The Normans

Normandy is that province of France along the Channel coast which was taken over in the tenth century by Vikings; Normandy is the land of the nordmanni - the northmen. The Norman regarded their Viking origins as setting them apart from their neighbours; but in fact it is very hard to trace Scandinavian influence in Normandy, so we have to assume that the Vikings were few in number and soon became Frenchified in language and customs. For a century or so Normandy was backward, illiterate and ramshackle. Then quite remarkably in the eleventh century Normandy was transformed into a well-organised, powerful mini-state. In the middle of the century it erupted, like a volcano sending out streams of lava. From 1066 the lava flowed over the Channel, engulfed the whole of England, flowed into Scotland over the Lowlands, right round the eastern seaboard and into Galloway edged its way into the Welsh valleys and spread out over the lower lands of south Wales and then in 1169 spilled over into Ireland. And that is not all, for even before 1066 Normans had been flowing south to southern Italy.

There are different stories about the start of the southern saga Norman historians liked to tell of a party of Normans returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, landing at Salerno, finding it besieged by Moslems, coming to the rescue, and being invited to stay on. Italian historians tell of some Norman expelled from Normandy going to Rome to complain to the pope and being advised that there was a rebellion going on against Byzantine rule in southern Italy and their help would be very welcome. The papacy must soon have regretted encouraging the Normans to serve as mercenaries. Southern Italy was politically fragmented, and the Normans exploited every opportunity to set themselves up as robber barons. Pope Leo IX decided to get rid of them. He persuaded all the factions in Italy to join forces against them, and brought in from Germany a contingent of the emperor's finest troops. At Civitate in 1053 a hopelessly outnumbered band of Normans, bedraggled and hungry because their supplies had been cut off, took on the pope's army and routed it. They fell on their knees before the pope to beg his forgiveness and carried him off as their prisoner. Within twenty years they had taken control of all of Italy south of Rome. They crossed the straits of Messina and invaded Sicily, which was then under Arab rule. At the very same time as William the Conqueror was subduing England the Nor mans in the south were subduing Sicily. From there they menaced three empires: the Arabs in North Africa and the Middle East, the Byzantines in the Balkans, and the German emperors who control led Lombardy and aspired to take over all of Italy.

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From the Appletree Press title: The People of Ireland (currently out of print).
Also see A Little History of Ireland.