Chapter 18

THE NORTHMEN AND THE NORMANS TO 1066 A.D. [1]

138. SCANDINAVIA AND THE NORTHMEN

A NEW SERIES OF MIGRATIONS

From the East we return once more to the West, from Asia to Europe, from Arabia to Scandinavia. We have now to deal with the raids and settlements of the Norsemen or Northmen. Like the Arabs the Northmen quitted a sterile peninsula and went forth to find better homes in distant lands. Their invasions, beginning toward the close of the eighth century, lasted about three hundred years.

A TEUTONIC MOVEMENT

The Northmen belonged to the Teutonic family of peoples. They were kinsmen of the Germans, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Dutch. Their migrations may be regarded, therefore, as the last wave of that great Teutonic movement which in earlier times had inundated western Europe and overwhelmed the Roman Empire.

SCANDINAVIA

The Northmen lived, as their descendants still live, in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The name Scandinavia is sometimes applied to all three countries, but more commonly it is restricted to the peninsula comprising Sweden and Norway.

SWEDEN

Sweden, with the exception of the northern highlands, is mostly a level region, watered by copious streams, dotted with many lakes, and sinking down gradually to the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. The fact that Sweden faces these inland waters determined the course of her development as a nation. She never has had any aspirations to become a great oceanic power. Her whole historic life has centered about the Baltic.

NORWAY

Norway, in contrast to Sweden, faces the Atlantic. The country is little more than a strip of rugged seacoast reaching northward to well within the Arctic Circle. Were it not for the influence of the "Gulf Stream drift," much of Norway would be a frozen waste for the greater part of the year. Vast forests of fir, pine, and birch still cover the greater part of the country, and the land which can be used for farming and grazing does not exceed eleven per cent of the entire area. But Norway, like Greece, [2] has an extent of shore-line out of all proportion to its superficial area. So numerous are the fiords, or inlets of the sea, that the total length of the coast approximates twelve thousand miles. Slight wonder that the Vikings, [3] as they called themselves, should feel the lure of the ocean and should put forth their frail barks upon the "pathway of the swans" in search of booty and adventure.

PREHISTORIC TIMES IN SCANDINAVIA

The Swedes and Norwegians, together with their kinsmen, the Danes, probably settled in Scandinavia long before the beginning of the Christian era. During the earlier part of the prehistoric period the inhabitants were still in the Stone Age, but the use of bronze, and then of iron, was gradually introduced. Excavations in ancient grave mounds have revealed implements of the finest polished stone, beautiful bronze swords, and coats of iron ring mail, besides gold and silver ornaments which may have been imported from southern Europe. The ancient Scandinavians have left to us curious records of the past in their picture writing chiseled on the flat surface of rocks. The objects represented include boats with as many as thirty men in them, horses drawing two-wheeled carts, spans of oxen, farmers engaged in ploughing, and warriors on horseback. By the close of the prehistoric period the northern peoples were also familiar with a form of the Greek alphabet (the "runes" [4]) and with the art of writing.

139. THE VIKING AGE

DAWN OF HISTORY IN SCANDINAVIA

The Viking Age, with which historic times begin in northern Europe, extends from about 800 A.D. to the introduction of Christianity in the tenth and eleventh centuries. This was the period when the Northmen, or Vikings, realizing that the sea offered the quickest road to wealth and conquest, began to make long voyages to foreign lands. In part they went as traders and exchanged the furs, wool, and fish of Scandinavia for the clothing, ornaments, and other articles of luxury found in neighboring countries. But it was no far cry from merchant to freebooter, and, in fact, expeditions for the sake of plunder seem to have been even more popular with the Northmen than peaceful commerce.

THE NORTHMEN AS SAILORS

Whether the Northmen engaged in trade or in warfare, good ships and good seamanship were indispensable to them. They became the boldest sailors of the early Middle Ages. No longer hugging the coast, as timid mariners had always done before them, the Northmen pushed out into the uncharted main and steered their course only by observation of the sun and stars. In this way the Northmen were led to make those remarkable explorations in the Atlantic Ocean and the polar seas which added so greatly to geographical knowledge.

SHIPS OF THE NORTHMEN

It was not uncommon for a Viking chieftain, after his days of sea-roving had ended, to be buried in his ship, over which a grave chamber, covered with earth, would be erected. The discovery of several of these burial ships enables us to form a good idea of Viking vessels. The largest of them might reach a length of seventy feet and hold as many as one hundred and twenty men. A fleet of the Northmen, carrying several thousand warriors, mail-clad and armed with spears, swords, and battle-axes, was indeed formidable. During this period the Northmen were the masters of the sea, as far as western Europe was concerned. This fact largely explains their successful campaigns.

