How the Vikings created Normandy

How the Vikings created Normandy: Viking raids on Francia (what we know as an area of Western France) began in about 799 AD and escalated dramatically during the 9th century. This part of France was an alluring prospect, an area of great natural resources as well as great wealth with large abbeys and monasteries.

Viking warriors would sail up the River Seine, attacking and looting. And the process of promises not to attack also proved lucrative to the exploitative raiders. At that time, the Carolingian dynasty ruled Western France (from about 751 to 987 AD)., but with 200 years of brutal Viking attacks and various other factors at play, by the late 9th and early 10th century, the dynasty was growing weaker.

Rollo – the Viking ‘founder of Normandy

Cue Rollo the Walker, a Viking warrior and raider. Born in about 860 AD, he became known as “Rollo the wanderer” either because he travelled a lot, or because he was too big for a horse to carry. He was involved in significant attacks on Rouen, Paris, Bayeux and Chartres. But he was also a great opportunist, a pragmatist and later, a sound and steady ruler.

By the early 10th century, the people of Francia were exhausted by Viking raids and in 911, King Charles the Simple, made a decision. He proposed an agreement with Rollo, which came to be known as the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte.

The treaty gave the land around Rouen to Rollo in exchange for the king’s protection against other Viking raiders. Rollo also agreed to convert to Christianity. You get a clue as to the man Rollo was from some of the details of the treaty, asked to kiss the king’s foot, he refused and ordered one of his warriors to do it for him. You can only imagine the great Viking warrior who apparently seized the king’s foot and raised it up to kiss it, sending the king sprawling on his back!

Notwithstanding this perhaps inauspicious start, Rollo kept his end of the bargain, and there were no more significant Viking raids after the signing of the treaty. But Vikings weren’t just good at raiding and ransacking. They were also good at adapting and at integration. Rollo restored order and stability, rebuilding the landscape and architecture and reforming local laws.

The Normans

Rollo had become the first ruler of Normandy, and founder of a new dynasty that would go on to shape the history of France, England and parts of Europe: the Normans –  the men from the north or the Norsemen. A unique new culture evolved, a fusion of Viking energy and Frankish sophistication. The settlers gradually adopted the French language, Christian religion and local customs, but as later centuries would show, they retained the ambition, military skill and adaptability that had defined the Viking world.

Churches and monasteries destroyed during earlier Viking raids were rebuilt and expanded, like Jumièges Abbey near Rouen. Trade flourished. The Normans became outward-looking, ambitious and remarkably effective at projecting power. Within just a few generations, they would dominate not only Normandy but parts of England, southern Italy, Sicily and even the Crusader states of the eastern Mediterranean.

Rollo died at some point between 928 and 933 AD. He was buried in Rouen Cathedral, and although his remains were later moved twice, his tomb is now back at the cathedral.  By the time of his death, the Viking warlord had become something entirely different: a Christian ruler, a statesman and the founder of a dynasty.

Rollo was succeeded by his son William Longsword who died shortly thereafter in 930 AD. William Longsword’s illegitimate son, Richard I (also known as Richard the Fearless) came to power at around the age of ten, following his father’s death and became an important duke who continued to develop and expand Normandy.

Among Rollo’s significant descendants is William the Conqueror, who was his great-great-great-grandson, and whose invasion of England in 1066 permanently reshaped English history, law, architecture, language and identity. Norman castles and cathedrals still dominate parts of Sussex and England, and the intertwining stories of Sussex and Normandy all trace back, in some way, to Rollo and the Treaty of 911 AD. William’s bloodline includes a plethora of royals – Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and II, and thousands of non-royals including, apparently, third US President Thomas Jefferso, actress Courtney Cox and singer Beyoncé.

If you want to learn more about Viking Norman heritage, the best two places to visit are the Cité Immersive Viking in Rouen and Ornavik Historical Park just outside Caen.

For more information, visit:  en.normandie-tourisme.fr

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