The Normans

Having been exiled from Norway, Rollo would have begun his career as a mercenary in the service of an English king, employed to fight the Danes who occupied the north of the island. He subsequently operated as a Viking on his own account, and set himself up in 876 at the mouth of the Seine. In 886 he associated himself with the fleet that had been besieging Paris for some time and took advantage of this arrangement to further his own ends in Normandy by seizing Bayeux and Evreux.

Rollo the Viking

Rollo was a Viking leader, probably (based on Icelandic sources) from Norway, the son of Ragnvald, Earl of Moer; sagas mention a Hrolf, son of Ragnvald jarl of Moer. Dudo of St. Quentin, in his Gesta Normannorum, tells of a powerful Danish duke (or count?) at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who then died and left his two sons, Gurim and Rollo, leaving Rollo to be expelled and Gurim killed. With his followers (known as Normans, or northmen), Rollo invaded the area of northern France now known as Normandy.

Sometime around 927 he passed the Duchy of Normandy to his son, William Longsword. He may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933.

William 'Longsword'

Like his father Rollo, he is often given the anachronistic title of "duke of Normandy". Although no contemporary source gives him the title of count, his son Richard is called count of Rouen in the Planctus, written very soon after William's death. William first appears as the leader of the Normans in the year 933, having succeeded his father Rollo sometime in or after 928. In (probably) 942, he was treacherously killed at the instigation of Arnulf I of Flanders. Shortly thereafter, an anonymous poet wrote the Planctus, a poem lamenting his death.

Richard I 'the Fearless'

He was only two years old at his father's death. A year later (943) the Scandinavian Setric, landing in Normandy with a band of pirates, induced a number of Christian Northmen to apostatize; among them, one Turmod who sought to make a pagan of the young duke. Hugh the Great, 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 (945), constrained the latter to sign the treaty of Gerberoy, by which the young Duke Richard was reestablished in his possessions and became, 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 Jumièges, there was not heard even the bark of a dog. When Eudes of Chartres, brother-in-law of Richard II the Good, again threatened Normandy (996-1020) it was once more the Scandinavian chieftains, Olaf of Norway and Locman, who came to the duke's aid.

Richard I or the fearless as he became known, married a French princess but maintained a mistress on the side. She was known as Gunnor. Gunnor bore all of Richard's children. Gunnor was from an important Danish family and eventually married him on the princess's death. This meeting with Gunnor is steeped in French folklore. When Richard was out hunting, he stayed on the property of one of his subjects. It was normal in that period for the husband to offer his wife for the lords comfort. His quick thinking wife introduced her sister Gunnor to Richard. They immediately fell in love and were soon meeting on a regular basis. From this liaison came all Richard's children. How many children there were is uncertain but at least four are known. Richard II who followed his father and was known as the Good. Emma, who eventually married Aethelred the Unready and Canute, who in turn became kings of England.

Richard II 'the Good'

Successor to his father Richard I in 996, Richard II was the first of his family to be unambiguously referred to as duke of Normandy, a title that is also often given anachronistically to his three predecessors. He held his own against a peasant insurrection, helped Robert II of France against the duchy of Burgundy, and repelled an English attack on the Cotentin Peninsula that was led by the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred II the Unready. He also pursued a reform of the Norman monasteries.At his death in 1026, Richard was succeeded in turn by his sons Richard III and Robert.

Robert 'the Devil'

Robert I (Robert the Magnificent) is often identified with the legendary Robert the Devil. He aided King Henry I of France against Henry's rebellious brother and mother, intervened in the affairs of Flanders, and supported Edward the Confessor, then in exile at Robert's court. He also sponsored monastic reform in Normandy. After making his illegitimate son William his heir, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and died at Nicaea.

Robert the Devil - hero of a medieval legend. He was sold to the devil by his mother before his birth but upon discovering the fact did penance and was able to purify himself of his many sins. The tale may have been derived from the life of Robert I, duke of Normandy. The story exists in several French and English versions and is the basis of Meyerbeer’s opera Robert le Diable.

William I 'The Conqueror'

In 1035 at the age of seven or eight, William's father Robert was killed returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Before Robert had left for Jerusalem he received the assurance from the Norman barons that William would become the next Duke if anything happened to him during the trip. After his father's death William became the Duke of Normandy. At first William was not old enough to rule for himself and his early life as the Duke was extremely hazardous. Other members of his wider family would have benefited from his death and so William was guarded at all times to ensure his safety.

It was not until the mid 1040's that William was old enough to rule unaided and at once he began campaigns against rebel Normans and neighbouring enemies. He quickly gained a ruthless reputation. In October 1049, William married Matilda the daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders, one of his few allies. The marriage was against the wishes of the Pope who thought that Matilda and William were too closely related. William wanted the marriage for the important alliance with Flanders and also because he was in love with Matilda.