THE SAGAS

A very important source of information for the Viking Age consists of the writings called sagas. [5] These narratives are in prose, but they were based, in many instances, on the songs which the minstrels (_skalds_) sang to appreciative audiences assembled at the banqueting board of a Viking chieftain. It was not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the sagas were committed to writing. This was done chiefly in Iceland, and so it happens that we must look to that distant island for the beginnings of Scandinavian literature.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE SAGAS

The sagas belong to different classes. The oldest of them relate the deeds of Viking heroes and their families. Others deal with the lives of Norwegian kings. Some of the most important sagas describe the explorations and settlements of the Northmen and hence possess considerable value as historical records.

THE NORTHMEN AS SEEN IN THE SAGAS

The sagas throw much light on the character of the Northmen. Love of adventure and contempt for the quiet joys of home comes out in the description of Viking chiefs, who "never sought refuge under a roof nor emptied their drinking-horns by a hearth." An immense love of fighting breathes in the accounts of Viking warriors, "who are glad when they have hopes of a battle; they will leap up in hot haste and ply the oars, snapping the oar-thongs and cracking the tholes." The undaunted spirit of Viking sailors, braving the storms of the northern ocean, expresses itself in their sea songs: "The force of the tempest assists the arms of our oarsmen; the hurricane is our servant, it drives us whithersoever we wish to go." The sagas also reveal other characteristics of the Northmen: a cruelty and faithlessness which made them a terror to their foes; an almost barbaric love of gay clothing and ornament; a strong sense of public order, giving rise to an elaborate legal system; and even a feeling for the romantic beauty of their northern home, with its snow-clad mountains, dark forests of pine, sparkling waterfalls, and deep, blue fiords.

EDDAIC POEMS

It is to the Viking Age also that we owe the composition of the poems going by the name of the _Elder Edda_. These poems, as well as the prose sagas, were collected and arranged in Iceland during the later Middle Ages. The _Elder Edda_ is a storehouse of old Norse mythology. It forms our chief source of knowledge concerning Scandinavian heathenism before the introduction of Christianity.

140. SCANDINAVIAN HEATHENISM

THE GOD ODIN

The religion of the Northmen bore a close resemblance to that of the other Teutonic peoples. The leading deity was Odin (German _Woden_), whose exploits are celebrated in many of the songs of the _Elder Edda_. Odin was represented as a tall, gray-bearded chieftain, carrying a shield and a spear which never missed its mark. Though a god of battle, Odin was also a lover of wisdom. He discovered the runes which gave him secret knowledge of all things. Legend told how Odin killed a mighty giant, whose body was cut into pieces to form the world: the earth was his flesh, the water his blood, the rocks his bones, and the heavens his skull. Having created the world and peopled it with human beings, Odin retired to the sacred city of Asgard, where he reigned in company with his children.

THE GOD THOR

Enthroned beside Odin sat his oldest son, Thor (German _Thunor_), god of thunder and lightning. His weapon, the thunderbolt, was imagined as a hammer, and was especially used by him to protect gods and men against the giants. The hammer, when thrown, returned to his hand of its own accord. Thor also possessed a belt of strength, which, when girded about him, doubled his power.

THOR'S DEEDS OF STRENGTH

Many stories were told of Thor's adventures, when visiting Jötunheim, the abode of the giants. In a drinking-match he tried to drain a horn of liquor, not knowing that one end of the horn reached the sea, which was appreciably lowered by the god's huge draughts. He sought to lift from the ground a large, gray cat, but struggle as he might, could raise only one of the animal's feet. What Thor took for a cat, however, was really the Midgard serpent, which, with its tail in its mouth, encircled the earth. In the last trial of strength Thor wrestled with an old woman, and after a violent contest was thrown down upon one knee. But the hag was in truth relentless old age, who sooner or later lays low all men.

MYTH OF BALDER

Most beautiful and best beloved of the Scandinavian divinities was Odin's son, Balder. He was represented as a gentle deity of innocence and righteousness. As long as he lived, evil could gain no real control in the world and the power of the gods would remain unshaken. To preserve Balder from all danger his mother Frigga required everything on earth to swear never to harm her son. Only a single plant, the mistletoe, did not take the oath. Then the traitor Loki gathered the mistletoe and came to an assembly where the gods were hurling all kinds of missiles at Balder, to show that nothing could hurt him. Loki asked the blind Höder to throw the plant at Balder. Höder did so, and Balder fell dead. The gods tried to recover him from Hel, the gloomy underworld, but Hel demanded as his ransom a tear from every living creature. Gods, men, and even things inanimate wept for Balder, except one cruel giantess--Loki in disguise-- who would not give a single tear. She said, "Neither living nor dead was Balder of any use to me. Let Hel keep what it has."

