New Rich Text Document

DESCENDANTS OF RAGNARINTRODUCTION Descendants of Ragnar is an extract from my essay on the history of the Stanhope family, which will attempt to show that such chieftains in Normandy as Hrolf Turstain and Bernard the Dane were descendants of Ragnar Lodbrok, alias Reginheri, the leader of the Viking attack on Paris in 845, who may have been the prototype for the semi-legendary Ragnar Lodbrok. They are proposed grandsons of Ragnar Lodbrok by his son, Ivar, nicknamed 'beinlauss', wrongly interpreted as 'boneless', reflecting a misunderstanding of the written source of exosus [cruel], which was abbreviated to exos [boneless], hence stories invented to explain this strange epithet. Exosus accords well with Adam of Bremen’s description of Ivarr as crudelissimusis [J. de Vries, ‘Die westnordische Tradition der Sage von Ragnar Lodbrok, Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 53, 257-302, 1928]. Ivar is taken to be Imhar, the Viking king of Dublin, who, according to the Annals of Ulster, died in 873. These proposed associations do not arise from pre-conceived notions, nor are they presented as facts: There is scant evidence from this epoch about which genealogies can be adduced with any certainty, and those presented as fact are anything but that; constructions usually reflecting the constructor's preference of ancestors. This account commences with Eystein Halfdansson, who is claimed to have been Jarl of Vestfold, Ringerike, Hadeland, and the Opplands in Norway, who married Hild Ericsdottir, daughter of Eric Agnarsson, Jarl of the Vend district of Vestfold; such information being from Norse sagas, as collected by Snorri Sturluson [Heimskringla, or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, c. 1225, English translation by Samuel Laing, 1844]. One point of view is that the sagas are not accurate accounts of history, and contain their fair share of exaggeration. An alternative view is that the sagas accurately portray historical events, being passed from generation to generation in verse before being later committed to parchment without any alteration. [Knut Liestol, Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas, 1930]. I would expect the truth to lay between thes two extremes, perhaps on the side of their accuracy, for one of the most remarkable features of these sagas is that they offer a consistent account of the families and events associated with them. They can be best viewed as historical novels - embellished, especially when speeches are assigned to leading characters, but not without some historical substance. THE HALF-DANES I. Eystein Halfdansson and Hild had issue: 1. Siegfried Eysteinsson, who, according to the Dano-Norwegian theories of Professor P. A. Munch, may be identified with the Sigfridi regis Danorum mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses, 782. Professor Munch postulated that early Norwegian chieftains conquered lands in Denmark [Det Norske Folks Hist., German trans., pt. iv. pp. 134-154, 1857]. The case of Siegfried Eysteinsson's grandfather is quoted by adherents to this theory. He is identified in the Norse Sagas as the Norwegian jarl Halfdane Olafsson, whose very name suggests a partly Danish ancestry, and whose name does not fit into the stylistic pattern characteristic of Norwegian kings, a point made by Kendrick: 'His ancestry is quite dubious, for his name constitutes a break in the alliterative series of names in the Yngling [Norwegian] royal stem - Egil, Ottar, Adils, Eystein, Yngvar, Anund, Ingjald, Olav, Halfdane' [Thomas D. Kendrick, A History of the Vikings, p. 106, 2004]. 2. Halfdane Eysteinsson, as his father, claimed to be Jarl of Vestfold, Ringerike, Hadeland, and the Opplands. He was apparently born in Vestfold at a place called Holtar, the present Holtan in Borre, and is buried under a mound there. He married Hlif Dagsdottir, whose name derived from the Old Norse Hilfar, meaning shield. 3. Harald Eysteinsson, assumed by Schwennicke to have succeeded his brother as King of Hedeby in 798, and killed in a battle in the Irish Sea in 804. The same source has him married to Imhild Von Engern, daughter of Warnechin Graf von Engern and Kunhilde von Rügen, and having issue: Halfdane Haraldsson, killed in battle in 810. Harald Haraldsson, who was murdered in 804. Holger Haraldsson, killed in battle in 807. [Detlev Schwennicke, The Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, 1978]. II. It can be noted that the concept of distinct nation states, which led some to either strongly endorse or vehemently deny Munch's hypothesis, is relatively modern, and those under discussion were more bound by ties of kinship than notions of national sovereignty. There were certainly marriages between Danish and Norwegian elites by the end of the ninth-century, symbolic of peace treaties, and it is difficult to dismiss the imperative for them at earlier times, and that they did not result in gains of land as dowry, albeit not to any the degree suggested by Munch. III. Halfdan and Hlif had issue: I. Gudrod The Magnificent Halfdansson, who, according to Munch, was synonomous with Godefrid Halfdannson, who succeeded his uncle as Godefrid, King of the Danes, that is, as ruler in Hedeby, a modern spelling of the runic Heiðabý(r), which was an important trading settlement in the Danish-German borderland, located towards the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula. 2. Sigurd Halfdenesson, killed in battle in 810. King Godefrid's brother is assumed to be Sigurd by Schwennicke. 3. Eystein Halfdansson, see below. 4. Ivar Halfdansson, Jarl of the Opplands. He married Solveig Eysteinsdottir, daughter of Eystein Hognasson, Jarl of Trondheim. Their son was Eystein Ivarsson, who married Aseda Ragnvaldsdottir. They had issue: Ragnvald Eysteinsson, the falsely supposed father of Rollo of Normandy. IV. Concerning Halfdane Haraldsson, an extract from Henry H. Howorth's treatise - published in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society [New Series], Volume I., Issue 01, March 1883, pp 18-61 - may be helpful, though, throughout, the use of the word doubtless is doubtlessly contestable; it is better to consider the following as reasonable supposition: 'There is a passage in one of the Frankish annals which has not received the attention which it deserves, and which I believe throws a great deal of light on the history of the Danish revolutions of the early part of the ninth century. Written in verse by a Low Saxon monk some time during the reign of Arnulph, who died in 899. Under the year 807 we read that a Norman chief named Alfdeni, accompanied by a great following, submitted to Charlemagne, and made a perpetual pact with him [Pertz, I, 263]. He was in all probability escaping from the dominant chief of Denmark at this time, namely, Godfred. V. In my former paper I argued that Godfred was the Gudrod the Magnificent of Snorri, and that he was a stranger and a conqueror in Denmark. He first appears as king there in 804. What more probable, therefore, than that Halfdene was the King of Denmark, or rather, perhaps, of Jutland, who was dispossessed by Godfred? This view also explains some very crooked parts of the history of this period. Halfdane was doubtless the same Halfdane who was sent to the Emperor as an envoy with Osmund by the Danish king Sigfred in the year 782. It is not improbable, as I shall show presently, that on submitting to the Emperor in 807 he received the grant of an appanage, was allowed to settle in Friesland, and Godfred's campaign in Friesland in 810 was perhaps decided against him. VI. Under the year 808 we read that in a fight with the Obotriti there fell Reginold, the nephew of Godfred, " who was the first after him in the kingdom" (Einhardt, Pertz, I, 195; Chron. Moiss. id. 2, 258). Godfred, as we know, left a number of sons behind him; how then was his nephew called the next after him in the kingdom, unless the succession among the Norsemen was the same as in many Eastern nations, where brother succeeded brother until those of the same generation were extinct, when the succession went back to the descendants of the eldest? This I believe was the case, and Reginold was perhaps the son of Godfred's brother Eystein, who is mentioned by Snorri. [As an alternative to this theory of succession, it may be worth considering the concept of Righdomhua - ones eligible for election as leader - applied by the Dublin Vikings, that is, succession may pass from father to son on condition of the son's proven suitability to rule, and if he attracted the support of his most powerful peers within his kinship network - M.S]. VII. On the death of Godfred his sons fled as I have mentioned; one of them apparently succeeded to his father's dominions in Vestfold, namely Olaf [an interesting mention of Danish holdings in Norway - M.S]. In Jutland, however, he was succeeded by his brother's son Hemming [Einhardt, Pertz, I, 197, 198; Kruse, 54]. He was doubtless a brother of the Reginold just named. IX. The new king came to terms with the empire, and in a treaty made between them in 811 the Eyder was accepted as the frontier between the two kingdoms [Helmold Kruse, 58], and thus the border district occupied by the Transalbingian Saxons, and the Obotriti of Wagrien, over which Godfred had enacted a kind of suzerainty, was surrendered to the Franks. X. It is remarkable that no mention is made here of Godfred's sons [in the treaty - M.S], although Hemming's brothers are named; showing his hostile title [Hist, des Car. 2, 210]. Hemming died in the early part of the year 812. The very suspicious narrative of Saxo makes him be buried at Lethra. The Frankish chronicles introduce us on his death to a fierce struggle for the vacant throne, and we are told that this struggle took place between Sigfried, the nephew of Godfred, and Anulo, "the nephew or grandson of Harald who was formerly king." This Sigfred, or Sigurd, was doubtless a brother of Reginold and Hemming already named, who succeeded them naturally. XI. Saxo's conversion of Anulo into Ringo is probably only one of his ingeniously perverse blunders, for the word is not Anulus in the nominative, but Anulo, and is conjugated Anulo, Anulonis. It is probably a form of some Norse name [see Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson's comment, para. xvii.] and has nothing to do with [the semi-legendary] Sigurd Ring. XII. A great deal of difficulty is created in these inquiries by trying to make the semi-fabulous early Sagas fit into the pages of genuine history by forced explanations, and if any good is ever to come from a comparison of them with more reliable documents, we must construct our story at first entirely apart from them. [It could be suggested that Mr. Howorth is open to the same charge; yet I suspect he would have made a distinction between what he would have identified as reasonable supposition and supposition that was ingeniously perverse - M.S]. XIII. Who then was Anulo? He was clearly a pretender to the throne, and fought on more than equal terms with Sigfred, Godfred's nephew. Now, I have argued that there was at this very time a rival family to Godfred's, namely, that of Halfdene. It is possible then that Anulo was a son of Halfdene. This is my view, and I believe it reconciles much difficulty, and is supported by other evidence. As we read the story then, on the death of Hemming a struggle for the throne took place between his brother Sigfred or Sigurd and Anulo of the rival family of Halfdene. XIV. In this battle both Sigurd and Anulo we are told were killed; but the side of the latter won the day, and his brothers Harald and Reginfred made themselves kings. According to Einhardt, 10,940 men perished in the struggle [Pertz, i, 199, see also Annals of