Why Did Normandy Become the "Viking" Part of France?

Normandy in the North of France was named after the Northmen, what we today might call the Vikings. The Normans would go on to conquer England in 1066 and Sicily, as well as rivalling the power of French kings at home for centuries. In this video I look at the origin of the Normans.
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[@NorseNorman]

I am from the Norman island of Jersey, a part of the Channel Islands just off the coast of France. A fair few people still speak the Norman language here, called Jèrriais, which contain many words directly of Old Norse origin. Most of these words are nautical words, which suggests that the Vikings that settled in Normandy formed a social strata of sailors and merchants and survived in Norman society for a lot longer that what is commonly believed. Words of Norse origin include: 'fliot' (water tide) from 'flóð', 'babord' (left-side of a ship) from 'bakborði, 'honmard' (lobster) from 'humarr', 'hâvre' (harbour) from 'Hafn', tchelle (keel) from 'kjölr'. But also other words that give insight to how the Vikings integrated into Norman society, such as 'hardelle' (young girl) from 'hóra' and 'canne' (jug) from 'kanna'. Additionally, Old Norse place names are very common in Jersey such as 'Hougue' (hill) from 'haug' and 'Mielle' (sand dune) from 'mellr'. Additionally, our culture and ancestry is tied to our Viking past. When someone is doing you wrong, you can still call upon Rollo for aid (which is still to this day legally recognised in Jersey Norman law as valid) by shouting "Haro Haro Haro!" ('ro' being a corruption of Rou). Also, Norse last names are still reasonably common in Jersey. My last name, Renouf, comes from the Old Norse 'Ragn-Ulf', meaning 'wolf-warrior' or something like that, who was probably a Hiberno-Norwegian who had settled in the Cotentin.

[@greensword3880]

Based

[@robertprice5039]

My great grandfather was from St. Helier. His mother's family (Poingdestre) line I can trace to the 1200s.

[@frenchfrog4622]

most of these words are common to french actually

[@sylviadoty7974]

Good to know..

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

@NorseNorman, very interesting! Im interested of reading Old Norman, is there some texts you could recommend me (via link) its hard to find, the only thing i found was the english act of treason of 1351 written in Old norman (norman french/anglo-norman). Merci d'avance

[@Daniel-en1on]

Watching from Normandy

[@usernamesample8386]

Normandy = England fkk France.

[@luxhistoriae1172]

@@usernamesample8386 cringe

[@usernamesample8386]

@@luxhistoriae1172 OK daddy

[@abduvohidodiljonov9365]

Alas you are assimilated into Franch people, you are not nor(th)man any more

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

Im going to visit Normandie in late September! Such an amazing culture that transformed the world! There is not only england or sicily that received norman rule but way more other places, including Spanish holdings, anatolian, greek islands and more! If you have questions about these regions feel free to ask me.

[@nerdyguy1152]

This video isn’t bad but i need to add few points : 1. In 911, Robert the 1st, the brother of Odo of Paris (Éudes de Paris), stopped an offensive of Rollo at Chartres which is not far from Paris, this is also the other major reason for the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (not merely because of threats posted by vikings) 2. At the time the Normans conquered England, they imposed French (though with limited influence of Norse) to England 3. French language is in fact a Germanised speech of Latin , and number of Vikings were quickly absorbed into local Frankish population, so it’s no surprise their descendants also spoke Langue d’oïl (ancient french). Also Norman variant shares a great number of common features with other French northern dialects such as Picardie, Anjou, Lorraine etc. 4. Although you prefer to call the Normans ‘descendants of the vikings’, they were actually frenchified as late as 996 (the reign of Richard I de Normandie)

[@Mike-tz4ku]

Rollo settled in Normandy in 911. William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066. We’re talking about 155 years which must be long enough to assimilate anybody

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@Mike-tz4ku indeed, by 1066 i feel pretty safe to say Normandy is not much different from other parts of France

[@kerberosberserk5092]

Perhaps this Cambridge student can look up more on this topic before making videos on this subject. Normandy is actually called ‘La Normandie’ / ‘Normaundie’. Norman peoples are actually ‘ les Normands’ / ‘Normaunds’ Norman-French is ‘Le Normand’ / ‘Normaund’.

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@kerberosberserk5092 well i am not being mean-mouthed but it does hurt a lot of English people by telling them that Norman people speak French / Norman-French. So let’s be delicate with this matter 😉

[@ArrivaAzazello]

​@@nerdyguy1152indeed I remember discussing this topic in the past with somebody that was saying that basically the Normans were vikings invading England from France. That sounds a bit unrealistic considering those people spoke French, had French names, had French customs 😅

[@strasbourgeois1]

I come from Caen (in normandy) and it’s very cool history! I love our history and am proud to be descended from these ferocious warriors, as well as the noble French!

[@76rjackson]

I was lucky enough to study at the Université de Caen way back in 1979. Best year of my youth was spent there!

[@nerdyguy1152]

Oui mon pote! Vive la Normandie ! Vive la France 🇫🇷

[@rohanwilkinson1021]

It turns out the French are Dutch who traded with the Vikings traditionally.

[@rohanwilkinson1021]

Some English kicked the Bretons out of Britain then the Bretons mixed with the Normans and returned to Britain with Norse and Dutch allies during the year 1066 only to be called invaders by the English that invaded them.

[@veronicajensen7690]

the Dutch didn't only trade with Vikings (it's only a short period of Scandinavian history that are called the Viking age but they are the same as Bronze age Scandinavians) the Dutch and Danes plus a little north Germans=Anglo- Saxons , so much so that a dna study in Britain showed Brits are between 25-50% Anglo- Saxon, and that dna is extremely similar to modern day Dutch and Danes, and they have difficulty determining what is Anglo-Saxon dna and what is Danes from the Viking conquering of England @@rohanwilkinson1021

[@pow3redthebest]

In Sicily we have a quite big norman heritage: not only they founded the Kingdom of Sicily bringing people from Northern Italy, France and Normandy in Sicily but they also left us culinary traditions, castles and a lot of norman words in Sicilian, especially the most common words. My village in particular is one of the few in Eastern Sicily where the normans settled, we also have a pretty famous Norman Castle

[@miliba]

What is the name of your lovely town?