"TWILIGHT OF THE GODS"

Disasters followed Balder's death. An immense fire burned up the world and the human race. The giants invaded Asgard and slaughtered its inhabitants. Odin fell a victim to the mighty wolf Fenris. Thor, having killed the Midgard serpent, was suffocated with the venom which the dying monster cast over him. The end of all things arrived. This was the catastrophe which had been predicted of old--the "Twilight of the Gods."

VALHALLA

Besides the conception of Hel, the Northmen also framed the idea of Valhalla, [6] the abode to which Odin received the souls of those who had died, not ingloriously in their beds, but on the field of battle. A troop of divine maidens, the Valkyries, [7] rode through the air on Odin's service to determine the issue of battles and to select brave warriors for Valhalla. There on the broad plains they fought with one another by day, but at evening the slayer and the slain returned to Odin's hall to feast mightily on boar's flesh and drink deep draughts of mead.

SUPERNATURAL BEINGS

As with most heathen religions that of the Northmen was full of terrors. Their lively imagination peopled the world with many strange figures. Fiends and monsters inhabited the marshes, giants lived in the dark forest, evil spirits haunted all solitary places, and ghosts stalked over the land by night. The use of charms and spells to guard against such creatures passed over into Christian times. Their memory also survives in folk tales, which are full of allusions to giants, dwarfs, goblins, and other supernatural beings.

CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE NORTHMEN

Christianity first gained a foothold in Denmark through the work of Roman Catholic missionaries sent out by Charlemagne's son, Louis the Pious. [8] Two centuries elapsed before the Danes were completely converted. From Denmark the new faith spread to Sweden. Norway owed its conversion largely to the crusading work of King Olaf (1016-1029 A.D.), whose zeal for Christianity won him the title of Olaf the Saint. The Norwegians carried Christianity to Iceland, where it supplanted the old heathenism in the year 1000 A.D. With the general adoption of the Christian religion in Scandinavian lands, the Viking Age drew to an end.

141. THE NORTHMEN IN THE WEST

CAUSES OF THE VIKING MOVEMENT

The Northmen were still heathen when they set forth on their expeditions of plunder and conquest. Doubtless the principal cause of this Viking movement is to be sought in the same hunger for land which prompted the Germanic invasions and, in fact, has led to colonial expansion in all ages. By the ninth century Scandinavia could no longer support its rapidly growing population, and enforced emigration was the natural consequence. The political condition of Scandinavia at this time also helps to explain the Viking expansion. Denmark and Norway had now become strong kingdoms, whose rulers forced all who would not submit to their sway to leave the country. Thus it resulted that the numbers of the emigrants were swelled by exiles, outlaws, and other adventurers who turned to the sea in hope of gain.

RAIDS OF THE NORTHMEN

The Northmen started out as pirates and fell on the coasts of England, France, and Germany. In their shallow boats they also found it easy to ascend the rivers and reach places lying far inland. The Northmen directed their attacks especially against the churches and monasteries, which were full of treasure and less easily defended than fortified towns. Their raids inspired such great terror that a special prayer was inserted in the church services: "From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us."

THE NORTHMEN IN IRELAND, SCOTLAND, AND THE ISLANDS

At first the incursions of the Northmen took place only in summer, but before long they began to winter in the lands which they visited. Year by year their fleets became larger, and their attacks changed from mere forays of pirates to well-organized expeditions of conquest and colonization. Early in the ninth century we find them making permanent settlements in Ireland, and for a time bringing a considerable part of that country under their control. The first cities on Irish soil, including Dublin and Limerick, were founded by the Northmen. Almost simultaneously with the attacks on Ireland came those on the western coast of Scotland. In the course of their westward expeditions the Northmen had already discovered the Faroe Islands, the Orkneys, the Shetlands and the Hebrides. These barren and inhospitable islands received large numbers of Norse immigrants and long remained under Scandinavian control.

THE NORTHMEN IN ICELAND

The Northmen soon discovered Iceland, where Irish monks had previously settled. Colonization began in 874 A.D. [9] One of the most valuable of the sagas--the "Book of the Land-taking"--describes the emigration to the island and enumerates the Viking chiefs who took part in the movement. Iceland soon became almost a second Norway in language, literature, and customs. It remains to-day an outpost of Scandinavian civilization.

