How the west was won: the Norman dukes and the Cotentin, c.987–1087
This paper addresses a neglected aspect of the political and geographical development of the duchy of Normandy between c.987 and 1087: the expansion of the dukes' authority into the Cotentin peninsula. As narratives conceal more than they reveal about this process, ducal acta are the principal means of understanding it. In particular, the article examines the composition and use of the ducal demesne (and includes an appendix listing the lands that appear as demesne before 1087 and describing their subsequent descent). In addition, the essay looks at the men the duke recruited as supporters, the role of ducal women as ‘deputies’ in the Cotentin, and the motives of the leading rebels who fought against Duke William at the battle of Val-ès-Dunes in 1047, which have not previously been subject to close scrutiny. Comparisons are made with other parts of northern France or England, where appropriate, and the conclusions reached are relevant not just to William the Conqueror's rule in England, but also to wider arguments about how theoretical power was turned into reality.
Confrontation and Unification: Approaches to the Political History of Normandy, 911–1035
There has been a lot of work on the political history of Normandy in recent years, and this is changing understanding of the duchy's origins and development. Some of this work has examined the actions, relationships and settlement of the Vikings in the years prior to the ‘treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte’ and the inception of Normandy (traditionally dated to 911). The conditions that allowed the Vikings under Rollo to embed themselves in local society have been explored, and it has become clear that the Northmen were well-established in the region long before their settlement was officially recognized by Charles the Simple. The narrative sources which provide the foundation for any political history of Normandy, particularly Dudo of Saint-Quentin's Historia Normannorum or De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum, have also been the focus of a great deal of work. Dudo's intentions have been discussed at length, and while the provision of a historically accurate account was not among them, his work can now be used to suggest something of the ambitions of Duke Richard II and the concerns of those Franks who came into contact with him and his warriors. Until the 1970s, historians thought that Normandy was created swiftly and that it was unified from the outset. Now, a much more nuanced view is forming, which sees the establishment of Normandy as a slow process of confrontation and unification. Chance gave the dukes dominion over the Bretons and allowed them to take and hold the Avranchin. Elsewhere, the going was harder. Confrontation with the lords of Belleme and counts of Chartres led to stalemate. Within the frontiers thus established, the dukes had to fight to make their authority a reality and to weld Normandy into the unified family observed by Ralph Glaber in the later 1030s – although what Glaber did not know was that the duchy had still not taken its final form by that date.
Affairs of State: the illegitimate children of Henry I
The use of illegitimate children to further political designs was not unusual among medieval kings, but the number of Henry I of England’s offspring was remarkable, even by contemporary standards. There is no indication that he chose his partners from the diverse racial groups within the Anglo-Norman realm as a political gesture and they were mostly taken from the same social grouping that provided his ‘new men’. Henry’s peripatetic lifestyle made the maintenance of multiple partnerships and families possible and there are signs of family solidarity among his children. Some amendments to, and new interpretations of, the Complete Peerage list of Henry’s children are given.