Fulda. id. I, 355]. XV. The battle which gained them the throne was fought in 812, and we are told that in the same year they sent envoys to make a pact with the Emperor, and to ask him to send them back or to release their brother Hemming [Einhardt Pertz i, 199; Kruse 66] the same person, I believe, who died in Walcheren, as I shall show presently, many years later, and is then distintcly called the son of Halfdaene. [An 837 entry in the Annales Fuldensis calls Hemming a son of Halfdene. This is the only mention of their father in a primary source. The identification relies on the assumption that the Hemming mentioned in 837 was the same Hemming mentioned in chronicle entries from two decades before. We are told that the same year, i.e. in 813, Godfred's sons returned from exile, and were apparently welcomed by a large number of their father's folk, and fought against the two kings, and drove them and their brother Hemming ou, or that such marriages did not bring about changes in land ownership.' (Einhardt, Pertz I, 200; Chron. Moiss., id. 1,311, 2,259; Kruse 69, 71]. [XVI. Halfdan Haraldsson's children were: Hemming Halfdansson, who was killed in the Battle of Walcheren, 837. Harald Halfdansson, nicknamed Klak, meaning complainer, who was was killed in the Battle of Walcheren, 844. He was also known by the appelations of Hericus, Heriold, and Heriolt. Reginfred Halfdannson, who briefly shared joint regency of Denmark with his brother, Harald. He was killed in battle in 814. Anulo Halfdansson, killed in battle in 812 ["Anulo nepos Herioldi" - Royal Frankish Annals]. Nepos can be translated as both "nephew" or "grandson", making Anulo and his siblings nephews or grandsons of Harald Eysteinsson, with the former status being favoured by Howorth's political analysis. Rorik Halfdansson. He was granted Dorstad by Emperor Lothar in 850, having previously been expelled from this fief. He undertook to protect this part of Frisia from further Viking attack, but lacked the military power to fulfill this obligation. In 857, three years after the accession of Horik II., he gained land around Hedeby, and held most of Northern Frisia. It is often claimed that he was the founder of the Russian State [N. T. Belaiew, Saga-book of Viking Society, x., pt. ii., p. 267, 1925-7]. According to the Annales Bertiniani, Roric was a 'nephew' of Harald]. XVII. As said, a great deal of difficulty is created in these inquiries by trying to make the semi-fabulous early Sagas fit into the pages of genuine history by forced explanations. This should be considered when speculating over the parentage of Regner, alias Reginheri, the leader of the Viking attack on Paris in 845, possible prototype for Ragnar loðbrók, and moreso considered when assessing arguments concerning his possible decendants. As the celebrated academic, Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson wrote in her commentary on Saxo: 'In Icelandic sources Regner is the son of Sigurd Hringr [thus attempts to equate Anulo with this name], yet Saxo evidently thinks of his Regner as the son of Sigfried [as above] mentioned by Adam of Bremen [1. 15]. His cousin, Anulo, said by Adam to contend with Sigfried for the rule of Denmark may have been Ali, but Saxo takes the name as equivalent to Anulus' [Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson, Peter Fisher, trans., The history of the Danes, books I-IX, by Saxo, p. 150, 1998]. I would suggest that this was by way of trying to make history fit too improbably into the pages of the Sagas. More recent ingeniously perverse attempts to achieve the same ends include supposing that Sigfried and Anulo to be the same person, the latter being a nickname of the former. SONS OF RAGNER XVIII. The following extracts are taken from Professor McTurk's paper, Kings and kingship in Viking Northumbria. He discusses the above mentioned Ragnar, and the possibility that a number of sons can be assigned to him. Of particular importance to this account is the identification of one of these as Ivar, and of his possible identification with Ireland: XIX. 'The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death in Devon in 878 of ‘the brother of Inwære and Healfdene’. This shows clearly that Inwære [whose name corresponds to Ivar] and Healfdene were brothers, and there are good reasons for thinking that the unnamed third brother was Hubba, who appears in the late tenth-century Passio Sancti Eadmundi by Abbo of Fleury as a close associate of Hinguar [= Inwære], and as his brother in the Annals of St Neots and in the accounts of Gaimar and Geoffrey of Wells, all from the twelfth century. There are also good reasons for doubting the accuracy of Æthelweard’s late tenthcentury account of the events in Devon in 878, which appears to contradict that of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with regard to the identity of the brother who died in that year; and also for dismissing Æthelweard’s information that Iuuar (= Inwære, Ívarr) died in 869, shortly after the slaying of King Edmund of East Anglia; if this information can indeed be dismissed, then Inwære/Ívarr may safely be identified with Imhar, the Viking king of Dublin, who according to the Annals of Ulster died in 873, rex Nordmannorum totius Hiberniae et Britanniae. XX. The Healfdene mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle seems to be identical with one Albann, who according to the Annals of Ulster died in Ireland at Strangford Lough in 877; and the twelfth-century Irish Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh appears to speak of this Albann, ‘king of the dark heathens’, as the son of Ragnall,* a name which corresponds, albeit loosely, to Ragnarr. If the identification of this Ragnall with Ragnarr can be accepted, then it may argued that Inwære/Ívarr/Imhar [Inguar] and Healfdene, and perhaps Hubba also, had a father named Ragnarr. XXI. It may further be noted that Adam of Bremen, writing in c. 1076, speaks of what appears to be this same Inwære/Ívarr/Imhar as Inguar filius Lodparchi, clearly seeing him as the son of someone with a name corresponding loosely to loðbrók; and that William of Jumièges, writing c. 1070, refers to a certain Bier Costae ferreae [‘Ironside’] as Lotbroci regis filio, as the son, that is, of a king whose name corresponds to loðbrók very closely. This Bier, whose name, nickname and parentage clearly link him with Björn járnsíða [‘Ironside’], who appears in Ragnars saga as a son of Ragnarr loðbrók, seems to have shared with that Björn a historical prototype in the Viking leader Berno, who, according to the contemporary and near-contemporary Annales Bertiniani and Chronicon Fontanellense respectively, was active on the Seine in the eightfifties. XXII. The Albann/Healfdene of the Annals of Ulster and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, mentioned above, may also be identified with an Halbdeni mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses for 873 as the brother of the Danish king Sigifridus and as active on the European continent [in Metz] in that year. The case for the identification is strengthened by the fact that 873 is one of the years in which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle does not indicate that Healfdene was active in England. If this identification can be established, then Sigifridus, the brother of this Halbdeni (= Healfdene = Albann), son of Ragnall/Ragnarr, may be regarded as historically a brother of Inwære/Ívarr/Imhar (= Inguar, filius Lodparchi), and perhaps also of Hubba, as well as of Berno, Lotbroci regis filius. This same Sigifridus may then reasonably be taken as the historical prototype of Sigurðr ormr-í-auga (‘Snake-in-eye’), who appears in Ragnars saga as a son of Ragnarr loðbrók. XXIII. There is thus a case for saying that Inwære, Healfdene, Hubba, Berno and Sigifridus, all of them active in the second half of the ninth century, the first two and the fifth of them as kings, if the relevant identifications can be accepted), were brothers. Of the five, Healfdene is the only one not to appear as a son of Ragnarr loðbrók in Scandinavian tradition; the others appear to have been the historical prototypes of, respectively, his sons Ívarr, Ubbo, Björn and Sigurðr, of whom Ubbo [who appears, like the other three, as a son of Regnerus Lothbrog in Book IX of Saxo’s Gesta Danorum] seems to be the only one who was known exclusively to East Norse tradition. It may be noted that, in the contemporary and as nearly as possible contemporary sources adduced above, only one, the twelfth-century Irish Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh, provides any evidence for these brothers having had a father named Ragnarr, and that only Adam of Bremen and William of Jumièges, both from the second half of the eleventh century, provide evidence for their having been sons of someone named Loðbrók. None of these sources gives any indication of an awareness of the two names Ragnarr and Loðbrók being used in combination for the same person. The first recorded instance of the names being so used is Ari Þorgilsson’s reference to Ívarr Ragnarssonr loðbrókar in his Íslendingabók, written between 1120 and 1133 [McTurk, 1991a, Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and its major Scandinavian analogues (Medium Ævum monographs, new series, 15). Oxford: The Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature]. XXIV. In writing earlier on this topic I have, I now suspect, exaggerated the difficulties in the way of identifying Reginheri, the leader of the Viking attack on Paris in 845, as the father of the brothers Halbdeni and Sigifridus. These difficulties have to do with the question of whether or not Reginheri was a member of the family of the Danish king Godofridus I. (d. 810), all members of which, with the exception of one boy, Horicus II, appear to have been wiped out in a battle in 854, to judge from the account given in the Annales Fuldenses for that year. If this is to be believed, and if Reginheri, who died in all probability in 845 [ ], was indeed a member of that family, then Halbdeni and Sigifridus and any brothers they may have had cannot have been his sons, since the only surviving members of the family after 854 would have been Horicus II and his progeny. I would now acknowledge, however, more emphatically than I did in 1976 [McTurk, R.W. ‘Ragnarr loðbrók in the Irish annals?’ In Bo Almqvist and David Greene (eds) Proceedings of the Seventh Viking Congress, Dublin 15-21 August 1973. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 93-123], the possibility that the Fulda annalist has here presented the succeeding survivor of this royal family as its sole survivor, and that other members of the family may in fact have survived. At the same time I would emphasise that in seeking, as I am now doing, to establish the parentage of the five brothers under discussion, it is by no means essential to regard Reginheri as having been a member of the house of Godofridus I. XXV. On the admittedly bold assumption that we are dealing here with full brothers rather than half-brothers, I would suggest that the father of Inwære, Healfdene, Hubba, Berno and Sigifridus was Reginheri, the leader of the Viking attack on Paris in 845'. XXVI. The 'historicity' of Ragnar is not a new topic: " His real name was Ragenfrid or Regnier [Reginheri], who became a sea-king on being expelled from his dominions in the time of Harald Klak" [Andrew Crichton, Henry Wheaton Scandinavia, Ancient and Modern iii., 1841]. This theme was developesd by Professor Steenstrup [Normannerne, 1876-1882], who also equated Ragnar with Reginheri. Neither is the controvery of Ivar of Dublin being equated with the Ivar who commanded the Great Heathen Army in England in 869 new; yet 'the reputation of Iomhar [Ivar] of Dublin as a ruler with aspirations to rule over a wide area was certainly recognised by contemporaries. When the Annals of Ulster recorded his death in 873, it was claimed that Iomhar was King of all the Norse of all Ireland and Britain [Pauline Stafford, Companion to the Middle Ages, p. 202, 2009]. Such a wide-spread sphere of influence might suggest Iomhar and Ivar to be synonomous. XXVII. In an Irish context, Iomhar held sway over both "dark heathens" [Danes] and the "fair heathens" [Norwegians], divisions of Norse invaders given in the Irish annals for uncertain reasons [Thomas Bartlett, Keith Jeffrey, A Military History of Ireland, p. 47, 1997]. One suggested reason might be that the "dark heathens" had intermarried with the Saxon nobility situated on their borderlands, a theme that will be discussed anon, and they contained numbers of "dark-haired heathens." However this may be, it seems certain that some Norse war-bands that attacked Ireland were of mixed Dano-Norwegian composition, paralleling those that were to later establish themselves in Normandy; mercenaries for the most part, led by a closely related hierarchy. THE IRISH CONNECTION XXVIII. What follows is based on Irish texts such as Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh, written in the reign of Muirchertach Ó Briain [1086-1119], with some later additions, which offer genealogical information which is distinct from that given by later medieval re-interpretations, as found in the history of Gruufud ap Cynan. This chronicle tends to agree with Irish annals up c. 917927, then faithfully copies the medieval pseudo- history found in the Sagas. XIX. Traditionally, Ivar has been assigned two sons, viz. Sitric [Sigtryggr]; and Godfrey [so called in Cod. Clarendon, tom. 47], alias Guthfrith or Guthred. Sitric is not known to have left any descendants; thus Godfrey is assumed to have had had four sons, Anlaf, Godfrey, also alias Guthfrith or Guthred; Ragnal alias Ragenold [Old Norse Rögnvaldr], and Sitric II. I would consider it more reasonable that, as a son was rarely named after his father in this period, Sitric I. was the father of Godfrey II., and Godfrey I. was father of Sitric II.; a view partly supported by Adam of Bremen, who identifies only Ragnal and Sitric as the sons of Godfrey, on the authority of a work not now known to exist, intitled Gesta Anglorum. Godfrey I. ascended to the lordship of Dublin in 883. I would suggest that Ivar was also the possible father of Guthrum, Osketil, and Geirmund alias Gerlo - of these, more later. XXXI. The original war-band that Sitric and Godfrey represented seems to have been expelled from Ireland, yet in 910 a fresh band of "Gentiles" arrived, establishing themselves in Waterford, which they fortified the following year, having been reinforced by a large body of their countrymen. In 915, the two brothers, Sitric II. and Ragnall, alias Ragenold, the sons of Godfrey, and grandsons of Ivar, landed, one in Kildare, the other in "Waterford, and assumed a joint command. Dublin was not recovered till 918, when it passed into the possession of Godfrey II. ["the most cruel of the Northmen"]; cousin of Sitric II. and Ragnal. According to the contemporary Annals of Ulster, this latter Godfrey is described as "Lord of the Gentiles" and his cousin, Ragnall, on his death in 921, as "king of the fair foreigners and the dark foreigners"; thus Ragnall was given the same title as his grandfather. Godfrey II. assisted his cousin, Sitric II., in his fight in 927 against his brother-in-law, Athelstan of England. Both Sitric II. [925] and Ragnall [923] had briefly ruled in Northumberland, as Godfrey, and were given the ua Imhar patronymic [Benjamin T. Hudson, Prophecy of Berchán, Irish and Scottish high-kings of the early Middle Ages, p. 144, 1996]. It can be noted that the historian E. A. Freeman lamented the absence of Sitric II. in Norman accounts of their history, thus, he suggested, casting doubts on its accuracy. XXXII. In the Irish annals, this entire grouping are specifically referred to as ua Imair [descendants of Ivar], or Clann Imair [kindred of Ivar]; referring, I believe, to both sons and grandsons of Ivar. THE INFLUENCE OF BJORN JARNSIDA. XXXIII. Ivar may not have been the only son of Ragnar represented in Ireland, as his brother, Björn járnsíða [‘Ironside’], is assumed to have links there - a descendant of his son, Asleik, is named as a chieftain in Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh [Louis Lemoine, Abrégé de l'histoire de Suède, p. 60, 1844]. Other sons of Björn were Refil and Erik, the latter taking over his father's realms in Sweden. Bjorn's son Eric may be of some interest. His nephew was Styrbjorn [Bjorn the Strong], who married Thyra, daughter of King Harald Gormsson. It is said [Knýtlinga saga] that Styrbjorn was Harald's overlord. His son was Thorgils, father of Gytha, who married Earl Godwin; they were the parents of King Harald Godwinson and Edith, married to Edward the Confessor. It was through this lineage that the Saxon Kings of England traced their ancestry to Gorm the Old, through his grandaughter, Thyra, and to 'Biœrn à la Côte-de-Fer, through his grandson, Styrbjorn. Such dynastic links gave legitimacy to rule. William the Conqueror was merely stating his right to rule England as a fellow descendant of this dynastic conglomerate, not because of the marriage of a female relative to a Saxon king; that was the result shared ancestry, not the cause of it. [Edward the Confessor married Edith to secure a link to the ruling Danish dynasty. Dynastic links were extremely interwoven: Gytha's brother was Ulf; he married Astrith, sister of Cnut the Great, son of Svein Haraldsson, son of Harald Gormsson, son of Gorm the Old]. XXXIV. Björn járnsíða's role in the establishment of Viking defenses in France prior to the establishment of Normandy is little known: 'It is certain that that warrior, scouring the coasts of La Manche in 845, in his way to Bretagne, visited and laid waste Valognes, Bruchamp, Port-Paillart, and various other places in the environs of Barneville and Briquebec [Daru, Hist, de Bret. i. p. 204]. He is thought to have afterwards fortified himself along the whole line of the Hague-Dyke, extending from Osmonville to Port-Paillart, situated over against Portbail and Carteret, which borders immediately upon Barneville; and the traces of this fortified encampment yet remain' [Seguin, Mil. Hist, des Bocains, 1816]. When occupying Normandy, between 918 and 930, Björn's kinsmen built a series of mottes circulaires, circular wooden forts that again strengthened the Hague-Dyke. These were places of original abode, held before families moved to other estates. Some of these mottes circulaires were at Barneville-la-Bertran, held by the Briquebec family of Hrolf Turstain; Varenquebec, from where originated the early Harcourt, Evreux, and Rivers families, who held under Hrolf Turstain, baron of Varenquebec [Francis Turner Palgrave, The History of Normandy, p. 652, 1854]; and Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte; the home of the related Cavalcamp and Saint-Saveur families. Björn járnsíða's involvement in France would seem to suggest that younger members of his family, such as the sons of Ivar, were "following in his footsteps" when being involved in the foundind of Normandy. DESCENDANTS OF HELGI ALIAS HULC. XXXV. The person shortly to be identified as Helgi or Hulc [commonly known to us as Malahulc or Malahule] married Maude de St. Pol; of whom, as I have argued elsewhere, chronologies suggest her to be the probable daughter of Hernequin de Boulogne et St. Pol and Bertha de Ponthieu. Helgi and Maude were the parents of 1. Richard de St. Saveur, ob. 933, who took his name from one of the family fiefs in Normandy. Another family fief was that of Perci, near Villedieu. Richard de St. Saveur's son was 2. Neil 1 de St Saveur, who married Sporte La Danoise, not Espriota de Senlis; a fabricated attempt to enhance genealogy. Neil 1 de St Saveur and Sporte La Danoise had a son named 3. Roger de St. Saveur, who married a daughter of ....... de Porte. [Portes is 5 miles from Conches, the effective caput of the Tosni family.] Their sons were 4a. Neil II. de St. Saveur, and 4b. a younger son, name unknown, who lived in the fief of Perci, though it was owned by his brother. This younger son was the father of 5b. Baron William de Percy, ancestor of the Percy family in England. This genealogy is recorded in the cartulary of the Abbaye Saint-Martin de Mondaye, of which the family of St. Saveur were benafactors [L. Delisle, Histoire du château et des sires de Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, 1867]. XXXVI. Another son of Helgi was Hugh de Cavalcamp: Hugh de Calvacamp was the father of - 1. Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen from 942 to 989, appointed to that see by William I., surnamed Longsword, the son of Rollo; and of, 2. Randolph, on whom his brother, the Archbishop, bestowed the fief of Todiniacum, or Toeni, alienating it from the patrimony of the see. [Ada Arcliiepp. Rothomag., by a monk of St. Ouen, temp. Pap. Greg. VIL, ap. Mabillon, Vett. Analecta, p. 223.] Randolph was the father of Randolph, Sire de Tosny [Charter of Rich. 11.], father of Roger de Toeni, surnamed the Spaniard [Charter of Foundation of the Abbey of Conches, ap. Gallia Christiana, torn. xi., Instrumenta, col. 128.; and Gui. Gemet., lib. v. cap. 10., ap. Duchcsne, Script. Norm., p. 253.], who rebelled on the accession of William the Bastard, Duke of Normandy [Gui. Gemet., lib. vii. cap. 3., ap. Duchesne, p. 268.]; and of whose sons- Randolph, the eldest survivor, acquired large property in England at the Conquest, and became ancestor of the Lords de Tosni. It may be added that Roger de Tosni, 'the Spaniard', is described by William of Jumieges as 'de stirpe Malahulcii, qul Rollonis patruus fuerat, et cuni eo Francos atterens, Normanniarn fortiter acquisierat,' i. e. he was of the stock of Malahule, by female descent. XXXVII. The Saint-Saveurs were claimed to be the premier Barons of Normandy. Their lineage "merged into the Tessons" [Palgrave, ibid.] - one assumes by marriage alliance. Tesson signifies " badger," and it is said that the family acquired this name from always burrowing their way under ground so cleverly and cunningly that they acquired one-third of Normandy. The Harcourt family of Bernard the Dane held Thurry Harcourt, which passed to the Tessons in 1047, with some French antiquaries taking this to mean the Tessons were in some way related to the Harcourts. However this may be, one of the divisions of the Harcourt family in Normandy was that of Heriz or Hericé; the two names representing a further division; that of the Heriz of Notts., and the Hericé or Hericy of Normandy. The Norman Hericy arms - az. three hedgehogs gu. contained the same rare charge as those of their English couterparts. Richard de Hericy, fl. 1110-1160, would have been closely related to Robert I. de Heriz of Notts. He was a contemporary of Raoul or Radulphus de Hericy; their exact degree of relationship is not known [Bib. Nat., MS. 3676, sec. Cherin]. What is known is that they were vassals of the Tesson family, and also in some way related, as they were witnesses to Tesson charters concerning the Tesson foundation of Fontenay Abbey, a privilege almost exclusively conferred on relatives of the founder. SONS OF IVAR. XXXVIII. In 869, Ivar was leader of the Great Army in East Anglia; his brother Healfdene taking command in 871. Healfdene and his brother Sigifridus [Sigurðr ormr-í-auga] were 'kings' in Denmark in 873. In this year, Hedeby, and thus the fortress of Hochburg, was controlled by Sigifridus, who negotiated its trade with King Ludwig of Germany [Angelo Forte, Richard