THE NORTHMEN IN GREENLAND

The first settlement of Greenland was the work of an Icelander, Eric the Red, who reached the island toward the end of the tenth century. He called the country Greenland, not because it was green, but because, as he said, "there is nothing like a good name to attract settlers." Intercourse between Greenland and Iceland was often dangerous, and at times was entirely interrupted by ice. Leif Ericsson, the son of Eric the Red, established a new route of commerce and travel by sailing from Greenland to Norway by way of the Hebrides. This was the first voyage made directly across the Atlantic. Norway and Greenland continued to enjoy a flourishing trade for several centuries. After the connection with Norway had been severed, the Greenlanders joined the Eskimos and mingled with that primitive people.

THE NORTHMEN IN AMERICA

Two of the sagas give accounts of a voyage which Leif Ericsson about 1000 A.D. made to regions lying southward from Greenland. In the sagas they are called Helluland (stone-land), Markland (wood-land), and Vinland. Just what part of the coast of North America these countries occupied is an unsolved problem. Leif Ericsson and the Greenlanders who followed him seem to have reached at least the shores of Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. They may have gone even farther southward, for the sagas describe regions where the climate was mild enough for wild vines and wild wheat to grow. The Northmen, however, did not follow up their explorations by lasting settlements. Before long all memory of the far western lands faded from the minds of men. The curtain fell on the New World, not again to rise until the time of Columbus and Cabot.

142. THE NORTHMEN IN THE EAST

ARCTIC EXPLORATIONS OF THE NORTHMEN

In the Viking movement westward across the Atlantic the Norwegians took the leading part. They also sailed far northward, rounding the North Cape and reaching the mouth of the Dwina River in the White Sea. Viking sailors, therefore, have the credit for undertaking the first voyages of exploration into the Arctic.

THE NORTHMEN IN FINLAND

The Swedes, on account of their geographical position, were naturally the most active in expeditions to eastern lands. At a very early date they crossed the Gulf of Bothnia and paid frequent visits to Finland. Its rude inhabitants, the Finns, were related in language, and doubtless in blood also, to the Huns, Magyars, and other Asiatic peoples. Sweden ruled Finland throughout the Middle Ages. Russia obtained control of the country during the eighteenth century, but Swedish influence has made it largely Scandinavian in civilization.

THE NORTHMEN IN RUSSIA

The activities of the Swedes also led them to establish settlements on the southern shore of the Baltic and far inland along the waterways leading into Russia. An old Russian chronicler declares that in 862 A.D. the Slavs sent an embassy to the Swedes, whom they called "Rus," saying, "Our country is large and rich, but there is no order in it; come and rule over us." The Swedes were not slow to accept the invitation. Their leader, Ruric, established a dynasty which reigned in Russia for more than seven hundred years. [10]

NOVGOROD AND KIEV

The first Russian state centered in the city of Novgorod, near Lake Ilmen, where Ruric built a strong fortress. [11] Novgorod during the Middle Ages was an important station on the trade route between Constantinople and the Baltic. Some of Ruric's followers, passing southward along the Dnieper River, took possession of the small town of Kiev. It subsequently became the capital of the Scandinavian possessions in Russia.

SCANDINAVIAN INFLUENCE IN RUSSIA

The Northmen in Russia maintained close intercourse with their mother country for about two centuries. During this period they did much to open up northeastern Europe to the forces of civilization and progress. Colonies were founded, cities were built, commerce was fostered, and a stable government was established. Russia under the sway of the Northmen became for the first time a truly European state.

THE NORTHMEN AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE EAST

Having penetrated the wilds of Russia, it was comparatively easy for the Northmen to sail down the Russian rivers to the Black Sea and thence to Constantinople. Some of them went as raiders and several times devastated the neighborhood of Constantinople, until bought off by the payment of tribute. [12] Many Northmen also joined the bodyguard of the eastern emperor and saw service under his standard in different parts of the Mediterranean.

CHRISTIANITY IN RUSSIA, 988 A.D.

During the reign of Vladimir, a descendant of Ruric, the Christian religion gained its first foothold in Russia. We are told that Vladimir, having made up his mind to embrace a new faith, sent commissioners to Rome and Constantinople, and also to the adherents of Islam and Judaism. His envoys reported in favor of the Greek Church, for their barbarian imagination had been so impressed by the majesty of the ceremonies performed in Sancta Sophia that "they did not know whether they were on earth or in heaven." Vladimir accepted their report, ordered the idols of Kiev to be thrown into the Dnieper, and had himself and his people baptized according to the rites of the Greek Church. At the same time he married a sister of the reigning emperor at Constantinople.

