Flanders
Flanders is the Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, language and history, sometimes involving neighbouring countries; the demonym associated with Flanders is Fleming. The official capital of Flanders is Brussels, although the Brussels Capital Region has an independent regional government, the government of Flanders only oversees the community aspects of Flanders life in Brussels such as culture and education. Flanders, despite not being the biggest part of Belgium by area, is the area with the largest population. 7,876,873 out of 11,491,346 Belgian inhabitants live in the bilingual city of Brussels. Not including Brussels, there are five modern Flemish provinces. In medieval contexts, the original "County of Flanders" stretched around AD 900 from the Strait of Dover to the Scheldt estuary and expanded from there; this county still corresponds with the modern-day Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders, along with neighbouring parts of France and the Netherlands.
Although this original meaning is still relevant, during the 19th and 20th centuries it became commonplace to use the term "Flanders" to refer to the entire Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, stretching all the way to the River Meuse, as well as cultural movements such as Flemish art. In accordance with late 20th century Belgian state reforms the Belgian part of this area was made into two political entities: the "Flemish Community" and the "Flemish Region"; these entities were merged, although geographically the Flemish Community, which has a broader cultural mandate, covers Brussels, whereas the Flemish Region does not. Flanders, by every definition, has figured prominently in European history since the Middle Ages. In this period, cities such as Ghent and Antwerp made it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe and weaving the wool of neighbouring lands into cloth for both domestic use and export; as a consequence, a sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, rivaling those of northern Italy.
Belgium was one of the centres of the 19th century industrial revolution but Flanders was at first overtaken by French-speaking Wallonia. In the second half of the 20th century, due to massive national investments in port infrastructures, Flanders' economy modernised and today Flanders and Brussels are more wealthy than Wallonia and in general one of the wealthiest regions in Europe and the world. Geographically, Flanders is flat, has a small section of coast on the North Sea. Much of Flanders is agriculturally fertile and densely populated, with a population density of 500 people per square kilometer, it touches France to the west near the coast, borders the Netherlands to the north and east, Wallonia to the south. The Brussels Capital Region is an bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. Flanders has exclaves of its own: Voeren in the east is between Wallonia and the Netherlands and Baarle-Hertog in the north consists of 22 exclaves surrounded by the Netherlands; the term "Flanders" has several main modern meanings: The "Flemish community" or "Flemish nation", i.e. the social and linguistic, scientific and educational and political community of the Flemings.
It comprises 6.5 million Belgians. The political subdivisions of Belgium: the Flemish Region and the Flemish Community; the first does not comprise Brussels, whereas the latter does comprise the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of Brussels. The political institutions that govern both subdivisions: the operative body "Flemish Government" and the legislative organ "Flemish Parliament"; the two westernmost provinces of the Flemish Region, West Flanders and East Flanders, forming the central portion of the historic County of Flanders. An ancien régime territory that existed from the 8th century until its absorption by the French First Republic; until the 1600s, this county extended over parts of what are now France and the Netherlands. One of the Flemish regions which are now part of France, in the Nord department; this is referred to as French Flanders, can be divided into two smaller regions: Walloon Flanders and Maritime Flanders. The first region was predominantly French-speaking in the 1600s, the latter became so in the 20th century.
The city of Lille identifies itself as "Flemish", this is reflected, for instance, in the name of its local railway station TGV Lille Flandres. The Flemish region which became part of the Dutch Republic, now part of the Dutch province of Zeeland; the significance of the County of Flanders and its counts eroded through time, but the designation remained in a broad sense. In the Early modern period, the term Flanders was associated with the southern part of the Low Countries: the Southern Netherlands. During the 19th and 20th centuries, it became commonplace to refer to the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium as "Flanders"; the linguistic limit between French and Dutch was recorded in the early'60's, from Kortrijk to Maastricht. Now, Flanders extends over the northern part of Belgium, including Belgian Limburg (corresponding to t
Benedictines
The Benedictines the Order of Saint Benedict, are a monastic Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. They are sometimes called the Black Monks, in reference to the colour of the members' religious habits. Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy but are instead organised as a collection of independent monastic communities, with each community within the order maintaining its own autonomy. Unlike other religious orders, the Benedictines do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction. Instead, the order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation, an organisation, set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests; the monastery at Subiaco in Italy, established by Saint Benedict of Nursia c. 529, was the first of the dozen monasteries he founded. He founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino. There is no evidence, that he intended to found an order and the Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes the autonomy of each community.
When Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, it seems probable that this constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism. It was from the monastery of St. Andrew in Rome that Augustine, the prior, his forty companions set forth in 595 on their mission for the evangelization of England. At various stopping places during the journey, the monks left behind them traditions concerning their rule and form of life, also some copies of the Rule. Lérins Abbey, for instance, founded by Honoratus in 375 received its first knowledge of the Benedictine Rule from the visit of St. Augustine and his companions in 596. Gregory of Tours says that at Ainay Abbey, in the sixth century, the monks "followed the rules of Basil, Cassian and other fathers and using whatever seemed proper to the conditions of time and place", doubtless the same liberty was taken with the Benedictine Rule when it reached them. In Gaul and Switzerland, it supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced by Columbanus and others.