D. Oram, Frederik Pedersen, Viking Empires, p. 46, 2005]. According to the testimony of Svein II. Estridsen, Sigfrid was succeeded as a king in Denmark by Helgi, probably after the battle on the Dyle in 891 [Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings, p. 111, 2001]. XXXIX. Two commanders of Sigifridus and Healfdene were Hals and Vurm, called Helgi and Gorm in the Ragnarssona pattr, and mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses for 882. Hals is a similar name to Hulci in its genitive form, so it is reasonable to equate Hals with Hulci and Helgi. Vurm is [cas. obl.] Vurmon, or Gormond, which equates with the Anglo-Saxon name Guthrum, 'the name of a prince who was of Sigfrid's family.' He certainly received a part of the tax levied on Emperor Charles - 'Sigifridio etiam Vermoni illorumque complicibus' [Hincmar]. This "prince" may well have been Guthrum Aethelstan: As will be shown, the mythos of Rollo's early career is largely built around the exploits of the Danish chieftain Guthred, whose name, as said, equates with both Guthfrith and Godfrey. This Guthred had a brother [vide Hincmar] called Vurm [Guthrum]; and Dudo makes Rollo an associate of Guthrum Aethelstan [Lappenberg, A History of England, p. 8, 1857]. For Rollo read Guthred - see paragraphs - thus, Guthred becomes an associate of Guthrum Aethelstan; his brother?, who was: 'The fabulous Gormo of Saxo Grammat. lib. ix. and " Gorm hin Enske" (Gorm Engelaender), who is baptized in England, in the " Chronic. Erici Regis ap. Langebek Scriptt. Rer. Danic." I. p. 158, Gurmund in Will. Malmesb. II. 121, and Alberic, and Guaramund in the "Chron. Rich." is, without doubt, one and the same person. The Anglo-Saxon form of the name is Guthrum, but I have adopted, as Kemble has done, the pure northern form: Gutorm, that is, battleworm' [Reinhold Pauli, The life of king Alfred, p. 188. 1852]. XXXX. From these associations I would tentatively suggest that Helgi was a son of Sigifridus [Sigurðr ormr-í-auga], who succeeded his father as ruler of Hedeby. I would further suggest that Helgi was the father of Gorm the Old [Gorm den Gamle], who is mentioned in the work called Cogadh Gall fri Gaedh-alaibh under the name of Tamar Mac Elgi. In the copy of that work preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 2, 17, p. 359, he is said to have come with a royal great fleet, some time after the death of the monarch Niall Glundubh, who was slain in the year 915, and to have put in at Inis Sibtond, at Limerick. This is evidently the Tamar mac Elgi of H. 2, 17, the "earl of the strangers in Limerick." "Tomar = Gormo Gamle, called by the Irish Tomar" [Great Britain. Public Record Office Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores: Or, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages, p. 264, 1965]. XXXXI. Thus, by these calculations, Gorm hin Enske and Gorm the Old were second cousins; their relationship often being the subject of conjecture. I would suggest that the name Helgi may have been a cognomen, stemming from Old Norse heilagr meaning holy, and may have pertained to someone who was a chieftain/priest of his clan. His real name may have been Hardegon, as in Ragnarssona þáttr, son of Sigifridus [Sigurðr ormr-í-auga]. Although this apparently contradicts Adam of Bremen's account of Gorm being the grandson of someone called Svend, this is not the case. Adam mentions two people who are called Hardegon, Hardegon Urm, with Urm being from the Old Norse Ormr, as in Sigurðr ormr-í-auga, and Hardegon son of Svend. He does not state that they are the same person; a much copied assumption, as is equating the name Hardegon with Hardeknud. Early texts do not mention any variation of Hardegon, and neither does it equate with Hardeknut; the somewhat strained explanation given by those who support the Hardegon/Hardeknud thesis is that Adam must have misheard what he was told. XXXXII. I would further suggest that it was Sigifridus [Sigurðr ormr-í-auga] and Guthred who led the attack on Paris in 885 [called Sigifridus in a poem by Abbo of St. Germain, written between 888-9]. On the assumption that Guthred was one and the same as Godfrey alias Guthfrith, a case can be made for Ivar being the father of both Guthred and Guthrum [brothers par Hincmar], with Guthred assisting his uncle in the siege of Paris. Another commander at this siege was Osketil [Depping, tom. ii. pp. 23]. Osketil was a commander of the Great Army in England in 874. Notably perhaps, after Healfdene's defeat at Edington, he came with Guthrum with reinforcements from the Continent. That Guthred and Osketil were also close companions, and probably not sons of Healfdene, is shown by the fact that when Healfdene's army divided into two sections in 874, one half was commanded by Guthred and Osketil - a joint command, suggesting parity of status. Viking armies were composed of "sodalitates" - "bands of companions" or "brotherhoods" - distinct groupings whose leaders usually shared close familial ties. That Osketil was of the "brotherhood" of both Guthrum and Guthred is shown in him being of their "sodalitas" - I would suggest he was brother to both; and that, after Healfdene's death s. a. 878, both he and Guthred [Godfrey] fought with their " brotherhood" under the command of their uncle, Sigifridus. XXXXIII. Of Osketil [a compound name comprising of the elements os* and ketil]; if he can be the same Ketil that was said by Richer of Reims [Historia, i, 28 (vol. 1, p. 62] to be the father of Rollo ['filio Catilli'], then Rollo is closely related to the Dano-Hibernian family of the Ui Imair. This identification of Rollo's father is supported by David Crouch [The Normans: the history of a dynasty, pp. 297-300, 2002]. Professor Crouch also suggests that Rollo's uncle was probably someone called Malahulc, identified by Orderic Vitalis c. 1113 [GND, ii., 94-5, Musset, 1977, 48-9], but not known from any other source, whom I would equate with the above mentioned Helgi alias Hulci. XXXXIV. I would further suggest that Guthred alias Guthfrith is one and the same as the Godfrey, the Danish Viking leader who had probably been with the Great Army [led by Sigifridus, 882-6], which descended on the Continent. He became a vassal of the Emperor Charles III., after that ruler sued for peace, giving Godfrey most of Frisia to rule. Charles also gave him Gisela [865-908], illegitimate daughter of King Lothair II. [839-869], as his wife. XXXXV. In 885, he was summoned to Lobith for a meeting after being accused of complicity with Hugh, Duke of Alsace [855-895], illegitimate son of Lothair II, in an insurrection. In an act of treachery, he was killed by a group of Frisian and Saxon nobles at the connivance of Henry Duke of Franconia and Count of Saxony. The local count Gerulff III, one of the conspirators, took over the West Frisian coastline from the Danes after the murder. Hugh was blinded, spendind the rest of his life in the Monastery of St. Boniface [Eduard Hlawitschka, Lotharingien und das Reich, pp. 17-19, 1968]. XXXXVI. By this analysis, the Great Army had a very dynamic leadership, with its commanders constantly moving from one front to another - we have the example of Osketil arriving from the Continent to assist the defeated Healfdene in England. The leadership did not settle in the lands they acquired, often leaving them to be controlled by subordinates, as they constantly sought new gains, whilst having to be ready to defend old ones. It was not a case of numerous chieftains holding sway over various lands, but rather that a small number, who were 'replicated' by variations of their name, controlled these lands through the process of delegation. XXXXVII. That Guthfrith of the ua Himair was Guthred alias Godfrey, the associate of Sigifridus and Osketil, is not precluded by evidence from the Irish Annals, for they are inconsistent in their accounts of him; he is either killed by or kills his brother in 888 - a mistake based on a later entry of 917, casting doubts as to their overall accuracy. Godfrey's murder in June of 885 may also have been an act that spurred Sigifridus to attack Paris in November of that year. XXXXIII. Godfrey and Gisela had issue: Reginhilde de Friesland, alias Rheinghildin de Frise, wife of Count Theoderic of Ringelheim, alias Dietrich/Dietricus of Ringelheim, a direct descendant of Duke Wittikind. Their issue were: Frederune of Ringelheim, who married King Charles III. of France. Mathilda of Ringelheim, wife of Henry the Fowler, 876-2/7/936, alias Henry I., King of Germany. Almalrad of Ringelheim, who married Everard, Count of Hameland, a domain of Wickman de Hameland. Sigfrid, Count of Ringelheim: 'Henry the Fowler bestowed the government [of Brandenburg] on Sigfrid, Count of Ringelheim'[Robert Beatson, A Political index to the histories of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, p. 494, 1806]. It was this Sigfrid who was to become known as Sigfrid de Guines, who held Brandenburg simultaneously [J. Dhondt, Recherches sur l'histoire Boulonnais, ix., x., in Memoires de l'Academie d'Arras, 4th. series, pp. 1-35, 1941/42]. XXXXVIII. I will later propose that Godfrey was, by an earlier wife, the father of both Sitric II. and a Danish chieftain named Heriolfr, whom I will equate with Hrolf Turstain of Normandy. This Hrolf's grandson, Crispin de Bec, married, by this analysis, his second-cousin, Heloise de Guines, daughter of the above mentioned Sigfrid de Guines. I suggest that this may be significant in identifying Godfrey as the father of Heriolfr, and Heriolfr as being synonomous with Hrolf, for at this time marriages and tenurial relationships were almost invariably the result of previous family connections. This process kept wealth within a network of closely interconnected families, making marriages between various degrees of cousins commonplace, and the subject of church epistles against them. Another reason for such marriages was to give each family an insurance policy against ducal or monarchial authority, for, if you fell out of favour, powerful family connections might be the means of preserving land and life. They were also the conduit through which individuals advanced in life, with extended family members being expected to assist their kinsfolk to gain important positions or grants of land. In this way, it is best to view these families as members of a kinship group. XXXXIX. At the risk of labouring this point, I will comment further on the issue of endogamous marriages, as it is sometimes said, I believe naievly so, that such marriages would have been agaist ecclesiastical law, and therefore prohibited. Several points can be made: During the early years of Normandy, the elite were mainly of Scandinavian origin, originating from remote settlements, inbreeding was unavoidable, and marriages between first cousins were commonplace - they still were in sixteenth-century Iceland, despite church condemnation. The view that the Viking settlers of Normandy rapidly embraced church doctrine and assimilated into Frankish society en masse is a palpable myth, written by church historians seeking to proclaim the convertional power of their faith; it is ignorant of such fact as the young Duke Richard being educated in Bayeux so as to give him a sense of his family's Scandinavian language and customs, which certainly included the custom of chieftains having any number of concubines. L. Noble families were primarily interested in preserving property within their family rather than seeing it dispersed to outsiders, and many scholars now accept that there were two seperate "models" of marriage that developed in the late tenth and eleventh centuries - the ecclesiastical and the noble; the nobles preferring endogamous unions which preserved property. It can also be noted that most