IMPORTANCE OF THE CONVERSION OF RUSSIA

Vladimir's decision to adopt the Greek form of Christianity is justly regarded as one of the formative influences in Russian history. It meant that the Slavs were to come under the religious influence of Constantinople, instead of under that of Rome. Furthermore, it meant that Byzantine civilization, then incomparably superior to the rude culture of the western peoples, would henceforth gain an entrance into Russia. The country profited by this rich civilization and during the early part of the Middle Ages took a foremost place in Europe.

CHARLEMAGNE AND THE NORTHMEN

No part of western Europe suffered more severely from the Northmen than France. They first appeared on the French coast toward the end of Charlemagne's reign. A well-known legend relates that the emperor, from window of his palace once saw the dark sails of the Vikings and wept at the thought of the misery which these daring pirates would some day inflict upon his realm.

THE NORTHMEN IN FRANCE

After Charlemagne's death the wars of his grandsons left the empire defenseless, and the Northmen in consequence redoubled their attacks. They sailed far up the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne to plunder and murder. Paris, then a small but important city, lay in the path of the invaders and more than once suffered at their hands. The destruction by the Northmen of many monasteries was a loss to civilization, for the monastic establishments at this time were the chief centers of learning and culture. [13]

THE NORTHMEN IN GERMANY

The heavy hand of the Northmen also descended on Germany. The rivers Scheldt, Meuse, Rhine, and Elbe enabled them to proceed at will into the heart of the country. Liège, Cologne, Strassburg, Hamburg, and other great Frankish cities fell before them. Viking raiders even plundered Aachen and stabled their horses in the church which Charlemagne had built there. [14] Thus the ancient homeland of the Franks was laid completely waste.

ROLLO AND THE GRANT OF NORMANDY, 911 A.D.

The history of the Northmen in France began in 911 A.D., when the Carolingian king granted to a Viking chieftain, Rollo, dominion over the region about the lower Seine. Rollo on his part agreed to accept Christianity and to acknowledge the French ruler as his lord. It is said, however, that he would not kneel and kiss the king's foot as a mark of homage, and that the follower who performed the unwelcome duty did it so awkwardly as to overturn the king, to the great amusement of the assembled Northmen. The story illustrates the Viking sense of independence.

DUCHY OF NORMANDY

The district ceded to Rollo developed into what in later times was known as the duchy of Normandy. Its Scandinavian settlers, henceforth called Normans, [15] soon became French in language and culture. It was amazing to see how quickly the descendants of wild sea-rovers put off their heathen ways and made their new home a Christian land, noted for its churches, monasteries, and schools. Normandy remained practically independent till the beginning of the thirteenth century, when a French king added it to his possessions. [16]

THE NORMANS AND HUGH CAPET, 987 A.D.

The Normans helped to found the medieval French monarchy. During the tenth century the old Carolingian line of rulers, which had already died out in Germany and Italy, [17] came also to an end in France. A new dynasty was then founded by a nobleman named Hugh Capet, who secured the aid of the powerful Norman dukes in his efforts to gain the throne. The accession of Hugh Capet took place in 987 A.D. His descendants reigned over France for almost exactly eight hundred years. [18]

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144. CONQUEST OF ENGLAND BY THE DANES; ALFRED THE GREAT

ENGLAND OVERRUN BY THE DANES

Even before Egbert of Wessex succeeded in uniting all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, [19] bands of Vikings, chiefly from Denmark, had made occasional forays on the English coast. Egbert kept the Danes at bay, but he died in 839 A.D., and from that time the real invasion of England began. The Danes came over in large numbers, made permanent settlements, and soon controlled all England north of the Thames.

KING ALFRED AND THE DANES

Wessex before long experienced the full force of the Danish attack. The country at this time was ruled by Alfred, the grandson of Egbert. Alfred came to the throne in 871 A.D., when he was only about twenty-three years old. In spite of his youth, he showed himself the right sort of leader for the hard-pressed West Saxons. For several years fortune favored the Danes. Then the tide turned. Issuing from the marshes of Somersetshire, where he had rallied his dispirited troops, Alfred suddenly fell on the enemy and gained a signal success. The beaten Danes agreed to make peace and to accept the religion of their conquerors.

THE DANELAW

Alfred's victory did not end the war. Indeed, almost to the end of his reign, the heroic king had to face the Vikings, but he always drove them off and even recovered some of the territory north of the Thames. The English and Danes finally agreed to a treaty dividing the country between them. The eastern part of England, where the invaders were firmly established, came to be called the Danelaw, because here the Danish, and not the Anglo-Saxon, law prevailed. In the Danelaw the Danes have left memorials of themselves in local names [20] and in the bold, adventurous character of the inhabitants.

