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NORMANDY


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NORMANDY


minor controversial Iroatisi's, arc highly valued for ac- curacy aiul thorounlnicss of research. In addition to (hose already named, the most important are: "Annus ot Kpochie Syro-Macedonum in Vctustis Urbium Syria' Kxposita^"; "Fsisti Consulares Anonimi e Manuscripto Hibliotheca; Ca!sare« Deprompti"; "Historia Controversial de I^no ex Trinitate Passo"; "Apolopia Monaclioruiii Scythi;e"; " Historia Dona- tistarum o Sehedis Xiirisiaiiis I'Ac'crpta'"; "Storia delle Investiture delle Difinita Iscclesiasliehe". Select portions of his works have been frequently reprinted, at Padua, H>73-1(>7S, 1708; at Louvain, ltO'2; at Bas- sano, edited by Bert i, 17tJ9. The best is the edition of all the works, in five vols, folio by the Ballerini Brothers, Verona, 1729-1741.

HvRTEH, NofnaicUilor. KalhoUk, I (:SS4), 181; Pietro and GiROLAMO Ballerini, Vita Norisii in tlicir ed. of Noris" works, IV (Verona. 172'.1-41); a shorter Life is prefixed to the edition of Padua. I70S; Lantf.ri, Poslrema Stecuta 6'ex Religionis Augus- (miun.f. III (Tolentino, 18.58), 64 sq.

Francis E. Tourscher.

Normandy, ancient French province, from which five "departments" were formed in 1790: Seine-Inferi- eure ( Archdiocese of Rouen), Eure (Diocese of Evreux), Calvados (Dioce.se of Bayeux), Orne (Diocese of Seez), Manche (Diocese of Coutances). The Normans, orig- inally Danish or Norwegian pirates, who from the ninth to the tenth century made numerous incursions into France, gave their name to this province. In the Gallo-Roman period Normandy formed the so-called second Lyonnaise province {Secunda Lugdunensis). At Thorigny within the territory of this province was found an inscription very important for the history of the worship of the emperors in Gaul and of the provincial assembUes; the latter, thus meeting for this worship, kept up a certain autonomy throughout the conquered territory of Gaul. Under the Merovin- gians the Kingdom of Neustria annexed Normandy. About 843 Sydroc and his bands of pillagers opened the period of Northman invasions. The policy of Charles the Bald in giving money or lands to some of the Northmen for defending his land against other bands was unfortunate, as these adventurers readily broke their oath. In the course of their invasions they slew (858) the Bishop of Bayeux and (8.59) the Bishop of Beauvais. The conversion (862) of the North- man, Weland, marked a new policy on the part of the Carlo\angians; instead of regarding the invaders as intruders it was admitted that they might become Christians. Unlike the Saracens, then disturbing Europe, the Northmen were admitted to a place and a role in Christendom.

The good fortune of the Northmen began with Rollo in Normandy itself. It was long believed that Rollo came by sea into the valley of the Seine in 876, but the date is rather 886. He destroyed Bayeux, pillaged Lisieux, besieged Paris, and reached Lorraine, finally establishing himself at Rouen, where a truce was concluded. His installation was considered so definitive that in the beginning of the tenth century Witto, Archbishop of Rouen, consulted the Arch- bishop of Reims as to the means of converting the Northmen. Rollo's settlement in Normandy was rat- ified by the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte (911), prop- erly speaking only a verbal agreement between Rollo and Charles the Simple. As Duke of Normandy Rollo remained faithful to the Carlovingian dynasty in its struggles with the ancestors of the future Cape- tians. Thes(; cordial relations between the ducal family of Normandy and French royalty provoked under Rollo's succe.ssor William Long-sword (931-42) a revolt of the pagan Northmen settled in Cotentin and Bessin. One of their lords (jarh), Riulf by name was the leader of the movc^ment. The rebels re- proached the duke with being no longer a true Scandi- navian and "treating the French as his kin.smen". Triumphant for a time, they were finally routed and


the aristocratic spirit of {.\u-jiiiin had to bow before the nioiiari-hical princiijles which William Long-sword infused inlii his government.

Anotlu:r attempt at a revival of paganism was made under Richard 1 Sans Peur (the T'earless, 942-96). He was only two years old at his father's death. .V year later (943) the Scandinavian Sctric, landing in Normandy with a band of pirali's, induced a number of Christian Northmen to a])cistatizc; among them, one Turmod who sought to make a pagan of the young duke. Hugh the (ireat, Duke of France, and Louis IV, King of France, defeated these invaders and after their victory both sought to set up their own power in Normandy to the detriment of the young Richard whom Louis IV held in semi-captivity at Laon. The landing in Normandy of the King of Denmark, Harold Bluetooth, and the defeat of Louis IV, held prisoner for a time (94.'j), constrained the latter to sign the treaty of Gerberoy, by which the young Duke Richard was re-established in his possessions, and be- came, according to the chronicler Dudon de Saint- Quentin, a sort of King of Normandy. The attacks later directed against Richard by the Carlovingian King Lothaire and Thibaut le Tricheur, Count of Chartres, brought a fresh descent on France of the soldiers of Harold Bluetooth. Ascending the Seine these Danes so devastated the country of Chartres that when they withdrew, according to the chronicler Guillaume of Jumieges, there was not heard even the bark of a dog. When Eudes of Chartres, brother-in- law of Richard II the Good, again threatened Nor- mandy (996-1020), it was once more the Scandinavian chieftains, Olaf of Norway and Locmaii, uiio came to the duke's aid. So attached were these Scandinavi- ans to paganism that their leader Olaf, having been baptized by the Archbishop of Rouen, was slain by them. Although they had become Christian, all traces of Scandinavian paganism did not disappear under the first dukes of Normandy. Rollo walked barefoot before the reliquary of St. Guen, but he caused many relics to be sold in England, and on his death-bed, according to Adhemar de Chabannes, simultaneously caused prisoners to be sacrificed to the Scandinavian gods and gave much gold to the churches. Richard I was a great builder of churches, among them St. Ouen and the primitive cathedral of Rouen, St. Michel du Mont, and the Trinity at Fe- camp. Richard II, zealous for monastic reform, brought from Burgundy Guillaume de St. B(5nigne; the Abbey of Fecamp, reformed by him, became a model monastery and a much frequented school.

All these dukes protected the Church, but the feudal power of the Church, which in many States at that time limited the central power, was but little developed in Normandy, and it was to their kinsmen that the dukes of Normandy most often gave the Archdiocese of Rouen and other sees. Ecclesiastical life in Normandy was vigorous and well-developed; previous to the eleventh century the rural parishes were almost as numerous as they are to-day. Thus Normandy for nearly a century and a half was at once a sort of promontory of the Christian world in face of Scandinavia and at the same time a coign of Scandi- navia thrust into the Christian world. Henceforth those Danes and Scandinavians who under the name of Normans formed a part of Christendom, never called pagan Danes or Scandinavians to their aid unless threatened in the possession of Normandy; un- der their domination the land became a .stronghold of Christianity. The monastery of Fontenelle (q. v.) pur.sued its religious and literary activity from the Merovingian period. The "Chronicon Fontanel- lense", continued to 1040, is an important source for the history of the period. The ducal family of Nor- mandy early determined to have an historiographer whom they sought in France, one Dudon, dean of the chapter of St. Quentin, who between 1015-30