Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/707

NORMAN LAW. 607 NORMANS. Gradually, by judicial interpretation, the law of Normandy was assimilated to that of Paris and of Northern France generally. Not only were the courts filled with French judges, but cases were carried to the Parliament in Paris. U'he notes or glosses which acconi]iany the fif- teenth century copies of the (Inuid Voutuinkr misinterpret some passages and declare that others are no longer in force. About the middle of the sixteenth century Guillaume Terrien wrote a commentary on the laws of Normandy, which wa.s printed in 1574. This work and the original Grand Couttnnier still constitute the basis of the law of the English Channel Islands. In 1577 Henr.v HI. ordered that a new coutume be drawn up for Normandy. The royal commis- sioners stated in their report that the old cou- tume was largely unintelligible and for the most part no longer in use; and in their revision they omitted some of the most important institutions, which give to the Norman law its historical im- portance, including the incompletely developed jury. The new coutiime remained in force until the Code Napoleon gave France a common law. Bibliography. Brunner, Das awjlonorman- nischc Erhfolgesystem (Leipzig, I8G9) ; id.. Die Entstc.hung der Schwiirgerichlc (Berlin, 1871); id.. "Die tjuellen des normannisehen Rechts," in HoItzendorlV. Enciildojmdir dcr Ix'rrlilstrissrn- srliaft (5th ed., Leipzig, ISOO) ; and "Die (>)uellen lies angionormannisclien Rechts" (ibid.) ; Pollock and Maitland, Eistory of English Law (2d ed., Boston, 1899). Both in Brunner's encycloprpdia articles and in Pollock and Maitland full refer- ences are given to the sources and the older liter- ature. NORMANN, nor'man, Ellert Adelsten (1848 — ). A Norwegian landscape painter, bom at Bodii. He studied (1809-73) umler Eugen Diicker at the Academy in Diisseldorf, whence he afterwards made annual trips to his native coun- try. The Norwegian fjords and their majestic surroundings furnished the themes for most of his works, executed with truly poetic conception and luminous in color. In 1887 he removed to Berlin, where his style gradually changed to a more realistic treatment. His best known views include: "Harbor of Bodij" (Diisseldorf Gallery) , "Midnight in Lofoten Islands" ( Cologne Mu- seum), "Romsdals Fjord" (Stockholm ■luseum), "Summer Night in Lofoten Islands" (National Gallery, Berlin), "Narii Fjord" (Dresden Gal- lery and Museo Civico, Turin), "Sogne Fjord" (Rudol[)hinum, Prague, and National ^Mu.seum, Budapest) . NORMANS (OF. ^■ormaji. ^^ormand, from Dan. Xormand, Icel. Norpma>r, Northman, from Icel., AS. norf . OHG. nord. Ger. Nord, north, probably connected with Umbrian nrrtro, to the left, Gk. vipTcpot. ncrtcros, lower + nta]>) Goth. manna. AS., OHG. man, Ger. Mann, man). A name generally restricted in its application to those sea rovers who established themselves in the part of France called, after them, Normandy; but sometimes embracing also the early inhal)it- ants of Norway. During the Middle Ages the name Northmen, or Norsemen, was often used in a broader sense, to denote the entire population of .Scandinavia. The Germans and French called the piratical hordes who ravaged their shores Normans or Northmen: the Saxons, usually Danes or Eastmen. They were also distinguished by the latter as Mark{oi March)men (from Den- tnark), as As/i-men (i.e. men of the (w/tt/i-sliips) , and as the Heathen. The primary cause of the jilundering expeditions southward and westward across the seas, undertaken by the Norse Vikings, ■Sea-Kings,' was doubtless the overpopulation and consequent scarcity of food in their native homes; besides, the relish for a life of warlike adventure, conjoined with the hope of rich booty, strongly attracted them. P^inally, discontent with the ever-increasing power of the greater chiefs or kings induced many of the nobles with their followers to seek new homes. The fir.st Danish Norsemen made their appear- ance on the eastern and southern coasts of Eng- land about 787. In 795 they settled in some of the towns on the coast of Ireland. After 832 their invasions of England were repeated almost every year. In 851 they wintered for the first time in the island, and after 800 obtained firm footing there. The Anglo-,Saxon Ethelred 1. fought valiantly against them. His brother, Alfred the Great (q.v. ), after a long and doubtful struggle, partially reduced them to subjection ; neverthe- less, he was compelled to leave them in possession of Northumbria and East Anglia, and had not only to defend himself against a new and fierce invasion led by the famous rover Hastings (q.v.), but to contend against the revolts of his Dano- Norman subjects, which continued to trouble his immediate successors. A period of external peace ensued; but in 991 the invasions of the Danes and Norwegians began anew. The Saxon King, Ethel- red II., at first sought to buy them off by paying a sort of tribute money, called Danegeld (q.v.) ; but the massacre of the Danes living in England, by command of that monarch, November 13, 1002, was avenged by four expeditions under the Danish King, .Sweyn, who frightfully wasted the country, and finally conquered it in 1013, dying the fol- lowing year. His son, Knut, or Canute (q.v.), after carrying on a struggle for the supreme power with Ethelred and his successor Edmund Ironside (q.v.), at length, on the death of the latter, became sole monarch of England, which now remained under Danish or Norse rulers till 1042. The government of the country then re- verted into the Saxon hands of Edward the Con- fessor (q.v.), who was succeeded in 1000 by Harold II. (q.v,). son of the powerful (ioilwin (q.v.) . Earl of Wessex; but in October of the same year Harold lost his life and crown at the battle of Hastings, and William the Conqueror, a de- scendant of a Norwegian chief who had settled in Normand}', once more established a Norse dynasty on the throne of England. It was also Danish Norsemen, in particular, who ravaged the western coasts of the European mainland, from the Elbe to the Garonne. As early as 810 the Danish King, Gottfried, had overrun Friesland ; but the power of Charles the Great was too much for these undisciplined bar- barians, and they were overawed and subdued for a time. .Soon after his death, however, they re- commenced (c.820) their piratical expeditions, and. favored by the w-eaj;ness and dissensions of the Carolingian rulers, became, during the ninth century, the terror and scourge of North- western Germany and France. They plundered Hamburg several times, ravaged the coasts of the Frisians (whose country then extended as far as the Scheldt), and in 843 firmly planted them- selves at the mouth of the Loire. Ere long