CIVILIZING ACTIVITIES OF ALFRED

It was a well-nigh ruined country which Alfred had now to rule over and build up again. His work of restoration invites comparison with that of Charlemagne. Alfred's first care was to organize a fighting force always ready at his call to repel invasion. He also created an efficient fleet, which patrolled the coast and engaged the Vikings on their own element. He had the laws of the Anglo-Saxons collected and reduced to writing, taking pains at the same time to see that justice was done between man and man. He did much to rebuild the ruined churches and monasteries. Alfred labored with especial diligence to revive education among the English folk. His court at Winchester became a literary center where learned men wrote and taught. The king himself mastered Latin, in order that he might translate Latin books into the English tongue. So great were Alfred's services in this direction that he has been called "the father of English prose."

ALFRED'S CHARACTER

Alfred alone of English rulers bears the title of "the Great." He well deserves it, not only for what he did but for what he was. Through the mists of ten centuries his figure still looms large. It is the figure of a brave, patient, and modest man, who wore himself out in the service of his people. The oft-quoted words which he added to one of his translations form a fitting epitaph to this noble king: "My wish was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after, my memory in good works." His wish has been fulfilled.

FROM ALFRED TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST, 901-1066 A.D.

About seventy-five years after Alfred's death the Danes renewed their invasions. It then became necessary to buy them off with an annual tribute called the Danegeld. Early in the eleventh century Canute, the son of a Danish king, succeeded in establishing himself on the English throne (1016-1035 A.D.). His dynasty did not last long, however, and at length the old West-Saxon line was restored in the person of Edward the Confessor (or "the Saint"). Edward had spent most of his early life in Normandy, and on coming to England brought with him a large following of Normans, whom he placed in high positions. During his reign (1042-1066 A.D.) Norman nobles and churchmen gained a foothold in England, thus preparing the way for the Norman conquest of the country.

145. NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND; WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

HAROLD AND WILLIAM

Edward the Confessor having left no direct heirs, the choice of his successor fell lawfully upon the Witenagemot, [21] as the national assembly of noblemen and higher clergy was called. This body chose as king, Harold, earl of Wessex, the leading man in England. Harold's right to the succession was disputed by William, duke of Normandy, who declared that the crown had been promised to him by his cousin, the Confessor. William also asserted that Harold had once sworn a solemn oath, over a chest of sacred relics, to support his claim to the throne on Edward's death. When word came of Harold's election, William wrathfully denounced him as a usurper and began to prepare a fleet and an army for the invasion of England.

WILLIAM'S PREPARATIONS

Normandy under Duke William had become a powerful, well-organized state. Norman knights, attracted by promises of wide lands and rich booty, if they should conquer, formed the core of William's forces. Adventurers from every part of France, and even from Spain and Italy, also entered his service. The pope blessed the enterprise and sent to William a ring containing a hair from St. Peter's head and a consecrated banner. When all was ready in the late fall of 1066 A.D., a large fleet, bearing five or six thousand archers, foot soldiers, and horsemen, crossed the Channel and landed in England.

BATTLE OF HASTINGS, 1066 A.D.

William at first met no resistance. Harold was far away in the north fighting against the Norwegians, who had seized the opportunity to make another descent on the English coast. Harold defeated them decisively and then hurried southward to face his new foe. The two armies met near Hastings on the road to London. All day they fought. The stout English infantry, behind their wall of shields, threw back one charge after another of the Norman knights. Again and again the duke rallied his men and led them where the foe was thickest. A cry arose that he was slain. "I live," shouted William, tearing off his helmet that all might see his face, "and by God's help will conquer yet." At last, with the approach of evening, Harold was killed by an arrow; his household guard died about him; and the rest of the English took to flight. William pitched his camp on the field of victory, and "sat down to eat and drink among the dead."

WILLIAM BECOMES KING

The battle of Hastings settled the fate of England. Following up his victory with relentless energy, William pressed on to London. That city, now practically the capital of the country, opened its gates to him. The Witenagemot, meeting in London offered the throne to William. On Christmas Day, 1066 A.D., in Westminster Abbey the duke of Normandy was crowned king of England.