leadind clergy were brothers and cousins of nobles, and were inclined toward their interests. There were, of course, nobles whose antipathy to close consanguinity was based on church teachings, just as there nobles who objected to such marriages that did not serve their interest, and who expediently involved the church in their disputes; yet it is equally clear that such unions continued. To claim they did not on the basis of well-documented cases involving the contesting of unions between those of 6th. or 7th. degree of consangunity is to be ignorant of charter evidence; it is to repeat the propaganda of church historians who would have us believe that their that their tenets were rigorously adhered to. Marriages between two sets of siblings were also commom enough. Church strictures against what they considered to be far worse forms of sexual deviance were also flagrantly flouted during this period. People no more conformed to theoretical codes of conduct than is the case today. A DANISH CONTEXT. LI. In order to show that the exploits of Rollo were based on those of his uncle Godfrey [Guthred], I will borrow again from Mr. Howorth, whose essay 'A Criticism of the Life of Rollo, as told by Dudo de St. Quentin,' appeared in the 'Archaelogia', vol. xlv., 1880: 'The story of Rollo depends mainly upon the testimony of the biographer and panegyrist of his grandson Richard the First, Dudo of St. Quentin, who had access to the sons of those who were Rollo's actual contemporaries and companions, yet he given us such a false and unsubstantial account. Where the annals say Guthfred or Sigfred, he retains the exploit, but assigns it boldly to his hero. On leaving England Rollo, according to Dudo, sailed to the country of the Walgri, i. e., Walcheren. Here he is made to enter into a sustained struggle with Ragner Longi Collis, count of Hainault, and Radbod, Duke of the Frisians. The name of Hagner Longi Collis, which is well known in the annals of this period, has been found in a document dated as early as 877, and a Radbod "comes in Lake et Ysella," occurs in the year 875. This, pro tanto, supports Dudo's account; yet it is strange that the chroniclers of the period, Hincmar, Heginon, and Frodoard, who describe in some detail the ravages of the pirates on the Frisian coast, should not have a word about Hollo's exploits there. When we say that Hincmar, Heginon, and the rest do not name Hollo in Frisia, we do not mean that they do not mention the ravages of the pirates there. They mention them frequently, and in detail, but they were Danes, and their leaders were Sigfred and Guthred. LII. Hincmar's annals close in 885, so that we are here on ground quite familiar to him, yet he breathes not the name of Rollo. Nor is he mentioned in any contemporary annals of this period so far as I know, the well-known passages in " Asser's Life of Alfred " having been shown to be interpolations. (Vide Mon. Hist. Britt. 479 note, and M. le Prevost " Notes pour servir a 1'Histoirc de Normandie," 1st part, in the Annuaire de Normandie, i. 40, note 2. LIII. Dudo makes Rollo advance upon Rouen and there have an interview with its bishop, Franco; but, as has long been pointed out, Franco was not made bishop until the year 909, and it is clear that if the incidents of the story are reliable, the date 876 is utterly inadmissible. LIV. The aforementioned Siege of Paris: There Dudo gives the leadership to Rollo, were, in fact, the leaders of it were Sigfried and Guthred. None of the annalists of the time say a word about Rollo. The whole account is distorted, and is another instance of the way in which Dudo has converted to the honour of Rollo deeds with which he had nothing to do. LV. We have now arrived at the end of the ninth century. The history of France during the ten years from 900 to 910 is hid in almost impenetrable mists. There is a huge gap in the Annals they all fail us here the reason being no doubt the terribly disturbed state of Gaul and Germany and the ravages of the Danes. As these Annals fail, so does Dudo most consistently. Having no material to transform, he creates none. He has not handed us even a tradition, but makes a clean jump over the chaotic interval; and when we emerge from the blank it is generally supposed that we come upon undoubted, independent evidence of the existence of Rollo; that the Frodoard Annals mention the treaty he made with Charles the Simple at St. Clair-sur-Epte in 911; and that this date is the first one at which we have independent evidence of the presence of Rollo in France. That Rollo married Gisela, daughter of Charles the Simple, as one of the terms of the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte, has been accepted by historians with, I believe, almost unvarying credulity. LVI. Let me collect the evidence. Charles the Simple was born in the year 879, and on the feast of St. Lambert (i.e. the 17th of September), as he tells us in one of his charters (Recueil des Historiens de France, ix. 531, "quoted by Licquet 82). The treaty of St. Clair sur Epte was made, according to Dudo and his copyists, at the end of the year 911, and put in force at the beginning of 912, so that Charles must then have been 32 or at most 33 years of age LVII. The two wives of Charles the Simple of whom we know something were, Frederune, the sister of Boso, Bishop of Chalons, whom he married in 907 (Mabillon, de Re Diplomatica, 558). She died about ten years after, and was buried in the church of St. Remi. His second wife was Edgifa, or, as the French write it, Ogiva, daughter of Edward the Elder, and sister of Athelstane. It is clearly impossible that he could have had a marriageable daughter by either of these wives at the date of the treaty LVIII. These facts make it very nearly certain that Charles the Simple could not have had a daughter of marriageable age in 911 ; and is the story then wholly false? By no means. Here, again, and this only makes the contention the stronger, he has merely robbed Guthred of another incident in his life. Reginon, Abbot of Prune, whose chronicle closes in the year 906, has sub ann. 882 the following notice : "Novissime rex Godfridus Normannorum ea conditione christianum se fieri pollicetur, si ei, munere regis, Frisia provincia concedcretur, et Gisela filia Lotharii in uxorem daretur." LIX. As M. Licquet says : Here we have a Charles (the emperor Charles the Fat) giving away a province (Frisia) with a Gisla or Gisela to a Norman chief, on condition of his being baptized. We have in fact the very circumstances assigned to Rollo in one of the clauses of the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte. The parallelism of the stories is so complete that we are driven to the conclusion that one has been borrowed. Now, Reginon, who was a contemporary of the events he relates, and who with his own hands cut off the hair of Hugh, the brother of Gisela, when he entered a monastery a few years later, and knew the family intimately, is not likely to have been mistaken We are forced to one conclusion only, namely, that, as before, Dudo has transferred from the annals an adventure of Guthred and assigned it to Rollo.' LX. Mr. Howorth clearly gives Rollo an identity based on the recorded exploits a Danish chieftain, not one based on the pseudo-history of Norwegian sagas. He also places Rollo [I believe correctly] in a later generation than is assumed by these sagas: 'Dudo dates the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte in 911 and 912. I believe it to be utterly wrong. In the passage from his History of Rheims, Flodoard says that Rouen, with certain other districts attached to it, were made over to the Norsemen after the war which Robert fought against the Carnutenses. This clearly refers to the treaty with Rollo. Now, this extract is a portion of the chapter in which Frodoard describes the good acts of Heriveus, the arch-bishop of Rheims, how he laboured to relieve the awful ravages of the Normans, &c. Heriveus did not become archbishop until 920. On turning to Richer's Annals ....... next to Frodoard ....... the most reliable authority for this period of any of the chroniclers ....... we find under the year 921 the following sentence " Dum haec gerebantur Rotbertus Celticae Galliae dux piratas acriter impetebat. Irruperant enim duce Rollone filio Catilli intra Neustria repentini jamque Ligerim classe transmiserat ac finibus illius indemnes potiebantur." This is absolutely the first mention of Rollo in any chronicle, so far as I know. [Rollo might have been named as Rollon in a charter of Charles III., 14/3/918, which referred to him and his followers as Northmen of the Seine [Charter of Charles the Simple, ap. Bouquet, ix., p. 536 - M.S]. I believe most firmly that this is the year in which Rollo really settled on the Seine. To me it seems incredible that the annals should bristle with the names of Norse leaders, Sigfred, Gurm, Ingo, Hunedeus, Hasting, Ragnald, Godfred, &c., &c., and yet that they should keep a rigid silence in regard to one of the most famous of them, Rollo, the grantee of the Seine valley, so near to St. Vedast and to Rheims ; so near too to Paris. The only explanation of their not mentioning him that satisfies a reasonable criticism is, that he was not there. LXI. Dudo makes his hero, overwhelmed by age and infirmity, lay down his power and resign it to his son William. And here again Dudo stands alone, and is virtually contradicted by the Annals ; but in this case the Annals are not quite consistent. Richer tells us that Rollo was killed at the capture and sack of Eu in 925. I am disposed to think that Richer was mistaken. The Frodoard Annals do not mention Rollo's being there. Two years later, that is in 927, we find according to all authorities that William son of Rollo did homage to the French king for his possessions. In Frodoard's History of Rheims it is thus described: "Herebertus Karolum de custodia in qua eum detincbat ejecit et ad Sanctum Quintinum deduxit indeque cum eodem Karolo Nordmannorum colloquium expetiit. Ubi se Willelmus filius Rollonis principis Nordmannorum Karolo commendavit et amicitiam cum Hereberto confirmavit." There is no mention here or elsewhere in the Annals of any resignation by Rollo and of his surviving for five years. The name of Rollo disappears entirely from their pages.' HARALD OF BAYEUX. LXII. Returning to the Ui Imair: Sitric II. was the father of Anlaf and Harald; 'Aralt [great] grandson of Ivar and son of Sitric lord of the foreigners of Limerick' [Four M.]. Harald was also known as Harald ua Imair, proposed as synonomous with Harald of Bayeux, noted ally of Rollo's family, who came to hold land between Bayeux and Coutances, possibly connected to the family of the Duchess Gunnor, and the person called on for assistance by Bernard the Dane when the Scandinavian colonists came under attack by Frankish forces [Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 65, 2005]. Dudo refers to duke Richard I as being related to a "king of Dacia" named Haigrold [Dudo iv, 84-88 (pp. 114-20 passim)], who must have been the Viking raider of France of that name [Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 945: MGH SS 3, 392, van Houts (2000), 51], and not king Harald "Bluetooth" of Denmark]. HERIOLFR. LXIII. Anlaf was the father of Dubhgall, 'grandson of Sitric II., commander of the Danes of Dublin' [Four M.]