The politics of being Norman in the reign of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy (r. 942–996)
In 966, by the end of the reign of its third duke, Richard I, Normandy had overcome the crises that had beset it in the middle of the century. Much of this success came from the coherence of its ruling group, which expressed itself partly in terms of ‘Norman’ identity. This article uses Dudo's history of the dukes and Richard's charters to argue that ‘Norman’ as a political identity was a deliberate creation of the court of Richard I in the 960s, following the perceived failure of his and his father's policies of assimilation into Frankish culture.
Dudo's historical narrative and the Norman succession of 996
Abstract Dudo of St. Quentin's so-called De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum is considered on the basis of the extant manuscripts of the text, and in the light of the author's patron, Duke Richard I, and of his diocesan bishop, Adalbero of Laon, to whom the history was dedicated. The narrative, commissioned two years before the death of Richard I (+996), was intended to establish the rights of Richard's son, the future Richard II, to the territory conquered by the latter's great-grandfather Rollo. Issues of succession were of more pressing concern than a desire to misrepresent the barbarian Normans as ‘civilized’, the type of motivation normally posited for Richard's commission and Dudo's narrative. The Norman house was already respected in the most rarified social strata by the 990s. Finally, the ‘reconstruction’ scenario according to which the Viking newcomers caused a major rupture with the past is rejected, for this requires Dudo to be seen as a mendacious propagandist. Continuity is very much suggested by the overwhelming evidence of prosperity and institutional stability during the reign of Richard I, as well as by Dudo's history.
The evaluation of the competency perception of inspectors in using new instructional technology
Abstract The purpose of this study is to find out the evaluation of inspectors in regards to their competency perceptions towards the use of new instructional technologies. This is a qualitative model research. The target population of this study consisted of 25 inspectors serving within the borders of TRNC in 2011. Data was collected by an “interview form” developed by the researcher. The interview form consisted of 6 items. Content analyze, frequency (f) and percentage (%) techniques were used to analyze the data. This research pointed out that: “concerns on falling behind the teacher”, “training needs”, “decreasing training support within the years” and “non existing policy on IT support” are critical factors affecting an inspector's competency perceptions in using new instructional technologies.