WILLIAM'S PERSONALITY

What manner of man was William the Conqueror? Tall of stature, endowed with tremendous strength, and brave even to desperation, he seemed an embodiment of the old viking spirit. "No knight under heaven," men said truly, "was William's peer." A savage temper and a harsh, forbidding countenance made him a terror even to his closest followers. "So stern and wrathful was he," wrote an English chronicler, "that none durst do anything against his will." Though William never shrank from force or fraud, from bloodshed or oppression, to carry out his ends, he yet showed himself throughout his reign a patron of learning, a sincere supporter of the Church, and a statesman of remarkable insight. He has left a lasting impress on English history.

146. RESULTS OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST

NORMAN ELEMENT IN THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

The coming of the Normans to England formed the third and last installment of the Teutonic invasion. Norman merchants and artisans followed Norman soldiers and settled particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the island. They seem to have emigrated in considerable numbers and doubtless added an important element to the English population. The Normans thus completed the work of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes in making England a Teutonic country.

NORMAN ELEMENT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

It must be remembered, however, that the Normans in Normandy had received a considerable intermixture of French blood and had learned to speak a form of the French language (Norman-French). In England Norman-French naturally was used by the upper and ruling classes--by the court, the nobility, and the clergy. The English held fast to their own homely language, but could not fail to pick up many French expressions, as they mingled with their conquerors in churches, markets, and other places of public resort. It took about three hundred years for French words and phrases to soak thoroughly into their speech. The result was a very large addition to the vocabulary of English. [22]

UNION OF ENGLAND AND NORMANDY

Until the Norman Conquest England, because of its insular position, had remained out of touch with Continental Europe. William the Conqueror and his immediate successors were, however, not only rulers of England, but also dukes of Normandy and subjects of the French kings. Hence, the union of England with Normandy brought it at once into the full current of European affairs. The country became for a time almost a part of France and profited by the more advanced civilization which had arisen on French soil. The nobility, the higher clergy, and the officers of government were Normans. The architects of the castles and churches, the lawyers, and the men of letters came from Normandy. Even the commercial and industrial classes were largely recruited from across the Channel.

ENGLAND AND THE PAPACY

The Norman Conquest much increased the pope's authority over England. The English Church, as has been shown, [23] was the child of Rome, but during the Anglo-Saxon period it had become more independent of the Papacy than the churches on the Continent. William the Conqueror, whose invasion of England took place with the pope's approval, repaid his obligation by bringing the country into closer dependence on the Roman pontiff.

FUSION OF ENGLISH AND NORMAN

Although the Normans settled in England as conquerors, yet after all they were near kinsmen of the English and did not long keep separate from them. In Normandy a century and a half had been enough to turn the Northmen into Frenchmen. So in England, at the end of a like period, the Normans became Englishmen. Some of the qualities that have helped to make the modern English a great people--their love of the sea and fondness for adventure, their vigor, self-reliance, and unconquerable spirit--are doubtless derived in good part from the Normans.

147. NORMAN CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY

NORMAN EXPANSION SOUTHWARD

The conquest of England, judged by its results, proved to be the most important undertaking of the Normans. But during this same eleventh century they found another field in which to display their energy and daring. They turned southward to the Mediterranean and created a Norman state in Italy and Sicily.

CONQUESTS OF ROBERT GUISCARD

The unsettled condition of Italy [24] gave the Normans an opportunity for interference in the affairs of the country. The founding of Norman power there was largely the work of a noble named Robert Guiscard ("the Crafty"), a man almost as celebrated as William the Conqueror. He had set out from his home in Normandy with only a single follower, but his valor and shrewdness soon brought him to the front. Robert united the scattered bands of Normans in Italy, who were fighting for pay or plunder, and wrested from the Roman Empire in the East its last territories in the peninsula. Before his death (1085 A.D.) most of southern Italy had passed under Norman rule.

ROGER GUISCARD'S CONQUESTS

Robert's brother, Roger, crossed the strait of Messina and began the subjugation of Sicily, then a Moslem possession. Its recovery from the hands of "infidels" was considered by the Normans a work both pleasing to God and profitable to themselves. By the close of the eleventh century they had finally established their rule in the island.

KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES

The conquests of the Normans in southern Italy and Sicily were united into a single state, which came to be known as the kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Normans governed it for only about one hundred and fifty years, but under other rulers it lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the present kingdom of Italy came into existence.

NORMAN CULTURE IN THE SOUTH

The kingdom of the Two Sicilies was well-governed, rich, and strong. Art and learning flourished in the cities of Naples, Salerno, and Palermo. Southern Italy and Sicily under the Normans became a meeting-point of Byzantine and Arabic civilization. The Norman kingdom formed an important channel through which the wisdom of the East flowed to the North and to the West.

