The Normans in European history

by Charles Homer Haskins

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

There is no general account of Norman life and culture in any period of the Middle Ages, and no general study of Norman feudalism. For conditions in France generally, see Luchaire, La société française au temps de Philippe-Auguste (Paris, 1909), translated by Krehbiel (New York, 1912); for England, Miss M. Bateson, Mediæval England (New York and London, 1904). On castles, see C. Enlart, Manuel d’archéologie française, II (Paris, 1904, with bibliography), and Mrs. E. S. Armitage, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London, 1912). For William the Marshal, see Paul Meyer’s introduction to his edition of the Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal (Paris, 1891–1901); the poem has been utilized by Jusserand for his account of tournaments, Les sports et jeux d’exercice dans l’ancienne France (Paris, 1901), ch. 2.

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The work of Delisle, Études sur la condition de la classe agricole et l’état de l’agriculture en Normandie au moyen âge (Évreux, 1851), is a classic.

The best studies of Norman municipal institutions are A. Chéruel, Histoire de Rouen pendant l’époque communale (Rouen, 1843); A. Giry, Les Établissements de Rouen (Paris, 1883–85), supplemented by Valin, Recherches sur les origines de la commune de Rouen (Précis of the Rouen Academy, 1911); Charles de Beaurepaire, La Vicomté de l’Eau de Rouen (Évreux, 1856); E. de Fréville, Mémoire sur le commerce maritime de Rouen (Rouen, 1857); Miss Bateson, The Laws of Breteuil, in English Historical Review, XV, XVI; R. Génestal, La tenure en bourgage (Paris, 1900); Legras, Le bourgage de Caen (Paris, 1911).

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The excellent account of the Norman church in H. Böhmer, Kirche und Staat in England und in der Normandie (Leipzig, 1899), stops with 1154. On Odo and on Philip d’Harcourt see V. Bourrienne’s articles in the Revue Catholique de Normandie, VII-X, XVIII-XXIII. The register of Eudes Rigaud (ed. Bonnin, Rouen, 1852) is analyzed by Delisle, in Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, VIII, pp. 479–99; the Miracula Ecclesie Constantiensis and the letter of Abbot Haimo are discussed by him, ibid., IX, pp. 339–52; XXI, pp. 113–39. For the mortuary rolls, see his facsimile edition of the Rouleau mortuaire du B. Vital (Paris, 1909). The best monograph on a Norman monastery is that of R. N. Sauvage, L’abbaye de S. Martin de Troarn (Caen, 1911), where other such studies are listed. See also Génestal, Rôle des monastères comme établissements de crédit étudié en Normandie (Paris, 1901), and Delisle’s edition of Robert of Torigni.

The schools of Bec are described by A. Porée, Histoire de l’abbaye du Bec (Évreux, 1901). Notices of the various Norman historians are given by A. Molinier, Les sources de l’histoire de France (Paris, 1901–06), especially II, chs. 25, 33. For Ordericus and St. Évroul see Delisle’s introduction to the edition of the Historia Ecclesiastica published by the Société de l’Histoire de France, and the volumes issued by the Société historique et archéologique de l’Orne on the occasion of the Fêtes of 1912 (Alençon, 1912). Other early catalogues of libraries, including that of Philip of Bayeux, are in the first two volumes of the Catalogue général des MSS. des départements (Paris, 1886–88). For the vernacular literature, see Gaston Paris, La littérature normande avant l’annexion (Paris, 1899); and L. E. Menger, The Anglo-Norman Dialect (New York, 1904). For the latest discussions of the Chanson de Roland see J. Bédier, Les légendes épiques, III (Paris, 1912); and W. Tavernier’s studies in the Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Litteratur, XXXVI-XLII (1910–14), and the Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, XXXVIII (1914). Enlart, Manuel d’archéologie française, I, mentions the principal works on Norman ecclesiastical architecture. See also R. de Lasteyrie, L’architecture religieuse en France à l’époque romane (Paris, 1912), ch. 15; Enlart, Rouen (Paris, 1904); H. Prentout, Caen et Bayeux (Paris, 1900); Henry Adams, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres (Boston, 1913).

VII
THE NORMANS IN THE SOUTH

Of all the achievements of the heroic age of Norman history, none were more daring in execution or more brilliant in results than the exploits of Norman barons in the lands of the Mediterranean. Battling against the infidel in Spain, in Sicily, and in Syria, scattering the papal army and becoming the humble vassals of the Holy See, overcoming Lombard princes and Byzantine generals, the Normans were the glorious adventurers of the Mediterranean world throughout that eleventh century which constituted the great period of Norman expansion. Then, masters of southern Italy and Sicily, they put to work their powers of assimilation and organization and created a strong, well-governed state and a rich, composite civilization which were the wonder of Europe. If one were tempted to ascribe the successes of the Normans in England to happy accident or to the unique personality of William the Conqueror, the story of Norman achievement in the south, the work of scattered bands of simple barons without any assistance from the reigning dukes, would be conclusive proof of the creative power of the Norman genius for conquest and administration.