In 1051 Edward the Confessor, the King of England was having problems restraining the Godwine family. In the hope that the Normans would assist him, Edward offered William, Duke of Normandy the right to claim the English throne after his death. Edward had no children and no direct heir. In 1066 just before his death, Edward changed his mind and offered the English throne to his wife's brother, Harold, Earl of Godwine. When William learnt that Harold was to become king he was outraged and began invasion plans.

By August of 1066 the invasion fleet was ready, but the winds in the English Channel were not right and he had to delay sailing. This delay was fortunate for William because in July another invasion lead by Harold Hardrada had begun in the north of England. This drew king Harold away from the south coast. King Harold fought and defeated Hardrada on 25th September at Stamford Bridge. At the same time, the winds on the Channel became favourable and William crossed to land without opposition at Pevensey. King Harold then marched his exhausted army back south to fight William.

The armies of William and Harold meet at Hastings on the 14th of October 1066. William was victorious and Harold was killed. After the battle there was little resistance and William was accepted as the new King. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 25th December 1066.

From 1071 onwards, William had to contend with threats of invasion both against England, but also against his lands of Normandy. Threats from Swein of Denmark, The King of France and the Counts of Anjou and Flanders were a constant problem. William also had to content with his eldest son, Robert who was involved with William's enemies. While fighting the King of France in Vexin in July 1087, William was injured and died from his injuries on 9th September. He was buried in the church of St. Stephen in Caen.

Matilda of Flanders

William decided to get married and approached The amiable Count Balduin of Flanders, for the hand of his daughter, Matilda. Matilda flatly refused, saying that she would rather be a nun than to marry a bastard. On hearing this, William immediately rode to the Counts castle in Lille and a meeting with her. When she again refused, legend has it that he gave her a good beating. She seemed to respond to this. They were married and remained faithful to each other until William's death in 1087. If William and Matilda were happily married, the Pope was not happy about it. It was seen as a sin if there was any intermarrying of cousins. The relationship was so distant that there must have been other reasons for Pope Leo IX's action. The result was excommunication for them along with the whole of Normandy. This must have been very disturbing to William and his subjects. William flatly refused to annul the marriage, so the ban stayed in force. William had a loyal friend named Lanfranc, who became the prior of Bec in 1045 and later, following the Norman Conquest, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070. Lanfranc managed to persuade the new Pope named Nicholas II to rescind the order on the grounds that it would be politically unwise to return Matilda to her father, as it would be seen as a gross insult, and could possibly lead to war. It was not agreed to without cost. For absolution, William was ordered to build a monastery and nunnery in Caen. These still stand today and are known as the Abbaye-aux-Hommes and the Abbaye-aux-Dames. He was also ordered to build a number of hospitals in various locations. William and Matilda had 4 sons and 4 daughters. Robert Shorthose, William Rufus, Henry Beauclerc, Richard, Constance, Adelisa, Adelaide and Adela.

Matilda, Queen of England

Matilda or Maud, daughter of Henry I of England. Henry arranged a marriage for her with Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, and she was sent to Germany, betrothed, and five years later married to him. Empress Matilda was popular in Germany and seemed more German than English, but after her husband's death she returned to England. Since her only legitimate brother had died, her father devoted himself to securing for her the succession to the English throne, and the barons did in fact recognize her as Henry's heir in 1127. In 1128 she married Geoffrey IV of Anjou, to whom she bore three sons, the eldest being the future Henry II . Both she and her marriage were unpopular in England, however, and on Henry I's death in 1135 the barons gave their support to Matilda's cousin Stephen, who seized the throne. In 1139, Matilda, aided by her half-brother Robert, earl of Gloucester, undertook to recover the throne. After the defeat and capture of Stephen, she was elected “Lady of the English”; but her arrogance alienated supporters, and the captive Stephen had to be freed in a prisoner exchange for Gloucester. Before the end of the year her forces were routed at Winchester, and the same powerful clergy who had enthroned her then deposed her and declared for Stephen. The struggle continued, but never greatly in her favor. In 1148 she withdrew; her son Henry inherited her claim to the throne and was recognized as heir in 1153. Matilda spent her remaining years in Normandy and became noted for her charity.

Henry I 'Beauclerc', King of England

Henry I (c. 1068/1069 – 1 December 1135) was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror and the first born in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106. He was called Beauclerc for his scholarly interests and Lion of Justice for refinements which he brought about in the rudimentary administrative and legislative machinery of the time.

Henry was born in May 1068 or 1069, probably in Selby, Yorkshire in the north east of England. His mother, Queen Matilda, was descended from Alfred the Great. Queen Matilda named the infant Prince Henry, after her uncle, Henry I of France. As the youngest son of the family, he was almost certainly expected to become a Bishop and was given rather more extensive schooling than was usual for a young nobleman of that time. The Chronicler William of Malmesbury asserts that Henry once remarked that an illiterate King was a crowned ass. He was certainly the first Norman ruler to be fluent in the English language.