. Dubhgall was one of a few princes of the foreigners being noted as dying in battle in the Gaedhel re Gallaibh. He died alongside Dunchadh ua-Herulf, the grandson of Heriolfr [Hrolf]. LXIV. Thus, this Heriolfr is placed in the same generation as Sitric II., being born circa 885, and is specifically mentioned in the same context as Sitric II.; their grandchildren were companions and Righdomhua - ones eligible for election as leader - suggesting that Heriolfr and Sitric II. were members of the same ruling family. A HIBERNO-SCANDINAVIAN CONTEXT. LXV. Both Ragnall and his cousin Guthfrith II. campaigned in Scotland [Pictish Annals], and Guthfrith's son, Olaf, married a daughter of King Constantine of the Scots [David W. Rollason, Northumbria, 500-1100, p. 263, 2003]. [Constantine mac Aeda, king of Scots, 900-43]. Thus, this family are placed in the same Hiberno-Scandinavian mode which 'Rollo' is assigned to: 'While in Scotland he [Rollo] married a Christian woman and by her he had a daughter named Kathleen' [Caðlín, daughter of Gongu-Hrólfr who became the wife of Beolan - OI. 1: 66-7]. 'Rollo probably joined raids on Scotland, Ireland and England' [Bradbury, Medieval Warfare, p. 83, 2004]. Writing a generation after Rollo, Flodoard describes Rollo's son, William Longsword, slain 17/12/942, as having a mother who was "concubina Brittana" - the contemporary frankish eulogy, "Lament for William" seems to suggest Brittana equates to Britain, rather than Brittany, and that William and Caðlín were of the same mother. "Landnamabok" states that Caðlín's husband was Beollan, son of the Ciarmac, King of Meath. Beollan's Norse connections are shown in the Annals of Inisfallen, in which he is given the Old Norse nickname of litil; little. Beollan's daughters by Caðlín, Deichter and Nithbeorg are recorded in the Banshenchas, in which their father is called the "king of south Meath, of the treacherous Vikings." Thus, Rollo's family had strong ties to the Irish sea region. ROLLO RELATED TO RAGNALL. LXVI. What of Ragnall alias Ragenold, son of Godfrey. The annalist Flodoard mentioned a Viking named Ragenold, like Rollo, called princeps Nortmannorum, leader of the Loire Vikings, who were regarded as a menace, especially to Brittany. He is noted as being a man of Rollo, who attended the coronation of Rollo's son, William Longsword, in 931, and was probably of Rollo's family [A. Hugo, France Historique, p. 416, 1837]. 'In 924 Ragenold, although he had accepted a grant of lands within the borders of France, laid waste the country of Duke Hugh' [Reginald Lane Poole, The English Historical Review, p. 16, 1911]. Later that year, Ragenold was party to a treaty with Hugues le Grand, in which he relinquished lands he had siezed in Maine [Bulletin de la Société d'agriculture, sciences et arts de la Sarthe, xiii., 1858]. Although Ragenold was not Rollo, with whom he has been confounded, he places Rollo within the Hiberno-Norse kinship network as the ui Imhair. HROLF AND BERNARD. LXVII. I would now like to offer some thoughts on the possible ancestry of those sometimes called Hrolf Turstain and Bernard the Dane, who, according to La Roque, was ancestor of the family of Harcourt. Harcourt is the latinised form of a fief that was originally named after a Danish chieftain called Heriolfr or Heriulfr, of which Hrolf is a contraction: 'Les autres croient ce nom personnel, et l'expliquent par plusieurs racines Scandinaves, dont la principale, Har ou Her, se traduit par éminent fort ou guerrier. — Les chroniqueurs du moyen âge le latinisaient en Harulfi Corte, ce qui fournirait d'autres inductions' [La Rocque, Histre. de la M. d'Harc., p. xiii. , etc., cit. MSAN, 1837; Larchey, Recherche Etymologique, p. cxxxii, 1880]. LXIII. Harcourt was not the only domain of this chieftain: Herufivilla ou 'Hérouville, désigné habituellement sous le nom d'Hérouville-Saint-Clair, Herulfivilla, Herolvilla, est situé sur les bords le l'ancien lit de l'Orne, à 4 kil. N. de Caen' ....... 'Celle de Saint-Clair qui était également fort ancienne' [ADC., 1837]. The family of Mondeville held the vil here of Amundevilla, Mondevilla. LXIX. In that land owned by Hrolf Turstain devolved to Torf le Riche, proposed son of Bernard the Dane, after his marriage to Hrolf's grandaughter, Ertemberge de Briquebec, it is reasonable to suggest that Hrolf was the Heriolfr who held Harulfi Corte, and this Heriolfr was the contemporary of Sitric II., as noted above. It can also be noted that Torf le Riche was not of Pont-Audemer, as such, for Pont-Audemer is a more recent name for Trigge[villa]. Although the name of the chieftain whose vil this was is not obvious, it is reasonable to suggest he was an important man, who controlled a strategic location, and would have had some connection to the ruling dynasty, and, as such, the suggestion of him being Sigtryggr [Sitric II.] deserves consideration. LXX. Thus, a possible ancestry of Bernard the Dane would place him as a brother of Heriolfr and Sigtryggr, whose son, Torf le Riche, inherited fiefs in Triggevilla and Harulfi Corte, which devolved from his two uncles; a conjecture which is as reasonable, I submit, as the ones offered by Professor Munch, Mr. Howorth, and Professor McTurk, yet no more than that. For, we are discussing shadowy figures about whom there is little or no substantial fact, subjects for reasonable conjecture only. LXXI. The following text points to some of the possessions of Torf the Rich in Normandy: 'Torf, surnomme le Riche, souche commune des illustres maisons de Beaumont et de Harcourt, qui donna son nom à quantité' de Seigneuries qu'il posse'dait en Normandie, et qu'on reconnaît encore aujourd'hui; telles que celles de Torchi, Torci, Tourni, Tourville, Tourli, Ponteau-Torf, ou PonteauTorf, etc. Enfin Torf est regardé comme fils de Bernard le Danois, descendu de la maison de Saxe-Danemarck, lequel accompagna le duc Rou' [L'art de vérifier, François Dantine et al. p. 150, 1818]. LXXII. This gives clues as to families descended from him. The principal tenants of Count Robert de Meulan in Normandy were the families of Tourville and Thibouville. They also became, along with the Harcourts, his principal tenants in Leicestershire. The connections are obvious, especially if we take a closer look at the family of Thibouville. The clue is Tourni. Torf came to hold land in the hamlet of Tournai in the commune of Harcourt et Thibouville, near Bec, on land owned by the Crispin family. In this instance, Torf is closely associated with someone called Thibaut, who must have had Crispin connections. It can be recalled that Herolfr Turstain married Gerlotte de Blois, whose father was Thibaud de Blois. Thus, the descendant of Bernard, Robert de Meulan, placed much emphasis on the Blois link established by Heriolfr. LXXIII. Thibaut was to marry the widow of Duke William, Luitgarde, the daughter of Herbert II. Count of Vermandois, the sister of whom married Heriolfr's son, Guillaume Crispin. Thibaut's marriage represented an attempt to become leader of the Norman Vikings, but the ruling elite chose William's son, Richard, to succeed him. Thibaut and Luitgarde had issue: Odo [Eudes] de Blois, who married Bertha de Bourgoyne, daughter of Mathilde de France, who was daughter of Gerberge and Louis IV d'Outre-Mer, Roi de France, son of Charles III, Roi de France [the Simple] and Eadgifu, daughter of Eadweard I, King of Wessex. Gerberge was the daughter of Henry the Fowler [Heinrich I von Sachsen, Holy Roman Emperor] and Mathilde de Ringelheim. As shown, Mathilde was the daughter of Reginhilde de Friesland and Count Theoderic of Ringelheim [who were also the parents of Sigfrid de Guines, whose daughter married Guillaume Crispin's son]; Reginhilde being the daughter of the above mentioned Godfrey and Gisela [Jirí Louda and Michael MacLagan, Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, 2nd edition, 1999, p. 223, 1999; John Morby, Dynasties of the World: a chronological and genealogical handbook, p. 122, 1989]. LXXIV. [Robert-le-Fort, duc de France et de Bourgogne, comte de Paris, d'Orléans, de Poitiers, de Chartres et de Blois, etc. épousé Béatrix, fille de Pépin I, comte de Vermandois. Il eut d'elle: i° Hugues-le-Grand. 2° Emme, mariée à Raoul, duc de Bourgogne, ensuite roi de France. 3° Hildebrande , épouse d'Herbert II, comte de Vermandois]. LXXV. Clearly, Count Robert de Meulan favoured the Thibouville family as if they were of his own close blood. Their holdings under him in Normandy were second to none. In England, they were hardly less so, including those of the Harcourts. I would suggest that Torf was a nephew of Heriolfr Turstain and Gerlotte de Blois, and this close relationship was reflected in the very considerable estates that he received as a result of marrying his secondcousin, more considerable, perhaps, than would have been the case if he were not of this family. LXXVI. I would also propose that the association between Heriolfr and Bernard and the family of Blois is much closer than is generally assumed. Gerlo, the "near relation" of Rollo, is described [par Richer] as a son of Ingo. This name is a form of Ingor or Ingar and is related to the Normano-Russian Inguar or Ingwar, that is, to someone who might also be known as Ivar. Gerlo is [par Gautries] a form of Geiri, its root being geirr = Old Norse spear, and is represented in Normandy by the name Gerville. A common form of this name was Geirmund, the second element pertaining to a hill, and it is perhaps interesting that the name is represented in the Parisian village of Montgero [near Boissey]. I suggest that Gerlo was also a son of Ivar, and a cousin ["near relation"] of Rollo, and uncle to Heriolfr and Bernard, who were, thus, cousins of Thibaut, with Heriolfr marrying his second cousin, a practice, as said, wholly common to these times. It is my opinion that Robert de Meulan was also acknowledging these deeper links. LXXVII. To conclude: Most things genealogical of the time under discussion can only be based on assumptions that are reasonable, not so forced as to be incredulous. I would not place the views of Professor Munch in the incredulous category. Although not accepting any large scale invasion and colonisation of Norway by Danes, I think it feasible that there was an assimilation between elites, with, very possibly, one ruler being known by different names representing both Danish and Norwegian tradition - who had a large degree of authority over the region. I also believe that Mr. Howorth and Professor McTurk offer quite reasonable insights as to what might have been the case, and I would hope that my assumptions as to the relationships between people fit into this category. GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY 1. Sigfrid - alias Sigurd, the nephew of Godefrid, King of the Danes, or, perhaps more accurately, as ruler in Hedeby, a modern spelling of the runic Heiðabý(r), which was an important trading settlement in the Danish-German borderland, located towards the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula. Sigfrid was the brother of Reginold and Hemming. Hemming died in the early part of the year 812. The Frankish chronicles introduce us on his death to a fierce struggle for the vacant throne, and we are told that this struggle took place between Sigfrid and Anulo, "the nephew or grandson of Harald who was formerly king." "This Sigfred, or Sigurd, was doubtless a brother of Reginold and Hemming already named, who succeeded them naturally" [Henry H. Howorth's treatise - published in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society [New Series], Volume I., Issue 01, March, pp. 18-61, 1883]. 1.1. Reginheri - alias Ragnar Lodbrok, the leader of the Viking attack on Paris in 845. The first recorded instance of the names being so used [Ragnar + Lodbrok] is Ari Þorgilsson’s reference to Ívarr Ragnarssonr loðbrókar in his Íslendingabók, written between 1120 and 1133 [McTurk, 1991a, Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and its major Scandinavian analogues (Medium Ævum monographs, new series, 15). Oxford: The Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature]. 1.1.1. Ivar - alias Ivarr Ragnarssonr loðbrókar, with many variations, including Inguar/Hinguar/Ingar, which seem to be variants of the Norse name Ingharr, literally meaning the chieftain's army, from the adjective element ing, meaning the first one/ahead of all others. His nickname, 'beinlauss', is wrongly interpreted as 'boneless', reflecting a misunderstanding of the written source of exosus [cruel], which was abbreviated to exos [boneless], hence stories invented to explain this strange epithet. Exosus accords well with Adam of Bremen’s description of Ivarr as crudelissimusis [J. de Vries, ‘Die westnordische Tradition der Sage von Ragnar Lodbrok’. Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 53, 257-302, 1928]. 1.1.1.1. Guthrum - alias "Gorm hin Enske" [Gorm Engelaender]. "Their general [of the Danes of Carlingford - M.S] Horm, Gorm, or Gonno, may have been possibly the same who was surnamed Enske or Anglicus, because he was horn in England. This Gormo was ultimately converted to Christianity, which renders it the more probable that he may have suggested on this occasion the invocation of St. Patrick" [James Henthorn Todd, Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh: The war of the Gaedhil with The Gaill, or, The invasions of Ireland by the Danes and other Norsemen, P. 64, 1867]. Also - 'The fabulous Gormo of Saxo Grammat. lib. ix. and " Gorm hin Enske" (Gorm Engelaender), who is baptized in England, in the " Chronic. Erici Regis ap. Langebek Scriptt. Rer. Danic." I. p. 158, Gurmund in Will. Malmesb. II. 121, and Alberic, and Guaramund in the "Chron. Rich." is, without doubt, one and the same person. The Anglo-Saxon form of the name is Guthrum, but I have adopted, as Kemble has done, the pure northern form: Gutorm, that is, battleworm' [Reinhold Pauli, The life of king Alfred, p. 188. 1852]. 1.1.1.2. Godfrey Ivarsson - alias Guthfrith or Guthred, "Duke of Frisia" and ruler in Dublin [883]. The Danish Viking leader who had probably been with the Great Heathen Army [led by Sigifridus, 882-6], which descended on the Continent. He became a vassal of the Emperor Charles III., after that ruler sued for peace, giving Godfrey most of Frisia to rule. Charles also gave him Gisela [865-908], illegitimate daughter of King Lothair II. [839-869], as his wife. 1.1.1.2.1. Reginhilde de Frise, wife of Count Theoderic of Ringelheim, a direct descendant of Duke Wittikind* [ principal progenitor of the Dukes of Saxony] and Geva Eysteinsdottir, sister of [1.] Sigfrid - alias Sigurd, the nephew of Godefrid, King of the Danes. Their daughter was Hasala von Wettin, who married Duke Bruno II. of Saxony. Their son was Duke Bruno III. of Saxony, who married Susanna de Montfort-sur-Risle. They had issue: Count Ludolf I. of East Saxony, who married Oda of Thuringia. Their daughter was Luitgarde of Saxony, who married King Louis II. of France, 846-879 - son of King Charles II. of France, 823-877, and Ermentrude de Orléans, 823-869 - their son being King Charles III. of France, 879-929. Through these connections, it is possible to summise that [1.1.1.2.3.] Bernard the Dane was termed "Bernard of the blood-royal of Saxony" [Patronymica Britannica, Mark Antony Lower, p. 147, 1860], in that his father may have firstly married a Saxon princess of Theoderic of Ringelheim's family, thus establishing the links for Reginhilde's marriage into the blood-royal of Saxony. Certainly [par La Roque] Bernard had a daughter named Mathildis de Pont-Audemer; her name being common to the descendants of Wittikind. [She married Jean d' Ache, their son being Richard d'Ache, who married Perrette de Ferrières. Their son was Robert d'Ache, who married Havoise de l' Aigle. Their son was Dreux, seigneur de Boves [Somme], father of Enguerrand, seigneur de Boves, Coucy, la Fève-en-Tardenois, et Marle. Endgerrand became "sieur de Coucy" and Count of Amiens by marriage to Adele de Coucy, daughter of Alberic de Coucy and Adele d'Amiens; daughter of Count Dreux of the Vexin and Princess Goda of England. Goda was the daughter of Ethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy; daughter of [1.1.1.3.1.1.1.] 'Duke' Richard and Gunnor de Crepon, whose sister, Duvelina, married [1.1.1.2.3.1.1.] Turold de Pont-Audemer, eldest son of [1.1.1.2.3.1.] Torf the Rich, and nephew of Mathildis. Frankish charters mention a ruling elite in Normandy called Marchmen, who came from the ShleswigJutland borderlands. This suggests continued intermarriage between Danish and Saxon elites. The script they used was certainly of this region. Following the lead of Sir Fancis Palgrave, various historians have suggested the term applied to both a place of origin and to a linked [dark] physical appearance. Certainly, descendants of [1.1.1.2.2.] Heriolfr Turstain carried the appelation "le Goz" [Goth] - reflected in a name of one of their fiefs - which seemingly pertained to their "dark" appearance. The Irish term for the Norman invaders of their country was "dark haired Normans." The prevalence of dark colour among the members of the most genuine old Germanic nobility is well noted [Alfred A. Knopf, The Racial Basis of Civilization: A critique of the Nordic doctrine, 1931]. * Witikind = Witbert [+ Bruno] = Wolpert = Reginhart = Theoderic, whose mother was called Mathildis. 1.1.1.2.1.1. Sigfrid de Guines - alias Sigfrid, Count of Ringelheim - brother of Frederune of Ringelheim, who married King Charles III. of France. Mathilda of Ringelheim, wife of Henry the Fowler, 876-2/7/936, alias Henry I., King of Germany. Almalrad of Ringelheim, who married Everard, Count of Hameland, a domain of Wickman de Hameland. 1.1.1.2.1.1.1. Heloise de Guines, married [1.1.1.2.2.2.1.] Crispin de Bec. She was the daughter of Sigfrid, Count of Guines, and Elstrude de Flandre, g.g. grandaughter of King Alfred, and daughter of Arnulf the elder [Count of Flanders] and Adele de Vermandois. [W. H. Turton, The Plantagenet Ancestry, 1928]. Elstrude's sister, Luitgarde, married Wicman de Gand, and, thus, Heloise was cousin to Theoderic de Gand, count of West Friesland and Ghent. 1.1.1.2.2. Heriolfr Turstain - Lord of Varenquebec, original abode of the Harcourts - placed in the same generation as Sitric II., being born circa 885, and is specifically mentioned in the same context as [1.1.1.2.5.] Sitric II.; their grandchildren were companions and Righdomhua - ones eligible for election as leader - suggesting that Heriolfr and Sitric II. were members of the same ruling family. 1.1.1.2.2.1. Anslech de Briquebec - alias Oslac de Briquebec, a powerful baron, associated with [1.1.1.2.3] in the administration of Normandy - tutor to 'Duke' Richard of Normandy. He married Gillette de Beaumont -unknown pedigree. In the rebellion of Richard de St. Saveur, son of [1.1.3.1.] Helgi against [1.1.1.3.1.1.] 'Duke' William Longsword, in 933, Anslech is mentioned by Wace as one of the three Barons who alone remained faithful to the Duke, his second cousin, by rendering him military service at the seige of Rouen. 1.1.1.2.2.1.1. Ertemburge de Briquebec, married her second-cousin [1.1.1.2.3.1.] Torf the Rich - conveyed Crispin lands to him as maritagium. 1.1.1.2.2.2. Guillaume Crispin - great-grandfather of William Crispin, alias de Colleville - 'of outstanding manners, the best known of all; with military fame he rose above almost all his contemporaries. His famous prowess made many envious. William, duke of the Normans, called William Crispin to the castle of Neaufles and gave him, and his son after him, the castle and the vicomte of the Vexin. There William established his home to ward off French invasions. He revisited, however, the land he held elsewhwere in Normandy in the district of Lisieux.' [Milo Crispin]. The Stanhope family descend diretly from this lineage. 1.1.1.2.2.2.1. Crispin de Bec [Ansgothus], also an important administrator of Normandy, married[1.1.1.2.1.1.1.] Heloise de Guines. 1.1.1.2.3. Bernard the Dane - claimed to be the ancestor of the Harcourts by Gilles-André de La Roque [Histoire généalogique de la maison de Harcourt, 1663]. Little is known of him: His early career in the 930s was concerned with supressing revolts by factions opposed to the ruling hierarchy in the emerging state of Normandy. After the assassination of William Longsword, Bernard became a regent of the 'duchy' of Normandy in December 942, charged with the protection of the the young 'Duke' Richard, together with, among others, [1.1.1.2.2.1.] Anslech de Briquebec. 1.1.1.2.3.1. Torf the Rich - lord of Tournai in the commune of Harcourt et Thibouville, near Bec, on land owned by the Crispin family. In this instance, Torf is closely associated with someone called Thibaut, who must have had Crispin connections. It can be recalled that [1.1.1.2.2.] Herolfr Turstain married Gerlotte de Blois, whose father was Thibaud de Blois. Torf also held land in Triggevilla [Pont-Audemer] and Harulfi Corte [Harcourt] through his marriage to his second-cousin [1.1.1.2.2.1.1.] Ertemburge de Biquebec. Triggevilla was the possible fief of Ertemburge's great-uncle [1.1.1.2.5.] Sitric II. - Harulfi Corte [Harcourt] was the fief of her grandfather [1.1.1.2.2.] Heriolfr Turstain. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1. Turold of Pont-Audemer. According to Robert of Torigny [GND, viii. c. 37], Torf and Ertemberga were the parents of Turold alias Turulf, and Turchetil [see also OV ii. 12]; the latter being Seigneur de Turqueville et de Tanqueraye, who married Anceline de Bertrande, daughter of Ansfrid the Dane and Helloe de Beulac. Ansfrid was another son of [1.1.1.2.2.] Heriolfr Turstain. It is wrongly assumed that this Turchetil was a forefather of the Harcourts; he died childless, passing his estate to his great-nephew [cart. Preaux, fol. 97v; CP xi. Instr., col. 201 a. d., Du Monstier, Neustria Pia, p. 522, 1663]. Turold married Duvelina de Crepon, sister of Gunnor, the wife of [1.1.1.3.1.1.1.] 'Duke' Richard; they were ancestors of the Beaumont family of Pont-Audemer, and, according to Auguste le Prevost, of the Harcourts, with Turold and Duvelina being the parents of both [1.1.1.2.3.1.1.2.] Onfroi de Vieilles [GND vii. 1. 3.], and [1.1.1.2.3.1.2.] Turchetil de Neufmarche [Ordericus, ed. Prevost, vol. i., p. 180; ii. pp. 14, 369, 370; iii. pp. 42, 229]. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1.1 Radulphus de Beaumont, administrator of Bernay Abbey, titled de Beaumont before his family came to possess the fief of Beaumont near PontAudemer, leading to speculation that he was synonomous with Radulphus de Beaumont of Maine. Supporting this notion, members of the Normandy and Maine Beaumont families jointly witnessed charters. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1.2. Onfroi de Vieilles - alias Vetulis or Vaux, lord of Vieilles, a small commune in the canton of Beaumont, arrondissement of Bernay; a centre of Crispin family influence, and of Vaux-sur-Seine, canton Meulan. Onfroi married Auberée de la Haye, obit. 28/12/1045. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1.2.1. Roger de Beaumont - alias Belomonte, Baron de Beaumesnil, who married Adeline, sister of Huges II., Comte de Meulan. Waleran, the first recorded Comte de Meulan, was believed to be a decendant of 1.1.1.2.3. [La Roque]. Roger became a monk at St. Pierre de Préaux, which was founded by his father on his own domains, which became known as Beaumont-le-Roger. This abbey was in the diocese of Lisieux, caput of the Crispin family. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1.2.2. Josseline of Pont-Audemer. She married Hugh de Montgomery, of Mont Gomeri, near Lisieux, around which the Crispin family held vast tracts of land; suggesting the Montgomery family to be closely connected to the Crispins. Their son was Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, Arundel, and Chichester, who held Orbec in Normandy [L. C. Loyd, Origins of some AngloNorman Families, pp. 68-9, 1975]. 