Early European History Part 74

Until the Norman Conquest England, because of its insular position, had remained out of touch with Continental Europe. William the Conqueror and his immediate successors were, however, not only rulers of England, but also dukes of Normandy and subjects of the French kings. Hence, the union of England with Normandy brought it at once into the full current of European affairs. The country became for a time almost a part of France and profited by the more advanced civilization which had arisen on French soil. The n.o.bility, the higher clergy, and the officers of government were Normans. The architects of the castles and churches, the lawyers, and the men of letters came from Normandy. Even the commercial and industrial cla.s.ses were largely recruited from across the Channel.

ENGLAND AND THE PAPACY

The Norman Conquest much increased the pope's authority over England. The English Church, as has been shown, [23] was the child of Rome, but during the Anglo-Saxon period it had become more independent of the Papacy than the churches on the Continent. William the Conqueror, whose invasion of England took place with the pope's approval, repaid his obligation by bringing the country into closer dependence on the Roman pontiff.

FUSION OF ENGLISH AND NORMAN

Although the Normans settled in England as conquerors, yet after all they were near kinsmen of the English and did not long keep separate from them.

In Normandy a century and a half had been enough to turn the Northmen into Frenchmen. So in England, at the end of a like period, the Normans became Englishmen. Some of the qualities that have helped to make the modern English a great people--their love of the sea and fondness for adventure, their vigor, self-reliance, and unconquerable spirit--are doubtless derived in good part from the Normans.

147. NORMAN CONQUEST OF SOUTHERN ITALY AND SICILY

NORMAN EXPANSION SOUTHWARD

The conquest of England, judged by its results, proved to be the most important undertaking of the Normans. But during this same eleventh century they found another field in which to display their energy and daring. They turned southward to the Mediterranean and created a Norman state in Italy and Sicily.

CONQUESTS OF ROBERT GUISCARD

The unsettled condition of Italy [24] gave the Normans an opportunity for interference in the affairs of the country. The founding of Norman power there was largely the work of a n.o.ble named Robert Guiscard ("the Crafty"), a man almost as celebrated as William the Conqueror. He had set out from his home in Normandy with only a single follower, but his valor and shrewdness soon brought him to the front. Robert united the scattered bands of Normans in Italy, who were fighting for pay or plunder, and wrested from the Roman Empire in the East its last territories in the peninsula. Before his death (1085 A.D.) most of southern Italy had pa.s.sed under Norman rule.

ROGER GUISCARD'S CONQUESTS

Robert's brother, Roger, crossed the strait of Messina and began the subjugation of Sicily, then a Moslem possession. Its recovery from the hands of "infidels" was considered by the Normans a work both pleasing to G.o.d and profitable to themselves. By the close of the eleventh century they had finally established their rule in the island.

KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES

The conquests of the Normans in southern Italy and Sicily were united into a single state, which came to be known as the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

The Normans governed it for only about one hundred and fifty years, but under other rulers it lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century, when the present kingdom of Italy came into existence.

NORMAN CULTURE IN THE SOUTH

The kingdom of the Two Sicilies was well-governed, rich, and strong. Art and learning flourished in the cities of Naples, Salerno, and Palermo.

Southern Italy and Sicily under the Normans became a meeting-point of Byzantine and Arabic civilization. The Norman kingdom formed an important channel through which the wisdom of the East flowed to the North and to the West.

148. THE NORMANS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

NORMAN FACULTY OF ADAPTATION

The conquests of the Normans in England, Italy, and Sicily were effected after they had become a Christian and a French-speaking people. In these lands they were the armed missionaries of a civilization not their own.

The Normans, indeed, invented little and borrowed much. But, like the Arabs, they were more than simple imitators. In language, literature, art, religion, and law what they took from others they improved and then spread abroad throughout their settlements.

a.s.sIMILATION OF THE NORMANS

It seems at first sight remarkable that a people who occupied so much of western Europe should have pa.s.sed away. Normans as Normans no longer exist. They lost themselves in the kingdoms which they founded and among the peoples whom they subdued. Their rapid a.s.similation was chiefly the consequence of their small numbers: outside of Normandy they were too few long to maintain their ident.i.ty.

NORMAL INFLUENCE

If the Normans themselves soon disappeared, their influence was more lasting. Their mission, it has been well said, was to be leaders and energizers of society--"the little leaven that leaveneth the whole lump."

The peoples of medieval Europe owed much to the courage and martial spirit, the genius for government, and the reverence for law, of the Normans. In one of the most significant movements of the Middle Ages--the crusades--they took a prominent part. Hence we shall meet them again.

STUDIES

1. What events are a.s.sociated with the following dates: 988 A.D.; 862 A.D.; 1066 A.D.; 1000 A.D.; and 987 A.D.?

2. What was the origin of the geographical names Russia, Greenland, Finland, and Normandy?

3. Mention some of the striking physical contrasts between the Arabian and Scandinavian peninsulas.

4. Why has the Baltic Sea been called a "secondary Mediterranean"?

5. How does it happen that the gulf of Finland is often frozen over in winter, while even the northernmost of the Norse fiords remain open?

6. Why is an acquaintance with Scandinavian mythology, literature, and history especially desirable for English-speaking peoples?

7. What is meant by the "berserker's rage"?

8. What names of our weekdays are derived from the names of Scandinavian deities?

9. Compare the Arab and Scandinavian conceptions of the future state of departed warriors.

10. What is meant by "sea-power"? What people possessed it during the ninth and tenth centuries?

11. Compare the invasions of the Northmen with those of the Germans as to (a) causes, (b) area covered, and (c) results.

12. What was the significance of the fact that the Northmen were not Christians at the time when they began their expeditions?

13. Show how the voyages of the Northmen vastly increased geographical knowledge.

14. Show that the Russian people have received from Constantinople their writing, religion, and art.

15. Mention three conquests of England by foreign peoples before 1066 A.D.

Give for each conquest the results and the approximate date.

16. On the map, page 405, trace the boundary line between Alfred's possessions and those of the Danes.

17. Compare Alfred and Charlemagne as civilizing kings.

18. Compare Alfred's cession of the Danelaw with the cession of Normandy to Rollo.

19. Why is Hastings included among "decisive" battles?

20. "We English are not ourselves but somebody else." Comment on this statement.

21. What is meant by the "Norman graft upon the st.u.r.dy Saxon tree"?

22. What settlements of the Northmen most influenced European history?