

Richard's father had chosen to divide the Duchy between his sons, but Robert, the younger, was quick to rebel and Richard died under mysterious circumstances. Richard reigned from 1026 to 1028. His son, Nicholas, was relegated to a monastery, first to Fécamp and then Saint Ouen in Rouen, by his uncle, who succeeded as Duke.

Richard's brother, he reigned from 1028 to 1035. In premonition of his son, he attempted a great maritime expedition against England to reinstate his cousin, Edward, to the throne, but the fleet was dispersed by a storm. He died in Nicaea in July 1035 while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His illegitmate son was William.

A minor and the illegitimate son of Duke Robert and Herleva, the daugther of Fulbert "le polinctor," a tanner. William 'the Bastard' succeeded to the Dukedom at the age of seven or eight, his father, Robert “the Devil,” having died without a legitimate male heir. For the next twelve years of his minority the Duchy was in a constant state of anarchy. The rebellion of the Barons came to a head in 1047 when the whole of lower Normandy rose against him. With the help of his feudal overlord, King Henry I of France, William, aged twenty, crushed the revolt on the field of Vales Dunes, near Caen. The castles of the rebellious Barons were razed and the nobles never challenged the duke's power again.

William's mother, Herleva, later married Herluin, Vicomte of Contreville. They had two sons, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and Robert, Count of Mortain. These two half-brothers of William remained close to him all of their lives and were at the Battle of Hastings. William reigned from 1035 to 1087. He married Matilda, daughter of the Count of Flanders.