[@pow3redthebest]

@@miliba Adrano, in the Catania province

[@caniblmolstr4503]

@@pow3redthebest that's in Messina right? I am a Ck3 player and the Hauteville campaign is the most intresting campaign in the game.

[@pow3redthebest]

@@caniblmolstr4503 Catania actually

[@caniblmolstr4503]

@@pow3redthebest but in ck3 its in Messina county

[@williamfluit6198]

Nothing like a stirring rendition of "Wilhelmus" in the morning.!! ⚔⚔🏹

[@macgonzo]

My middle name is Norman, and many of my ancestors have had this name across the generations. I'm from the Outer Hebrides originally, so there's a strong Viking connection in my family. The Gaelic version of the name is Tormod, and my grandfather's side of the family are Macaulays of Lewis, who are supposedly descended from Olaf the Black... I don't know how much actual historical content there is out there about the Viking occupation of the Isles, but if you haven't done a video on them already, it would be awesome if you did 😊

[@richerdjones1988]

You would probably find The Orkneyinga Saga interesting.

[@TheMuggis]

Cool 😎 And since I am Norwegian we should join forces and make a great Norse-gaelic empire stretching from Ireland to the Baltic sea 💪

[@Thanadeez]

@@TheMuggis Can Belgium join? Cuz we hate france

[@greensword3880]

@@TheMuggis bring back the North Sea empire !

[@TheMuggis]

@@greensword3880 ofc, it`s like the first order of business. And then we will continue invading as many lands as possible ;)

[@moumous87]

This channel is never disappointing! Love it!

[@christyb2912]

Great video as usual! just a detail - technically the Vikings were going UP the Seine, not down. I am french Canadian and of Normand descent like about 70% of us, because after Normandie was incorporated in the kingdom of France, life became very hard for the poor people (more rules and taxes than in other parts of France). They were desperate in the 17th century and more likely to try their luck at crossing over to Nouvelle France. If they survived the crossing (my ancestor in 1642) than they had a better longer life in Québec than in France. :-)

[@luxhistoriae1172]

Normandy always have been incorporate to the french kingdom. Your maybe talking about the time it passed under direct french king rules and thats not the reason normand began to settle in Canada but rather because one of the three major port for the new northern world was there. Also a lot of people havent been classified at their birth by the state and then took the regionality of their local departure. Thats why their is a immense ammount of Breton/Normand/Aquitain who are surepresented in france colonization till the second empire who was way more efficient than the monarchy as an administrative power.

[@christyb2912]

@@luxhistoriae1172 Most of us french canadians have had our genealogy done and we do know the exact village from where our ancestors came from. So we are not mistaking our origin. Furthermore, I personally had my dna done and with 15% scandinavian I am pretty confident.

[@NorseNorman]

Indeed, Jèrriais (Jersey) Norman was spoken in the Gaspé as late as the 1950s!

[@loislewis5229]

Yes, I would definitely like to hear more about Vikings

[@KinseyReynolds]

The old Norse language didn't die in a generation, there's several accounts of people speaking Danish as late as the 12th century.

[@NorseNorman]

What are the sources for this?

[@KinseyReynolds]

@@NorseNorman Benoît de Sainte-Maure "Chronique des ducs de Normandie"

[@NorseNorman]

@@KinseyReynolds Merci beaucoup!

[@nerdyguy1152]

Interesting. They should be bilingual at that time, Norman-French in England can be one of the good examples. But i think they must’ve adopted christianity and were no longer followers of norse mythology.

[@chrisdel2564]

Up to 14th century in the Cotentin the most isolated part of Normandy

[@djblackwell1727]

Awesome video as usual! Looking forward to the Viking adventures

[@ArnsteinTrany]

Be interesting to hear more about how the viking hordes developed, rather quickly, into the Norman army of 1066.

[@caniblmolstr4503]

Very quickly. I like to think the Vikings as the Steppe nomads of Europe. As just as the Steppe nomads if there was one thing that defined their culture it was 'malleable invaders'. They would invade and conquer a land and people several times their size and just adopt their customs. The Rus did it in Russia/Ukraine. Jarl Dyre did it in Ruthenia. Jarl Rollo did it in Normandy. This makes them not much different from the various Turkic and Mongolic tribes who did the same with respect to their subject people - Seljuk Turks, Timurids etc

[@Xaiff]

@@caniblmolstr4503 huh. I didn't notice that pattern. Intriguing

[@corpi8784]

The Vikings were culturally absorbed rather quickly by the Frankish/Gallo-roman population that we now know as French. This included the Frankish form of warfare that they adapted thus being transformed from Viking raider into what would become the medieval Normans with their typically heavy cavalry and castle building

[@caniblmolstr4503]

@@corpi8784 that's what I said above and it was not due to any effort from the French. It was all due to the Normans' own efforts to be accepted by their new subjects. People have a misgivings that the whole populace of Normandy were Vikings. It was just the ruling classes. Anyways these same Normans would go on and adopt other cultures just as enthusiastically - the Hautevilles in Sicily and the Holy Land. The various other Normans in the Crusader states. And the Biggest of em all - the Normandie house itself in England

[@corpi8784]

@@caniblmolstr4503 Cultural integration & absorbtion into a larger population is never a one way street- you cannot integrate into a culture/society if you are not also accepted by that domestic population. Hard to intermarry withput being accepted. It seems that Scandinavians pf the Viking age were rather tolerant amd open about other cultures including interacting with them as examples of trade with (among others) Byzantium & Arabs show. Examples such as the Varangian impirial i guard in Constantinopol are typical.

[@notrocketscience1950]

time flies !! this was great - well done

[@DavidFraser007]

Apparently the Frasers are orginally from Normandy. My 3 sons and I are all fair haired and over 6 feet tall.

[@thomasboyd4398]

Awesome. Excellent channel. Appreciate your work. Spot on.

[@alanchristensen5735]

Excellent information. Thanks 🙏

[@josephjones633]

Great video it would be great to see a video going in depth on the various rus principalities

[@TNOfan4093]

Excellent video ! I'm glad I discovered your channel

[@ZhovtoBlakytniy]

My ancestors! In my genealogy, my maternal line were English with Norman heritage that arrived in the time of William the Conqueror. They owned a bit of land in the Feudal era that is no longer in their possession because they migrated to what is now the US in the 17th century. The castle ruins were demolished in the 1970s

[@strafrag1]

Very interesting video. Thanks.

[@verkoren]

Yes! More Viking videos please! 🤩

[@thorpeaaron1110]

Finally a Norman origins video.

[@tile-maker4962]

Can you do a video on the ancient Britton's, the proto-Brittonic language and druids?

[@markusskram4181]

Cool vid !

[@bradgardner4299]

Love it, hopefully see more Scandinavian documentaries

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello Hibbert. My interest in Vikings is from my Yorkshire origin, but my dad's cousin moved to Hastings, so I soon found an interest in Norman things after visiting as a barn. My Viking wargame army soon was followed by Norman, to allow use of cavalry. I hope you might do further information videos on integration of the Vikings, like the one you did for York and the adoption of cavalry. I designed a model village to go with a program for BBC computer for school kids to design a castle, through contacts at university. Later I used to commute between Yorkshire and my work's southern site in Hastings, as if following Harold's route from 1066. I was always interested in the Breton claim in 1066 to be fighting with Norman to recover the land, like a rerun of Brunanburh, but this could be because my wargame pal was from Bromborough. Also the Norman versus York animosity that gave rise to the Harrying of the North and Norman against the Varangian conflict caught my attention. Lastly you made me go "Rollo like rob not robe", but you could still have my last Rolo, but I would start suggesting history of Yorkshire sweet manufacturers as I now have Rowntree and Trebor in my head like a sweet version of an earworm.

[@maltrho]

Hilbert (if you listen :-)) i have a task for you to investigate, or reflect on. You must be one of the few who could actually do something with this, thats why i mention it here :-) Why now this weird "Hiberno-Noerwegian"? We see it very often. If we believe normal story, Norwegians vikings talking wiwes and slaves from their raids and settling in Ireland is the entire true causation (for instance) behind the celting DNA on Iceland. But are we in fact so sure that the mix happens at such a late state? Do we know that the mix between germanic and celting is not inherent to the west-norwegian people, and predates the viking age by centuries? 3 things just to substantiate that the idea is worth investigating further. 1) there is a strange amount of IRISH/CELTiC hablogrup in present day western nowrwegain population. Thus not only on iceland and faroes, but in mainland western norway also, while not at all present in the rest of scandinavia. 2) The peoples with Celting DNA (the islands + western Norway) is the same that speak West-old-Nordic dialect, and we know that while mountains separated old peoples, water would connect. 3) My favorite argument is about language. Comparative lingvistics has found a big general tendency: where diphtongs occur this is a sign that a group speaking a germanic language or latin mixed into an original celtic population. Thus for instance Italian and spanish has 0 diphtongs, but french has / had them, because there was a celting speaking population (eg: "Beau", was a diphtong). And in germanic speking countries, english has a thousand of them. In skandivia, danish and swedish, and old eastern norse, dont have them at all almost. The language of the islands are filled with them, and western norwegian has them also ("Stein" for "Stone" for instance, which would in danish be "Sten"). Maybe socalled old western Norse are different from old esastern norse because it was from the beginning created with a mix of celtic and nordic? THat would explain soooo much.....

[@bleddynwolf8463]

i think most of this can be explained by that main land Norwegian raiders also took substantial amounts of celts back home

[@maltrho]

@@bleddynwolf8463 the dna-part yes, unless there was actually earlyer findings (which i no longer remember) - but not the language part. To express the language part a bit more clearly it is a pattern of diphtongs ocurring, and otherwize not occuring, in europe, only where a germanic or romance speaking people migrated into territories already inhabited by celtic populations. Thus, if applied, this suggest that old Norwegian (and from this also Icelandic and Faorse, which so much resemble irish in sound) was originally created as the norht-germanics from Sweden and east norway pushed into the westernmost part of norway, earlier settled by or dominated by celts. Then we have consistency with a general pattern from all over europe, and the otherwize unexplained diviision of old Norse into east and west dilecti would at the same time receive an explanation. The conjecture (in its general type) is called "substratum-theory" (if i remember correctly, It is now some months ago i stumpled upon it). I think it was firstly presented in Brøndal (1917), it is presented shortly in Hans Frede Nielsen "The Germanic Languages: origins and early dialectical interrelations." These writers do not connect it with a possible celtic pre-viking age population in western norway though. (also they did not have dna data and such stuff along side.)

[@bleddynwolf8463]

@@maltrho a problem i have is a lack of archaeological support. celts first become distinct from general PIE culture around the north of the alps, then migrate to parts of anatolia, gaul, britain and north-western iberia, with some small population travelling north to settle on islands north of britain. we know this from not only lingustic but also archaeological evidence. celtic pottery, housing construction, written records (in later centuries), torques, (spelling?, the bronze things they put around their necks), religious evidence i.e, significant horse imagery, or depictions of celtic gods. its the stark lack of direct archaeological evidence for me, especially when we have a relatively clear map of celtic peoples migration otherwise that does in this theory

[@maltrho]

If there was a lack of the kind of evidence you have from celtic presence elsewhere, yes, that would speak against the idea. (provided that this area preserves evidence) But are such things missibg in fact? Im no expert, but certainly any potential example of such evidence would have been intepreted on the basis of basic orthodox ideas about a germanic scandinavia. DNA will be interpreted as sign of slaves, pottery and artstyle intepreted as signs of trade and ‘contact’. Not knowing it, in inclined to believe the stuff is there.

[@bleddynwolf8463]

@@maltrho im not a professional archaeologist either, just an individual with an interest in the field. my understanding would be that if for example we found old celtic stuff from long ago in norway and no germanic stuff, and then in a pattern traveling east to west we found an encroachment of germanic stuff, your theory would be a significant interpretation. but, as far as i know, thats not whats found. we have no evidence early settlement OR contact between norse and celtic cultures before the raids and settlement on celtic inhabited islands. i mean think about it, how would celts even get to norway? their boats were good, yes, but looking at other examples of celtic migration, they settled islands north of britain in LOW numbers, and they were fairly slow about it, its unlikely there'd be any mass migration of celts across the north sea of all things. and we have no evidence of celtic settlement in north germany, even during times of celtic migration, let alone in evidence of migration up through germany, up denmark, across the sea and sticking to the coast north west up to norway. we have no evidence in archaeology of an early celtic presence in norway, no intuitive way for them to get there, and the only evidence we do have your theory based on the substratum theory, which itself is not widely excepted

[@aaronmarks9366]

I'd love to see a video on the early culture of the Anglo-Saxons, c. 400-600, before their conversion to Christianity. What were the similarities and differences between this Anglo-Saxon culture and religion and the similar pre-Christian Norse culture and religion?

[@ecurewitz]

Same here

[@feldgeist2637]

here in the north of Schleswig-Holstein, as well as in Denmark, the 5th cent. Anglians had the custom of wearing cruciform brooches and other jewelry depicting christian iconography in southern Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and the saxon parts of the Netherlands you'll barely find such things......they also existed, but generally the Saxons stayed stubbornly pagan until forcibly baptised by the Franks

[@aaronmarks9366]

@@feldgeist2637 That's super interesting, are you saying that at least some of the Angles/Saxons/Jutes who migrated to Britain were already Christian?

[@feldgeist2637]

@@aaronmarks9366 I'm pretty convinced that some adapted form of Arianism was dominant amongst the Angles since the early 400s they were organized people under true kings, unlike the Saxons who were more of a semi-anarchic tribal coalition under the rule of various warlords as a comparitively organized state they might have tried to emulate some more civilized customs of the greater powers in the South, like being Christians for example they apparantly also had good connections to the Thuringians according to Malchus, Odoacer,son of a thuringian father and maybe even sort of king of the Thuringians (if misspelled as Turcilingi), was arian ...as well as most of the Goths/Quasi-Goths( parts of east-germanic tribes with scandinavian roots) who frequently also flooded the north after being displaced again from somewhere Jutes seem to have at least culturally been dominated by the Angles around the time of the migration and might be broadly christianized too Saxons not that much there are for instance some types of saxon disc brooches showing crosses, often appearing together and this mostly in little pockets, maybe suggesting that there were some christian communities here and there, but apparently for the most part instead of just despicable "Heretics" they indeed were the "wicked devil worshippers", romanophile chroniclers from early medieval times are speaking of

[@dirckthedork-knight1201]

From the little that i know they (Anglo-saxons) also believed in the importance of martial prowess and this seems to have continued even after Christian conversion since it appears on so many of their poem (Like Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem)

[@douglasfur3808]

Learning so much about Norse history and the impact on England and France makes the North Sea like a version of the Mediterranean with contending forces all around.

[@liamscherl2019]

Loving the Viking content. I don't know if you've done any videos on it but I would like to learn more about the difference between the French and the Franks.

[@sebe2255]

In a nutshell, the Franks were a Germanic people that founded a large Empire in western Europe. Their modern day descendants live in the low countries and parts of west Germany. The Dutch language for example evolved from Salien/Low Frankish. the French are the result of the Frankish nobles who moved into Gaul after conquering it and who adopted the latin language and Gallo-Roman culture of the land they settled in. This took centuries but would eventually lead to a sort of french identity. This culture was originally focused around paris/northern france and would later be promoted throughout france.

[@raggedyandy2327]

Please do a video on the Gallóglaigh/Gallowglass?

[@donnaluschyk9576]

I am Canadian and a relation to Rollo. Very interesting family history

[@juliuspfpf]

Nice vid 🔥

[@mikeycraig8970]

It's late and I've just seen this. But I'll be back for a proper look tomorrow.

[@sergeant_salty]

my family name comes from an Old Norse word that changed during the settlement of Normandy and again after the invasion of England. very proud of my ancestors and their accomplishments

[@eddys.3524]

Hi, Hilbert, could you please make a video on the Northman and Frisia? BTW... you mentioned "Huskarl" ... could there be a relation of that word with the latter "Husar"? It has a bit of the same ring...

[@maryswaffordstone5205]

Great video. I always wondered who were the Norman’s, too.

[@letheas6175]

Watching your videos because I like them, but also, definitely, because I always try to find the dutch anthem meme thing. It's genius, you're such a good content creator. Kind regards from the future king of the Flevolands.

[@lhpl]

I like your videos, they are very well-made and informative. However, I notice some problems with the audio, sometimes there is a slight but notable drop in volume, and maybe also a little noise or distortion. You may want to check you production tools.

[@mowvu5380]

nobody cares

[@corpi8784]

The intersthing thing about English history is that 3 different waves of invading peoples ( Anglo-Saxons,Vikings and Normans) were by their origin basically neigboring Germanic tribes from the continental North Sea coast including neighboring islands who originally would have all spoken dialects of one mutually intelligible lamguage before their paths diverged.

[@nerdyguy1152]

Well strictly speaking the Franks were also germanic. Even french language itself is germanised speech of latin

[@corpi8784]

@@nerdyguy1152 I wouldn't call French germanized. It still is very much a romance language with a slight germanic influence especially in terms of pronunciation and some (relatively little) vocabulary.

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@corpi8784 in terms of prononciation, french is totally different from most romance languages such as spanish, italian, catalan etc. when the franks adopted latin, they spoke with a thick accent which gave birth to ancient french (la langue d'oïl) widely spoken in northern france. also, since not many languages were codified back in history, they may not fully understand each other.

[@mijanhoque1740]

Could you do a video on the badass Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginians or The Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain

[@willelm88]

Thanks, Hilbert, for another video about one of my famous ancestors. That tireless genealogist my Great-Uncle has traced our descent from Gongu-Hrolf as well as Alfred the Great.

[@willelm88]

But you've made one repeated error here: you keep speaking of the Normans and other Norsemen as going 'down' the Seine and other rivers from the Channel to attack Paris. But if you'd ever taken a boat on any of those rivers, you'd know they were going *up* , 'cos they all flow from south to north. Whenever you start from the mouth of a river, at sea level, you're going against the current, and so *up*, not down. It's a mistake were all prone to, becuse our maps all have north at the top and south at the bottom; so any north-to-south movement looks to be downhill-until we remember that a map is supposed to be a bird's-eye view of a country and so can show a river flowing in *any* direction. My Great Uncle has told me that my great-grandfather was quite an intelligent man but could never work out how the Saint Lawrence River could flow down from Montreal to the sea, when on the map that journey looked to him to be going uphill. 'It's just as well he spent the War in London with the Ordnance Corps' my G-U concluded. 'If he'd had to go to Sicily with his brother Phil, Woden only knows where their platoon would have ended up.'

[@Allan_son]

@@willelm88 recheck the part after "coz". You have it right in your head, but.... Most simply put.... if you start at the sea, it is always up from there.

[@williamcooke5627]

@@Allan_son Your'e right! Re-check what you've written, lad!

[@willelm88]

​@@williamcooke5627 Thanks, Mr Allanson; and thanks, G-U Will! You're both right! I originally wrote 'north to south'.. Shame on me! It just goes to show how easily we're all confused by this.

[@Sprecherfuchs]

Are you by any chance an American? They're the only people I'm aware of capable of talking such an immense amount of shite

[@deanbuss1678]

ANYTHING Viking is cool. Yes please. Keep it up young man!👍

[@NortsCast]

I dont have any sources for this, but him being norwegian or danish would be hard to determine, and he could be a norwegian under danish "vassalage" or a dane ruling in norway. I just remember reading somewhere how southern norway (modern agder) and viken (around the oslofjord) would be under both norwegian and danish control due to its position

[@stahu_mishima]

thou got me, this is the first region I'm goin' to visit while in France

[@maskr5520]

I’d advise you to visit Chateau Gaillard, a castle which was the theater of a big battle between French and English, as well as the dday beaches and Etretat, known for its beautiful landscapes. Also the Mont saint Michel ( even though it’s more Breton than Norman 😁)

[@stahu_mishima]

@@maskr5520 tbh I'm most interested in these places linked to the Norse people but yeaaah Mont Saint Michel would've been pretty cool to visit!

[@maskr5520]

@@stahu_mishima Sorry but Normans descended from Norse but blended really fast with the local culture and population. During the invasion of England Normans were not much different than any other French region. I don’t recall places in Normandy where you can feel the Nordic legacy tbh, but maybe if you search you can find them

[@stahu_mishima]

@@maskr5520 yeah that's true and I'm conscious of it but just visiting places that at a point in history had actual vikings raiding or even settling in would've been reaally cool

[@keng293]

@@stahu_mishima The guy who replied you is from Brittany, normans and bretons can't stand each other. Viking culture is still very present in normandy and the mont saint michel is in normandy not in Brittany.... (I'm a norman)

[@samwill7259]

Rollo, fear his caramel and chocolate gooeyness!

[@antonyreyn]

And his Son Willy the Wonkerer

[@ToothpikcOriginal]

I know this is off topic, but I'd love to hear how the Kingdom of Galicia Volhynia formed

[@caniblmolstr4503]

It was by Jarl Dyrevs descendants if not mistaken? A bastard son of Hafdan Hvitserk

[@ToothpikcOriginal]

@@caniblmolstr4503 Dunno, that's why I need more information :D

[@migamaos3953]

Good video but i like it more when you choose more obscure topics, i dont generally watchs vids like this that most ppl who are subbed to history channels know already

[@KimFareseed]

11:35 Okay, that gave me a bit of a laught.

[@theicepickthatkilledtrotsk658]

In a short period of time, the Normans most famously conquered England, conquered Sicily, and were instrumental to the success of the first crusade. The 11th century truly was the Norman century.

[@Michael_De_Santa-Unofficial]

"It's Norman time" - Roger I, probably.

[@dirckthedork-knight1201]

Its extremely interasting how the Normans managed to shape Europe with their culture without ever conquering it

[@nerdyguy1152]

Yea Roger Guiscard

[@Jack-je1zt]

No card for the other videos mentioned?

[@sylviadoty7974]

My ancestors were Christians and owned a settlement of buildings that some say are still there.. I will probably get this wrong but I think the settlement was called Well Springs and had a chapel along with other smaller buildings.. I have also read that the buildings are still there.. I am going to plan a trip to see the whole settlement, however I have read in my ancestors book Fortunes of a Family that some of the buildings are being used for guests dormatories.. I want to visit the settlement but hear the buildings are being used for a women's college.. I plan to go and check it out for myself..

[@johnbirgernielsen9340]

viking. sure. I am from Denmark. So of cause Very interested

[@alansmithee8831]

@John Birger Nielsen. Have you seen Scotland History Tours channel? Greetings from Danelaw.

[@danthiel8623]

Interesting

[@Defferleffer]

Can you do more stuff about the Danes?

[@mickles1975]

I wonder if it's Rou as in Rouen

[@auldfouter8661]

Hilbert keeps saying the Vikings sailed down the Seine . They may have travelled in roughly a south easterly direction , but they were surely sailing up the river ie against the flow of water?

[@cennethadameveson3715]

What would the English language be like if Rollo had excepted Flanders and there was a Norman Flemish influence? As I always tell my English freinds, it took a small bunch of francophone Vikings one battle to subdue England and then centuries to beat the Welsh then even more years to do the same to Scotland (though norman familes went native) who eventually took the English throne by marrying into a Welsh family. And as for subjugating the Irish...

[@Idahoguy10157]

I knew a guy in the navy that went by the name Rollo. IDK if that was his legal name

[@voltairesarmy6702]

Do an Alfred the great video

[@craftbrewer5401]

Is there any sources that talk about where in Denmark the vikings came from (towns or regions)?

[@jeddaniels2283]

Plenty.

[@Humaftw]

Hi Hilbert, I did a course on Viking history at university a few years ago. One of the sources (I don't remember the name of the it, so if anyone can help, please do!) we had mentioned the son of a high ranking noble being sent to a certain town in Normandy due to the presence of many Danes. This was to improve the Danish language/culture/identity of the son. If I remember correctly this was from sometime before William, but quite some time after Rollo. Have you encountered this source?

[@SkipperBender]

Well a late historian, Vilhelm of Jumieges, mention that Rollos Grandson Rikard, Son of Vilhelm, was send to Bayeux to learn his ancestors language at Jarl(earl) Boso. That was because Rikard wanted to communicate with the Danish King Harald Bluetooth, since Rikard needed help to protect Normandy from the Frankish King and some local lords. This Norman-Danish alliance ended with the capture of King Louis the 4. and 16 barons killed. And after 945 the danes secured Rikard as semi-autonomi Duke of Normandy, which King Harald helped uphold in 962, when a neighbour Duke Tetbold tried to threaten Rikard. It ended with 640 franks and Tetbolds son dead and Chartres burned. So there was a close connection between the Royal House in Denmark(both before and after kristendom) and the duchy of Normandy.

[@corpi8784]

They were speaking Old Norse- does it even matter if they would be considered Norwegian or Danish today when these things didn't exist at the time?

[@chrisdel2564]

In Cotentin they spoke Norse up to 14th century because they were very isolated from the east of the duchy

[@quinntheeskimooutdoors6234]

😊Thanks. I haveNorman roots 😊

[@outfromtheshadows]

I am descended from a Normandy family, surname Hubert. I would love to know if I have Norse ancestry.

[@Demane69]

Now that I know I'm not a mix of Celt and Anglo-Saxon, but rather Celt and Viking, it's time to learn more about my Viking heritage and how we got to be English (now English Canadian). Although the family Viking roots are actually from eastern Europe when Vikings invaded the Rus region. Somehow they got to England later. People sure did move around a lot, even way back then.

[@alansmithee8831]

@Sopwith Camel. See Hilbert's York Vikings video. Also check Harald Hardrada videos on KZbin.

[@menschman1464]

Normans be out here jumping out of their longboats axing you in the head whilst sipping a nice dry red wine with a sachel full of baked frogs at their hip.

[@inregionecaecorum]

Apparantly the Duchy of Normandy still exists except that it is called the Channel Islands now.

[@pab4435]

Must this be asked? Haha Proud of my Familys Norman routes!! And proud of our British routes circa 1066!!

[@Man_of_dirt]

Rühl in Meppen Germany, Norman?

[@tonyhawk94]

The Scandinavian dialects survived longer than a generation. On the coast of Normandy they survived at least 3 generations more, but it was more for trading reasons. Many Dane traders came in the cotentin for business, therefore, old dane remained probably the lingua franca longer.

[@nerdyguy1152]

True, but Guillaume le Conquérant (William the Conqueror) made English, not Scandinavian languages, the administrative language of England

[@adamroodog1718]

doesnt the uprising against william longsword for "being too french" seem to indicate that the assimilation of the northmen into normans was a longer and more nuanced process? and the fact that the bayeux tapestry has longships with raven banners?

[@nerdyguy1152]

Sorry friend but i beg to differ : 1. Guillaume Longue-épée was the son of Rollo (i.e. 2nd ruler), so some vikings were still not yet assimilated. 2. However, most viking descendants became ‘essentially frenchmen’ at the end of 996 (the reign of 3rd generation Richard Sans-Peur / Richard the Fearless). This isn’t my imagination. You can read up ‘Medieval History’ published Cambridge University

[@adamroodog1718]

@@nerdyguy1152 gday mate, willliam longsword was supposedly born "overseas" so you can assume that he was at least raised a pagan. you have the treaty of rouen asking richard without fear to stop trading and giving viking raiders, fresh from england sanctuary. you have richard ii the good, breaking that treaty in 1000. anecdotally you have the trope from the icelandic sagas about inheritance in norway and the problems it started when icelandic men went back to norway to dispute that inheritance. seeing that the "normans" still controlled lands in scandinavia at the start or at least access to those lands 'from the sea" why they would be any different from the icelanders in keeping those strong family ties? sweyn forkbeards 1013 treaty and alliance with richard ii using normandy as a staging area to get revenge for the st brices day massacre. from wiki 'much of the nobilty was probably still bilingual" you also have norman french a thing to this day. including different foods eaten like horse meat. when you read history books you get the impression that rollo got off his boat and before his feet dried, he chucked a baget under his arm and a beret on his head and started speaking french and that was that. im just saying there is a few indications some of which last to this day that says it might have been a bit more of a process. anyway i hope your having a great day, and give your dog a pat for me

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@adamroodog1718 hello my friend. Thanks for being so informative. I enjoy talking to people who’re as fascinated by history as i am. So what i’m trying to say is i wouldn’t be surprised when rollo or the first few generations of norman rulers enjoyed a seemingly unilimited degree of autonomy because we’re talking about the feudal system in medieval times when ‘centralised nation state’ wasn’t born. The normans drank (and still drink) cider while beer and wine were prevailing in northern france However, i still dare not to downplay or overlook their frenchness (and even a bit of Flemmishness). Politically speaking they were ‘vassals’ within french royal system. They intermarried French and even Flemmish royal members. And the were eventually subject to French direct control since 12th century. Linguistically speaking They may keep speaking their native languages but they must’ve adopted french / a variant of french at the same time. Religiously speaking as late as 996 they became christians. And i’m pretty sure they learnt from the Franks how to fight on horseback instead of on foot. I never deny their viking origin, but i dare not to ignore their frenchness as well, especially after 1066, William the conqueror didn’t impose norse, swede or danes in england. Evidently he made norman-french the administrative language. Afterall, the assimilation must have taken already place I’m sure you must have a lovely dog, and sure it’d be my pleasure to give your dog a pat. Let’s drink some nice cider brother

[@adamroodog1718]

@@nerdyguy1152 oh i nearly forgot about the raven banners on the Bayeux tapestry.

[@Andy_Babb]

YES TO MORE VIKINGS!

[@Jobe-13]

The vikings got around

[@Ricky_Evans1611]

If I had a heart I could love you If I had a voice I'd sing After the night when I wake up And see what tomorrow may bring oOoOO oOoOO oOoOO OO hhhh oOoOO oOoOO oOoOO OO hhhh

[@johnkilmartin5101]

So it all began with a Rou.

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

If I had a voice I’d sing

[@JootjeJ]

I can't make head nor tail of your accent. There seems to be a hint of Geordie slipping through, a well as Dutch, German or Scandinavian.

[@podsmagnus8214]

🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴💪🏻

[@rymcg9443]

Because Stone Cold said so

[@brucepaul1376]

The Contentin peninsula was stolen from Brittany! The Vikings changed the entire border dynamics between the Franks and the Bretons and played them off against each other.

[@tibsky1396]

The Vikings were not so numerous, they quickly assimilated to the Franks and the Gallo-Romans. William the Conqueror himself had more Frankish than Scandinavian ancestry.

[@mikeycraig8970]

I bet he had Anglo Saxon in him too (his kids were related to the house of wessex through his wife), seeing as how Normandy was settled by defeated English settled vikings by king Ælfred, and those retreating from Ireland.

[@bobmorane2082]

@@mikeycraig8970 i doubt it you know it was legal for any normand to kill a Saxon. If a normand was kill the English lord had to find the killer in 5 days or pay William. My family is from Normandy from Caen to be more exact he’s wife is from Flandre in Belgium. And after the. Plantagenêt is a mix of normand house and Anjou house

[@mikeycraig8970]

@@bobmorane2082 Well you dont know do you? The only way it would ever be known is if every single norman body was dug up and dna tested which isnt going to happen. It's more likely than it isnt likely. Quite simply the Norman state was born from Viking defeats in Ireland and England. Many Vikings from both colonies married into the local community as well as bringing wives from Scandinavia.

[@bobmorane2082]

@@mikeycraig8970 rollo is born danish in 846 not York and William wife is flamand and her parents are French and flamand. William himself was born in calvados. My father and family is from Caen- mezidon 100% normand and trust me I ain’t got 1% of English and my family hates them in a lovely manner 😂

[@mikeycraig8970]

@@bobmorane2082 I didnt say Rollo, I said Normandy comprised in a large part of Vikings defeated elsewhere.

[@paulleverton9569]

Rolo is the chocolate. Rollo was the Norse founder of Normandy.

[@micahistory]

FIRST!

[@mikeus69]

Rollo makes some good hot chocolate

[@jeddaniels2283]

Well just had to laugh". In 1077, Robert instigated his first insurrection against his father as the result of a prank played by his younger brothers William Rufus and Henry, who had dumped a full chamber-pot over his head. Robert was enraged and, urged on by his companions, started a brawl with his brothers that was only interrupted by the intercession of their father. Feeling that his dignity was wounded, Robert was further angered when King William failed to punish his brothers. The next day Robert and his followers attempted to seize the castle of Rouen. The siege failed, but, when King William ordered their arrest, Robert and his companions took refuge with Hugh of Chateauneuf-en-Thymerais.[7] They were forced to flee again when King William attacked their base at Rémalard.[7] Wiki of course.

[@TheRugbyClubHQ]

I want to know why despite being northern European Norman genetics is well known for having dark/black hair

[@mijanhoque1740]

Most likely cause when the Northmen settled there they intermingled with the civilians or nobles of Frankish and Gallic origins which made majority of the population.

[@husted5488]

The genes for brown eyes and black hair are autosomal dominant genes while the genes for blond hair and blue eyes are autosomal recessive. Meaning if a viking took a French wife, the child would then have a 25% change of inheriting blue eyes and blond hair if the French woman has latent genes for those. However if she don’t then the child will have 0% change of having blue eyes and blond hair.

[@husted5488]

And Normandy still has one of the highest percentages of blond people with blue eyes in all of France. So it is still noticeable, but those will fade with time, as explained above.

[@KinseyReynolds]

Funny, as someone who is both Norman and English, I don't see much difference of phenotypes between native Normans and native British people

[@1000eau]

Well, because of the earlier frankish/gallo-roman population. Also Normandy still is the most blonde region in France

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

There was a region. Neustria. The Neustrians descend from Gauls, Franks, and sometimes occasionally Latins. 6 generations of taking their women, present among them, adopted their religion and language. And integrated with their art and architecture. They're Norse heritage is limited. They're not very Viking by, say 1066 or 1153 or 1204. Whenever you choose. That viking ancestry is very partial and limited. I love studying Norman culture and have their ancestry. I know they're more French than Scandinavian. The influences is there. But the Normans were more French culturally and genetically. English people are culturally Anglo-Saxon prior to 1066. They have Celtic blood. But weren't Celtic they were Germanic. Normans had Norse blood. They're French by blood. They're culture was French. The original Normans were by religion, language, blood and culture, Scandinavian. Modern Normans, and other generations of Normans, by language, blood, religion and culture were Neustrian French.

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Kievan Russ

[@chrisdel2564]

We, the Normans, are the holy people of god par Odin

[@kerberosberserk5092]

Perhaps this Cambridge student can look up more on this topic before making videos on this subject. Normandy is actually called ‘La Normandie’ / ‘Normaundie’. Norman peoples are actually ‘ les Normands’ / ‘Normaunds’ Norman-French is ‘Le Normand’ / ‘Normaund’.

[@stephennash1961]

Rollo is my direct ancestor

[@cashmir5883]

Hi, we Norwegians want Normandie back. Building long-boats as we speak

[@nerdyguy1152]

Sorry my friends but the Vikings were defeated by the Normans as well. If you get confused, look up Guillame Bras-de-Fer (William Iron Arms) who competed with another group of Vikings in Southern Italy

[@sarahgilbert8036]

Barnelærdom. People need to read history books.