1.1.1.2.3.1.1.2.3. Emma de Vieilles. She married Rudolf de Varennes, who held considerable lands on the Seine above Rouen, and in the Pays de Caux, who took is name from Varenne, a hamlet on the River Varenne, near Dieppe. Emma de Harcourt and Rudolf de Varennes were the parents of Rudolf II. de Varennes, and William de Varennes, a.k.a. William de Warren, Earl of Surrey, who first came to prominence in the Battle of Mortemer, 1054, after which he received the castle so named from Duke William, forfeited by his kinsman, Roger de Mortimer. He also received Bellencombre, caput of the Warenne family in Normandy [John Le Patourel, Feudal Empires: Norman and Plantagenet, p. 9, 1984]. 1.1.1.2.3.1.2. Turchetil de Neufmarche. To quote from Orderic: 'It is now my intention to give some account of the origin of the lords of Aufay ....... Gilbert, surnamed the Advocate of St. Valeri, married a daughter [Papia] of Duke Richard [as above], by whom he had Bernard, father of Walter de St. Valery, and Richard de Heugleville' [Thomas Forester, transl. p. 226, 1854]. This Richard had married Ada, the widow of Herluin de Heugleville, and their daughter, Ada, married Geoffrey, the son of Turchetil de Neufmarche. Gilbert was the son of Bernard, Count of Guines, and lord of Gamaches, near Rouen; the son of William de Ponthieu and Alice, sister of Hugh Capet. William was the son of Count Herluin of Ponthieu [Montreuil], who 'épouse en 910 Agnès, héritière de Ponthieu, et de cette union sortent les maisons d'Eu, de St.-Valery et de Gamaches' [Bulletins de la Société des antiquaires de Picardie, p. 300, 1859]. 1.1.1.2.3.1.2.1. Ansketil de Harcourt. He is mentioned as 'filius Turchetil' in the cartulary of Bernay [Faroux, nos. 35. 128], and the continuing relationship between the Beaumonts [as overlords] and the Harcourts can be explained by this shared ancestry. Anchetil de Harcourt was assumed to have married Eve de Boessy-le-Chastel; an assumption based on later Harcourts holding Boessy-leChastel. Eve was more correctly known as Eve de Tillly, whose family were the seigneurie de Boessy-le-Chastel. This Tilly family were the lords of St. Germain, descendants of [1.1.1.2.2.2.1.] Heriolfr Turstain. 1.1.1.2.3.1.2.1.1. Robert the Strong de Harcourt - ancestor of the Norman branch of the Harcourts. 1.1.1.2.3.1.2.1.2. John de Harcourt - brother of the above, par Yeatman, a Derbyshire tenant of the Ferrers family of Ferrieres-St-Hilaire, near Bernay, Normandy, who, through this holding can be assumed to have close connections to the family of Gilbert Crispin I., son of [1.1.1.2.2.2.1.] Crespin Ansgothus, whose influence was centred in Bernay. This close association was confirmed by Gilbert Crispin II. and Henry de Ferrers jointly leading a charge of the English forces at Senlac. Henry de Ferrers married Bertha de L'Aigle; their son, Robert de Ferrers, 1st. Earl Derbys., married Margaret Peverel, daughter of William Peverel I. of Nottingham, par Dugdale. 1.1.1.2.4. Ragnall - like [1.1.1.3.1.] Rollo, called princeps Nortmannorum, leader of the Loire Vikings - noted as being a man of Rollo - attended the coronation of Rollo's son, William Longsword, in 931, and was probably of Rollo's family [A. Hugo, France Historique, p. 416, 1837]. I would determine him to be Rollo's second-cousin. Both Ragnall and his cousin Guthfrith II. campaigned in Scotland [Pictish Annals], amd Guthfrith's son, Olaf, married a daughter of King Constantine of the Scots [David W. Rollason, Northumbria, 5001100, p. 263, 2003]. [Constantine mac Aeda, king of Scots, 900-43]. Thus, this family are placed in the same Hiberno-Scandinavian mode which 'Rollo' is assigned to. 'While in Scotland he [Rollo] married a Christian woman and by her he had a daughter named Kathleen' [Caðlín, daughter of Gongu-Hrólfr who became the wife of Beolan - OI. 1: 66-7]. 'Rollo probably joined raids on Scotland, Ireland and England' [Bradbury, Medieval Warfare, p. 83, 2004]. Writing a generation after Rollo, Flodoard describes Rollo's son, William Longsword, slain 17/12/942, as having a mother who was "concubina Brittana" - the contemporary Frankish eulogy, "Lament for William" seems to suggest Brittana equates to Britain, rather than Brittany, and that William and Caðlín were of the same mother. "Landnamabok" states that Caðlín's husband was Beollan, son of the Ciarmac, King of Meath. Beollan's Norse connections are shown in the Annals of Inisfallen, in which he is given the Old Norse nickname of litil; little. Beollan's daughters by Caðlín, Deichter and Nithbeorg are recorded in the Banshenchas, in which their father is called the "king of south Meath, of the treacherous Vikings." Thus, Rollo's family had strong ties to the Irish sea region. 1.1.1.2.5. Sitric II. - father of Anlaf and Harald; 'Aralt [great] grandson of Ivar and son of Sitric lord of the foreigners of Limerick' [Four M.]. Harald was also known as Harald ua Imair, proposed as synonomous with Harald of Bayeux, noted ally of Rollo's family, who came to hold land between Bayeux and Coutances, possibly connected to the family of the Duchess Gunnor, and the person called on for assistance by [1.1.1.2.3.] Bernard the Dane when the Scandinavian colonists came under attack by Frankish forces [Hudson, Viking Pirates, p. 65, 2005]. 1.1.2. Healfdene - The Albann/Healfdene of the Annals of Ulster and the AngloSaxon Chronicle, mentioned above, may also be identified with an Halbdeni mentioned in the Annales Fuldenses for 873 as the brother of the Danish king Sigifridus and as active on the European continent [in Metz] in that year. 1.1.1.3. Osketil - if he can be the same Ketil that was said by Richer of Reims [Historia, i, 28 (vol. 1, p. 62] to be the father of Rollo ['filio Catilli'], then [1.1.2.1.1.] Rollo is closely related to the Dano-Hibernian family of the Ui Imair. This identification of Rollo's father is supported by David Crouch [The Normans: the history of a dynasty, pp. 297-300, 2002]. Professor Crouch also suggests that Rollo's uncle was probably someone called Malahulc, identified by Orderic Vitalis c. 1113 [GND, ii., 94-5, Musset, 1977, 48-9], but not known from any other source, whom I would equate with [1.1.3.1.] Helgi, alias Hulci. 1.1.1.3.1. Rollo - one Scandinavian leader among several who vied for outright control of the relatively small amount of territory ceded to them, around Rouen, by Charles III., King of France, in return for providing protection against fellow Scandinavian raiders, and giving feudal allegiance to the king. Although history tends to be written as if evolves around the actions of individuals - making it easy for people to identify with and understand - these leaders would have had the essential support of other powerful men. 1.1.1.3.1.1. William Longsword - his life is as obscure as his death, which is the subject of conflicting accounts. However, it is certain that he and his followers put an end to rival Scandinavian incursions into the territories they controlled, and posed a threat to the hegemony of the French kings. 1.1.1.3.1.1.1. 'Duke' Richard I. of Normandy - Anceline de Bertrande, niece of [1.1.1.2.2.2.] Guillaume Crispin, married Turketil de Harcourt, brother of [1.1.1.2.3.1.1.] Turold of Pont-Audemer. Their daughter was Leceline de Harcourt. She married Godfrey de Brionne. He was the son of 'Duke' Richard I. of Normandy, 933-20/11/996, and Gonnor de Crepon. Godfrey and Leceline had a son, Gilbert de Brionne [Elizabeth Van Houts, The Normans in Europe, p. 69, 2000 ;Ordericus Vitalis,The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, trsl. Thomas Forester, vol. i., p. 149, 1853]. n.b. He is often confused with Gilbert Crispin, son of [1.1.1.2.2.2.1.] Crispin de Bec. In the foundation charter of Bec Abbey, he describes himself as 'Gislebertus Brionensis Comes, primi Ricardi Normannorium ducis nepos, ex filio Consule Godefrido.' i.e., grandson of Duke Richard I. of Normandy, by his son, the magistrate, Godfrey [Francisque Michel, Gesta regnum Britanniae, p. 77, 1862]. The ancestry of Godfrey's mother is unknown, albeit supposed pedigrees were composed over proceeding centuries, with the earliest sources solely reporting her to be of royal Scandinavian ancestry. That Godfrey was variously titled Crispin was instrumental in the confusion surrounding his son, Gilbert. It may also suggest that Godfrey's mother was of the Crispin family. 1.1.1.4. Gerlo "close relation" of [1.1.1.3.1.] Rollo. 1.1.1.4.1. Thibaut de Blois - cousin of [1.1.1.2.2.] Heriolfr Turstain and [1.1.1.2.3.] Bernard the Dane. He married Luitgarde de Vermandois, widow of [1.1.1.3.1.1.] William Longsword. 1.1.1.4.1.1. Odo de Blois - alias Eudes, married a decendant of [1.1.1.2.] Godfrey Ivarsson. 1.1.3. Sigifridus Ragnarsson - alias Sigurðr ormr-í-auga - 'king' in Denmark in 873. In this year, Hedeby, and thus the fortress of Hochburg, was controlled by Sigifridus, who negotiated its trade with King Ludwig of Germany [Angelo Forte, Richard D. Oram, Frederik Pedersen, Viking Empires, p. 46, 2005]. According to the testimony of Svein II. Estridsen, Sigfrid was succeeded as a king in Denmark by [1.1.3.1.] Helgi, probably after the battle on the Dyle in 891 [Gwyn Jones, A History of the Vikings, p. 111, 2001]. 1.1.3.1. Helgi - a son of [1.1.3] Sigifridus [Sigurðr ormr-í-auga], who succeeded his father as ruler of Hedeby. I would further suggest that Helgi was the father of Gorm the Old [Gorm den Gamle], who is mentioned in the work called Cogadh Gall fri Gaedh-alaibh under the name of Tamar Mac Elgi. In the copy of that work preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, H. 2, 17, p. 359, he is said to have come with a royal great fleet, some time after the death of the monarch Niall Glun-dubh, who was slain in the year 915, and to have put in at Inis Sibtond, at Limerick. This is evidently the Tamar mac Elgi of H. 2, 17, the "earl of the strangers in Limerick." "Tomar = Gormo Gamle, called by the Irish Tomar" [Great Britain. Public Record Office Rerum Britannicarum Medii Ævi Scriptores: Or, Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland During the Middle Ages, p. 264, 1965]. 1.1.3.1.1. Gorm den Gamle - alias Gorm the Old - ruler in Jutland - father of King Harald Gormsson [Bluetooth] - Bjorn járnsíða's son Eric may be of some interest. His nephew was Styrbjorn [Bjorn the Strong], who married Thyra, daughter of King Harald Gormsson. It is said [Knýtlinga saga] that Styrbjorn was Harald's overlord. Styrbjorn's son was Thorgils, father of Gytha, who married Earl Godwin; they were the parents of King Harald Godwinson and Edith, married to Edward the Confessor. It was through this lineage that the Saxon Kings of England traced their ancestry to Gorm the Old, through his grandaughter, Thyra, and to Bjorn járnsíða', through his grandson, Styrbjorn. Such dynastic links gave legitimacy to rule. William the Conqueror was merely stating his right to rule England as a fellow descendant of this dynastic conglomerate, not because of the marriage of a female relative to a Saxon king; that was the result shared ancestry, not the cause of it. King Gorm felt himself strong enough to cross the Eider and invade Nordalbingia (Holstein), then a province of the duchy of Saxony. The Danes were defeated, and Henry I. the Fowler, established the March or margraviate of Schleswig, between the Eider and the Schlei - which for nearly a century remained the battleground of the hostile Danish and Saxon borderers. Otho the Great crossed the Dannevirke in 970, overran all Jutland, and forced King Harald Bluetooth, the son of Gorm, to be baptized, and grant the monks the liberty to convert his subjects throughout the kingdom. copywrite Michael Stanhope 2009 contact: [email protected]