148. THE NORMANS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

NORMAN FACULTY OF ADAPTATION

The conquests of the Normans in England, Italy, and Sicily were effected after they had become a Christian and a French-speaking people. In these lands they were the armed missionaries of a civilization not their own. The Normans, indeed, invented little and borrowed much. But, like the Arabs, they were more than simple imitators. In language, literature, art, religion, and law what they took from others they improved and then spread abroad throughout their settlements.

ASSIMILATION OF THE NORMANS

It seems at first sight remarkable that a people who occupied so much of western Europe should have passed away. Normans as Normans no longer exist. They lost themselves in the kingdoms which they founded and among the peoples whom they subdued. Their rapid assimilation was chiefly the consequence of their small numbers: outside of Normandy they were too few long to maintain their identity.

NORMAL INFLUENCE

If the Normans themselves soon disappeared, their influence was more lasting. Their mission, it has been well said, was to be leaders and energizers of society--"the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump." The peoples of medieval Europe owed much to the courage and martial spirit, the genius for government, and the reverence for law, of the Normans. In one of the most significant movements of the Middle Ages--the crusades--they took a prominent part. Hence we shall meet them again.

STUDIES

1. What events are associated with the following dates: 988 A.D.; 862 A.D.; 1066 A.D.; 1000 A.D.; and 987 A.D.?

2. What was the origin of the geographical names Russia, Greenland, Finland, and Normandy?

3. Mention some of the striking physical contrasts between the Arabian and Scandinavian peninsulas.

4. Why has the Baltic Sea been called a "secondary Mediterranean"?

5. How does it happen that the gulf of Finland is often frozen over in winter, while even the northernmost of the Norse fiords remain open?

6. Why is an acquaintance with Scandinavian mythology, literature, and history especially desirable for English-speaking peoples?

7. What is meant by the "berserker's rage"?

8. What names of our weekdays are derived from the names of Scandinavian deities?

9. Compare the Arab and Scandinavian conceptions of the future state of departed warriors.

10. What is meant by "sea-power"? What people possessed it during the ninth and tenth centuries?

11. Compare the invasions of the Northmen with those of the Germans as to (a) causes, (b) area covered, and (c) results.

12. What was the significance of the fact that the Northmen were not Christians at the time when they began their expeditions?

13. Show how the voyages of the Northmen vastly increased geographical knowledge.

14. Show that the Russian people have received from Constantinople their writing, religion, and art.

15. Mention three conquests of England by foreign peoples before 1066 A.D. Give for each conquest the results and the approximate date.

16. On the map, page 405, trace the boundary line between Alfred's possessions and those of the Danes.

17. Compare Alfred and Charlemagne as civilizing kings.

18. Compare Alfred's cession of the Danelaw with the cession of Normandy to Rollo.

19. Why is Hastings included among "decisive" battles?

20. "We English are not ourselves but somebody else." Comment on this statement.

21. What is meant by the "Norman graft upon the sturdy Saxon tree"?

22. What settlements of the Northmen most influenced European history?

23. Compare the Norman faculty of adaptation with that of the Arabs.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Webster, _Readings in Medieval and Modern History_, chapter vii, "The Saga of a Viking"; chapter viii, "Alfred the Great"; chapter ix, "William the Conqueror and the Normans in England."

[2] See page 67.

[3] The word perhaps comes from the old Norse _vik_, a bay, and means "one who dwells by a bay or fiord." Another meaning assigned to Viking is "warrior."

[4] See the illustration, page 240.

[5] The word is derived from old Norse _segya_, "to say"; compare German _sagen_.

[6] "Hall of the slain."

[7] "Choosers of the slain."

[8] See page 312.

[9] The Icelanders in 1874 A.D. celebrated the thousandth anniversary of the Scandinavian settlement of their island.

[10] Russia in 1862 A.D. celebrated the millenary of her foundation by Ruric.

[11] The Norse word for "fort" is preserved in the gorod of Novgorod.

[12] See page 335.

[13] See page 358.

[14] See the illustration, page 310.

[15] "Norman" is a softened form of "Northman."

[16] In 1911 A.D. Normandy celebrated in the ancient capital of Rouen the thousandth anniversary of its existence.

[17] See pages 315, 317.

[18] The abolition of the French monarchy dates from 1792 A.D., when Louis XVI was deposed from the throne.

[19] See page 320.

[20] The east of England contains more than six hundred names of towns ending in _by_ (Danish "town"), compare _by-law_, originally a law for a special town.

[21] "Meeting of wise men." The word _gemot_ or _moot_ was used for any kind of formal meeting.

[22] See page 556.

[23] See page 325.

[24] See page 317.