[@Sedgewise47]

🤔So…Can Normandy French people be considered “Scandinavians”? (Just asking…)

[@musicaleuphoria8699]

I mean, wouldn't rule it out. Good number of Eastern Europeans too would be considered Scandinavian just because some of their early kingdoms were created by Northman raiders.

[@nerdyguy1152]

I don’t think so because Norman - French differed quite greatly from the Scandinavians in terms of linguistics, dna, religion, food etc. Since 996, the Normans had already adopted ancient French (la langue d’oïl) christianity, frankish horse-fighting tactics. They competed vigorously for Southern Italy with another group of Vikings / Varangians.

[@keng293]

We are cousins, ​​but we are French....And we love our Scandinavian cousins ​​very much :)

[@nerdyguy1152]

@@keng293 it’s nothing wrong to love your cousins, i am just saying that back in history both groups of people became so different and had at times hostile competition against each other

[@keng293]

@@nerdyguy1152 It's true, we were even banned in Norway : ) but we've always had good relations with the Danes, that's also why Denmark and France have always been allies for example. I did DNA tests (normal tests, not viking bullshit tests), my main Scandinavian origins are: Denmark then Sweden, Norway is the last. By the way, it's important to keep in mind that a very long time ago we were all fighting each other. Fortunately, humans have evolved in the right direction. Let's hope Russia will stop killing Ukrainians.

[@crazycrackerchicken5355]

poo

[@keng293]

Winnie

[@Wolf-hh4rv]

Most recent analysis of Normandy resident’s DNA shows little to no difference from the rest of north central France. Scandinavian settlement was very limited.

[@tonyhawk94]

The study showed that the Normands still had a diverse genetic admixture, odd compared to other people in France HOWEVER, it is indeed true that the settlement was limited. Moreover in Normandy prior to the Scandinavians, came Franks, Bretons, some Saxon villages were even found, so this region is an admixture of many groups that came by this place not only the Norse. :)

[@fanofcodd]

There were viking settlements in the entire France. Even next to the Garonne river in the south of France

[@keng293]

My dna tests disagree with you...And other french people don't have any scandinavian dna. Stop spreading lies about our people and rewriting the world history. You wannabe experts are really annoying. A norman.

[@jeddaniels2283]

Charter of liberties of Henry I: 1100 AD. Viking thought was long gone. Normandy was owned for centuries, via the English crown. Anglo Norman's were also involved in Sicily. Henry, king of the English, to Bishop Samson and Urso de Abetot and all his barons and faithful, both French and English, of Worcestershire, greeting. 1. Know that by the mercy of God and the common counsel of the barons of the whole kingdom of England I have been crowned king of said kingdom; and because the kingdom had been oppressed by unjust exactions I through fear of god and the love which I have toward you all, in the first place make the holy church of God free, so that I will neither sell nor put to farm, nor on the death of archbishop or bishop or abbot will I take anything from the church’s demesne or from its men until the successor shall enter it. And I take away all the evil customs by which the kingdom of England was unjustly oppressed; which evil customs I here set down in order 2. If any of my barons, earls, or others who hold of me shall have died, his heir shall not buy back his land as he used to do in the time of my brother, but he shall relieve it by a just and lawful relief. Likewise also the men of my barons shall relieve their lands from their lords by a just and lawful relief. 3. And if any of my barons or other men should wish to give his daughter, sister, niece, or kinswoman in marriage, let him speak with me about it; but I will neither take anything from him for this permission nor prevent his giving her unless he should be minded to join her to my enemy. And if, upon the death of a baron or other of my men, a daughter is left as heir, I will give her with her land by the advice of my barons. And if, on the death of her husband, the wife is left and without children, she shall have her dowry and right of marriage, and I will not give her to a husband unless according to her will. 4. But if a wife be left with children, she shall indeed have her dowry and right of marriage so long as she shall keep her body lawfully, and I will not give her unless according to her will. And the guardian of the land and children shall be either the wife or another of the relatives who more justly ought to be. And I command that my barons restrain themselves similarly in dealing with the sons and daughters or wives of their men. 5. I entire forbid henceforth the common mintage which used to be taken throughout the cities and counties, but did not exist in the time of King Edward. If any one, whether a moneyer or other, be taken with false money, let due justice be done for it. 6. I remit all pleas and all debts which were owing to my brother, except my lawful fixed revenues and except those amounts which had been agreed upon for the inheritances of others or for things which more justly concerned others. And if any one had pledged anything for his own inheritance, I remit it; also all reliefs which had been agreed upon for just inheritances. 7. And if any of my barons or men shall grow feeble, as he shall give or arrange to give his money, I grant that it be so given. But if, prevented by arms or sickness, he shall not have given or arranged to give his money, his wife, children, relatives, or lawful men shall distribute it for the good of his soul as shall seem best to them. 8. If any of my barons or men commit a crime, he shall not bind himself to a payment at the king’s mercy as he has been doing in the time of my father or my brother; but he shall make amends according to the extent of the crime as he would have done before the time of my father in the time of my other predecessors. But if he be convicted of treachery or heinous crime, he shall make amends as is just. 9. I forgive all murders committed before the day I was crowned king; and those which shall be committed in the future shall be justly compensated according to the law of King Edward. 10. By the common consent of my barons I have kept in my hands forests as my father had them. 11. To those knights who render military service for their lands I grant of gift that the lands of their demesne ploughs be free from all payments and all labour, so that, having been released from so great a burden, they may equip themselves well with horses and arms and be fully prepared for my service and the defence of my kingdom. 12. impose a strict peace upon my whole kingdom and command that it be maintained henceforth. 13. restore to you the law of King Edward with those amendments introduced into it by my father with the advice of his barons. 14. If any one, since the death of King William my brother, has taken any thing belonging to me or to any one else, the whole is to be quickly restored without fine; but if any one keep anything of it, he upon whom it shall be found shall pay me a heavy fine.