In many monasteries it entirely displaced the earlier codes. By the ninth century, the Benedictine had become the standard form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland and Ireland, where the Celtic observance still prevailed for another century or two. Through the work of Benedict of Aniane, it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire. Monastic scriptoria flourished from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium; as a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole active work. An anonymous writer of the ninth or tenth century speaks of six hours a day as the usual task of a scribe, which would absorb all the time available for active work in the day of a medieval monk. In the Middle Ages monasteries were founded by the nobility. Cluny Abbey was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine in 910; the abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of St. Benedict.
The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, through appointed priors. One of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 by Romuald, who founded the Camaldolese community; the dominance of the Benedictine monastic way of life began to decline towards the end of the twelfth century, which saw the rise of the Franciscans and Dominicans. Benedictines took a fourth vow of "stability". Not being bound by location, the mendicants were better able to respond to an "urban" environment; this decline was further exacerbated by the practice of appointing a commendatory abbot, a lay person, appointed by a noble to oversee and to protect the goods of the monastery. Oftentimes, this resulted in the appropriation of the assets of monasteries at the expense of the community which they were intended to support; the English Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations. Augustine of Canterbury and his monks established the first English Benedictine monastery at Canterbury soon after their arrival in 597.
Other foundations followed. Through the influence of Wilfrid, Benedict Biscop, Dunstan, the Benedictine Rule spread with extraordinary rapidity, in the North it was adopted in most of the monasteries, founded by the Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, no fewer than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Monasteries served as places of refuge for the weak and homeless; the monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of the sick. Germany was evangelized by English Benedictines. Willibrord and Boniface preached there in the seventh and eighth centuries and founded several abbeys. In the English Reformation, all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing their Catholic members to flee into exile on the Continent. During the 19th century they were able to return to England, including to Selby Abbey in Yorkshire, one of the few great monastic churches to survive the Dissolution.
St. Mildred's Priory, on the Isle of Thanet, was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by the daughter of the first Christian King of Kent; the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Five of
Abbey of Saint-Étienne, Caen
The Abbey of Saint-Étienne known as Abbaye aux Hommes by contrast with the Abbaye aux Dames, is a former Benedictine monastery in the French city of Caen, dedicated to Saint Stephen. It was founded in 1063 by William the Conqueror and is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Normandy; the concurrent founding of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne to the West of the Caen Castle and the Abbey of Sainte-Trinité to its East seems to be a direct result of the reconciliation process of William, Duke of Normandy, Pope Leo IX. William fell out with the pope when he married his cousin Matilda of Flanders after 1049 despite Leo's interdiction. Lanfranc of Pavia, Prior of Bec Abbey, who himself had expressed concerns regarding the marriage, acted on William's behalf to secure Leo's forgiveness. For this successful service, Lanfranc was made abbot of Saint-Étienne. William's wife Matilda was buried in the Abbaye aux Dames. After his own death in 1087 in Rouen, the body of King William was sent to Caen to be buried in Saint-Étienne, according to his wishes.
The funeral, attended by the bishops and abbots of Normandy as well as his son Henry, was disturbed by the assertion of a citizen of Caen who alleged that his family had been illegally despoiled of the land on which the church was built. After hurried consultations the allegation was shown to be true, the man was compensated. A further indignity occurred; the corpse was too large for the space, when attendants forced the body into the tomb it burst, spreading a disgusting odour throughout the church. William's tomb has been disturbed several times since 1087, the first time in 1522 when the grave was opened on orders from the papacy; the intact body was restored to the tomb at that time. In 1562, during the French Wars of Religion, the grave was again opened and the original tombstone of black marble, similar to that of Matilda in the Abbaye aux Dames, was destroyed. William's bones were lost, with the exception of one thigh bone; this lone relic was reburied in 1642 with a new marker, replaced 100 years with a more elaborate monument.
This tomb was again destroyed during the French Revolution, but was replaced with the current early 19th century marker in white marble. The abbey was to be built in Caen stone, construction began in 1066. For many decades during the 11th century, there was a mutually fruitful competition between Saint-Étienne and its sister building Sainte-Trinité. An important feature added to both churches in about 1120 was the ribbed vault, used for the first time in France; the two abbey churches are considered forerunners of the Gothic. The original Romanesque apse was replaced in 1166 by an early Gothic chevet, complete with rosette windows and flying buttresses. Nine towers and spires were added in the 13th century; the interior vaulting shows a similar progression, beginning with early sexpartite vaulting in the nave and progressing to quadripartite vaults in the sanctuary. As a consequence of the Wars of Religion, the high lantern tower in the middle of the church collapsed and was never rebuilt; the Benedictine abbey was suppressed during the French Revolution and the abbey church became a parish church.
From 1804 to 1961, the abbey buildings accommodated the Lycée Malherbe. During the Normandy Landings, inhabitants of Caen found refuge in the church. Conant, Kenneth J. Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture: 800 to 1200. Yale University Press. 1993. ISBN 978-0-300-05298-5. