Norsemen

Norsemen name given to the Scandinavian Vikings who raided and settled on the coasts of the European continent in the 9th and 10th cent. They are also referred to as Northmen or Normans. Recent research indicates that Norse raids of Western Europe may have been known in the early Middle Ages. Among the causes of the great influx (9th cent.) of Norsemen to the coasts of NW Germany, the Low Countries, France, and Spain were lust for wealth and power, search for adventure, and the attempt of King Harold I of Norway to subjugate the independent nobles of his land, thereby forcing them to look to foreign conquests. The impact of the Norse invasions was particularly lasting in N France. The invaders, whose major raids began c.843, sailed up the French rivers, particularly the Seine, and repeatedly attacked, looted, and burned such cities as Rouen and Paris. Their actions threatened to plunge France back into the barbarism from which it was just emerging. The Norsemen gradually established settlements, generally at the river mouths; thus they constantly threatened to renew their river raids, and they ruined French commerce and navigation. In 911, Rollo , one of their leaders, was invested by King Charles III (Charles the Simple) with the duchy of Normandy , originally the territory around Rouen. Rollo's successors considerably expanded their territory and were only nominal vassals of the French kings. The Norsemen accepted Christianity, adopted French law and speech, and continued in history under the name of Normans . The name of Normandy itself and several Norman place names are survivals of the Norse period. The Norsemen did not differ essentially from the other Vikings, who were known as Danes in England and as Varangians in Russia.

Bibliography: See T. D. Kendrick, A History of the Vikings (1930, repr. 1968); E. C. Oxenstierna, The Norsemen (tr. 1965) and The World of the Norsemen (tr. 1968).

Normans Descendants of Vikings who settled in nw France in the 9th–10th centuries. They created a powerful state, with a strongly centralized feudal society and warlike aristocracy. In the 11th century, under Robert Guiscard and Robert II, they defeated the Muslims to create an independent kingdom in Sicily. In 1066 Duke William of Normandy conquered England and became William I.

Norman An inhabitant or native of NORMANDY, France, a descendant of a mixed Scandinavian (‘Northmen’) and Frankish people established there in early medieval times. The area, secured by Rollo in 912 from Charles III of France, was inadequate for settlement since inheritance laws left younger sons without territory; land hunger provided the impetus towards conquest and colonization. Under Duke William the Normans conquered England (see NORMAN CONQUEST), and later Wales, Ireland, and parts of Scotland as well as large areas of the Mediterranean. Their expansion southwards, led by Robert Guiscard, was initially as mercenaries fighting the Muslims but they soon controlled much of Europe. In 1154, the year of Roger II of Sicily's death and HENRY II's accession to the English throne, Norman power was at its height, witnessed in the highly efficient governments of Sicily and England.