William I's third son Richard had pre-deceased his father by being killed in an hunting accident in the New Forest so, upon his death in 1087, William bequeathed his dominions to his three surviving sons in the following manner:
     - Robert received the Duchy of Normandy and became Duke Robert III
     - William Rufus received the Kingdom of England and became King William II
     - Henry Beauclerc received 5,000 pounds of silver

Henry tried to play his brothers off against each other but eventually, wary of his devious manoeuvring, they acted together and signed an Accession Treaty. This sought to bar Prince Henry from both Thrones by stipulating that if either King William or Duke Robert died without an heir, the two dominions of their father would be reunited under the surviving brother.

When, on 2 August 1100, William II was killed by an arrow in yet another hunting accident in the New Forest, Duke Robert had not yet returned from the First Crusade. His absence, along with his poor reputation among the Norman nobles, allowed Prince Henry to seize the Royal Treasury at Winchester, Hampshire, where he buried his dead brother. Henry was accepted as King by the leading Barons and was crowned three days later on 5 August at Westminster Abbey. He secured his position among the nobles by an act of political appeasement: he issued a Charter of Liberties which is considered a forerunner of the Magna Carta.

On 11 November 1100 Henry married Edith, daughter of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Since Edith was also the niece of Edgar Atheling and the great-granddaughter of Edward the Confessor's paternal half-brother Edmund Ironside, the marriage united the Norman line with the old English line of Kings. The marriage greatly displeased the Norman Barons, however, and as a concession to their sensibilities Edith changed her name to Matilda upon becoming Queen. The other side of this coin, however, was that Henry, by dint of his marriage, became far more acceptable to the Anglo-Saxon populace.

In the following year, 1101, Robert Curthose attempted to seize the crown by invading England. In the Treaty of Alton, Robert agreed to recognise his brother Henry as King of England and return peacefully to Normandy, upon receipt of an annual sum of 3000 silver marks, which Henry proceeded to pay.

In 1105, to eliminate the continuing threat from Robert Curthose and the drain on his fiscal resources from the annual payment, Henry led an expeditionary force across the English Channel. On the morning of the 28 September 1106, exactly 40 years after William had landed in England, the decisive battle between his two sons, Robert Curthose and Henry Beauclerc, took place in the small village of Tinchebray. This combat was totally unexpected and unprepared. Henry and his army were marching south from Barfleur on their way to Domfront and Robert was marching with his army from Falaise on their way to Mortain. They met at the crossroads at Tinchebray and the running battle which ensued was spread out over several kilometres. The site where most of the fighting took place is the village playing field today. Towards evening Robert tried to retreat but was captured by Henry's men at a place three kilometres north of Tinchebray where a farm named "Prise" stands today on the D22 road. The tombstones of three knights are nearby on the same road.

After Henry had defeated his brother's Norman army at Tinchebray he imprisoned Robert, initially in the Tower of London, subsequently at Devizes Castle and later at Cardiff. One day whilst out riding Robert attempted to escape from Cardiff but his horse was bogged down in a swamp and he was recaptured. To prevent further escapes Henry had Robert's eyes burnt out. Henry appropriated the Duchy of Normandy as a possession of the Kingdom of England and reunited his father's dominions.

In 1113, he attempted to reduce difficulties in Normandy by betrothing his eldest son, William Adelin, to the daughter of Fulk of Jerusalem (also known as Fulk V), Count of Anjou, then a serious enemy. They were married in 1119. Eight years later, after William's untimely death, a much more momentous union was made between Henry's daughter, (the former Empress) Matilda and Fulk's son Geoffrey Plantagenet, which eventually resulted in the union of the two Realms under the Plantagenet Kings.

Henry visited Normandy in 1135 to see his young grandsons, the children of Matilda and Geoffrey. He took great delight in his grandchildren, but soon quarrelled with his daughter and son-in-law and these disputes led him to tarry in Normandy far longer than he originally planned.

Henry died on 1 December 1135 of food poisoning from eating "a surfeit of lampreys" (of which he was excessively fond) at Saint-Denis-en-Lyons (now Lyons-la-Forêt) in Normandy. His remains were sewn into the hide of a bull to preserve them on the journey, and then taken back to England and were buried at Reading Abbey, which he had founded fourteen years before. The Abbey was destroyed during the Protestant Reformation. No trace of his tomb has survived.

Although Henry's barons had sworn allegiance to his daughter as their Queen, her gender and her remarriage into the House of Anjou, an enemy of the Normans, allowed Henry's nephew Stephen of Blois, to come to England and claim the throne with popular support.

The struggle between the former Empress and Stephen resulted in a long civil war known as the Anarchy. The dispute was eventually settled by Stephen's naming of Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet, as his heir in 1153.

King Henry is famed for holding the record for the largest number of acknowledged illegitimate children born to any English king, with the number being around 20 or 25. He had many mistresses, and identifying which mistress is the mother of which child is difficult.