normans

Hi! I just discovered I have some Norman ancestry on my father's side. My understanding of them is they are descendants of Vikings who intermarrried with the Gauls in the region of Normandy. They went on to conquer regions such as England and parts of Italy. My father is English by birth. My...

This is better as a paper but since I guess I don't really write papers anymore for school I guess I just feel the need to get these ideas out somewhere like historum... But essentially the idea is that there was no meaningful difference between the time of the Norman invasions (or conquest as...

When people talk of the 'welsh wars' with England (Normans and Saxons), they nearly always talk of the Edwardian conquest of Wales and Glyndwrs uprising. However, the years between 1067 and 1255 are the most violent in the in the very violent history of the welsh. Within those years we see a...

I'm wondering as to how 'Viking' the Normans were ethnically and culturally. One book I read said that many of Roger's compatriots were actually speaking in Norse to one another, yet conversed in French with 'Gallic' Norman and French adventurers. So what percentage descended from the Vikings...

When reading about Viking expansion Normans are often quoted and they quote the Kingdoms of Italy and England too , so what'd be the difference?

I created this thread because of a digression I made in the thread "How did the Normans introduce feudalism into England"? I feel that the topic of the situation in England before 1066 deserves a thread of its own rather than hijack the "How did the Normans introduce feudalism into England?"...

Many times in my life I have heard and read that after the Normans conquered England in 1066, the Normans introduced feudalism to England. My impression has always been that feudalism was the natural result of 2 factors in Europe: #1 the decentralization of Europe and 2# the advent of steel...

I've always had a preference for the Anglo-Saxons over the Normans. I don't know exactly why my sympathies have lain so strongly with them - maybe because they were the "original" invaders and inhabitants (although they themselves displaced the Celts). I admire both peoples, though if I had been...

The Normans were significant, but not as much as people state. Taking their conquest of England: Legal - They retained the laws of King St. Edward the Confessor, who whilst half-Norman, was ethnically Anglo-Saxon. They kept the shires (,e.g. Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Sussex, Yorkshire...

What do you personally think made them so highly sought after, and what do you think attributed to their success? Also, how often did Normans settle in Constantinople?

I find these claims interesting... "The Norman claim to the succession to the English throne originated in opportunism and is riddled with inconsistencies..." (Emma Mason, ‘House of Godwin’ p.110). “The [Anglo-Saxon] Chronicle record here has been adjusted at a later...

We all (hopefully) might know about the invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror. What you might not know is how that came to be in the first place. In the 800s .A.D., one of the biggest problems facing Christian Europe was invasion by Vikings. The first Viking invasion on the...

One of the results of the Norman conquest was that it turned England's orientation south to Europe rather than to Scandinavia. There's no right or wrong answer to this I think, but I think that if the Normans had been defeated and never tried to conquer again, then either Anglo-Saxon England...

What would happen if there was no Norman invasion in 1066? Would the Saxons have been able to hold out or would they fall to the Norse?

Hi all, I thought I might shamelessly plug my new novel on William The Conqueror's youth. Normandy, 1035AD. Duke Robert has died on pilgrimage, leaving his seven year old son William as his heir. This unprepared boy finds himself thrown into the power games of the great men of Normandy, who...

Recently I have become interested in my ancestry on my father's side. He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. My ancestors were most likely concentrated in the North of England and North East of England. I did some research on my family name and originally my ancestors lived in the Durham region. I...

I've seen a lot of debate regarding this question so I've opened a thread to hear various peoples' viewpoints and see if we can arrive at a conclusion. EDIT:To clarify, I mean the Normans during the time of William the Conqueror

From the building capabilities and the upgrading in armour and most of all success in the battle field against all comers whether the saxons of England or the turks of the middle east they had an impressive military record. How much is the crusades influenced by the Normans? A more...

Hi I'm aware of Norman Knights fighting on foot at Hastings in 1066.But I am looking for evidence that the Normans of the South fighting on foot when necessary. I have certainly once read that some Knights fought dismounted at the Battle of Civitate.,but I'm not sure as to how true this is or...

So, I've noticed occasionally on maps and in books that there was a portion of Italy, (Naples/Southern Italy and Sicily) under control of the Normans. Obviously if they're Normans, they have origins in Danish vikings. But did the Normans in Normandy and the ones in southern Italy have any...