Category: Normandy

The Treaty of Saint Clair Sur Epte

14/9/2022

The Treaty of Saint Clair Sur Epte was signed in the autumn of 911, the signatories were Viking leader Rollo and the Frankish Charles the Simple. This treaty gave what is present-day Upper Normandy to Rollo and the City of Rouen to Charles.
Rollo would hold the title of Duke of Normandy and by 1020 his descendants, the ‘Normans’ would continue to conqueror lands west of the duchy that included the island of Mont Saint Michel.

The signing of this treaty was not a matter of sealing a document or signing a name along the dotted line, it was the swearing of allegiance to a king in an official ceremony. Rollo had to 'shake hands' with Charles after which the king is said to have offered Gisele, his daughter, in marriage to Rollo.

Legend has it that those officiating suggested that Rollo kiss the king’s foot, an act of submission which Rollo, it is said, did not take very well so one of Rollo's men did it for him. The story goes that this man lifted the king’s foot without bending down, causing the king to fall over amid much hilarity on the Viking's part no doubt.

The existence of Gisele is disputed, and this story is probably a myth, there was a lot of forced 'bending of the knee' in those days

You can read more about this period in time in my blog on my website at

meanderingthroughtime.weebly.com/tosny-of-normandy.html

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What is in your head when you think about the Vikings?

26/5/2015

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And what did they do for us?

I know I always think of Kirk Douglas in the 1958 film The Vikings or I see them as warriors, raiding foreign lands in fur boots and horned helmets. In fact, they were a lot more than that, they were the first Europeans to reach America.

Leif Erikssonson, son of Erik the Red, who had been exiled from Iceland, landed on the coast of America around four hundred before Columbus.

The Vikings were a fearless group of warriors, sailing the oceans in their magnificent Long/Dragon ships.

These vessels were very fast and allowed a quick attack and fast escape, which could be recognized by their square sail and the dragon's head on the bow which was to protect against the evil spirits of the sea.

It has been said that without these great ships, the Viking Age would never have happened.

The planks on the ship's hull were constructed out of the wood of the oak tree and were held together with string made from wool that had been dipped in tar to prevent leaks. They were made to be able to sail in shallow water, which meant that they could travel up rivers as well as across the sea and these ships could be hauled up on a beach and as previously mentioned enabling the men to be out of the vessel and quickly into the fray.

No doubt these men were brutal and savage, their name was enough to frighten the people of the lands they were invading. It is in the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Battle of Maldon, that the word Wincing was used to mean a Scandinavian sea raider, giving rise to the word Viking.

Originally these people farmed and fished and spent much of their time in their own country, it was only in the summer that they ventured across the sea to trade and seek out new lands. However, the year 793 saw the start of the Viking migration from Scandinavia, these men from the north first raided Britain at Lindisfarne, a small holy island located off the northeast coast of England. Many of the monks were drowned, others killed and the monastery's treasures taken. In the following years their raids increased, by 866 they arrived in what they called Jorvik, our city of York, they followed this by attacking hundreds of villages and towns across the whole of the country.

How we perceive the Vikings has much to do with the Victorians, in this era the Norse man was popular, he was much written about, looked at, and listened to, men such as
Sir Walter Scott, William Morris, Edward Elgar, and Rudyard Kipling were all Viking enthusiasts.

So what did the Vikings do for us?"

Well, they founded Normandy, therefore you could claim that they invaded us twice!

They gave us the cities of Nottingham, Derby, and York.

They left behind their language and place names, especially in the north of England.

Any place name that ends in Thorpe or By means it was once a Viking settlement and one in thirty-three men can claim to be direct descendants from the Norse warriors, that's around 930,000 descendants.

Funnily enough, they never left us those horned helmets, do you know why?

Because they never wore them!

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The Treaty of Saint Clair Sur Epte

What is in your head when you think about the Vikings?

And what did they do for us?

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The Treaty of Saint Clair Sur Epte

What is in your head when you think about the Vikings?

And what did they do for us?​

Archives

Categories

And what did they do for us?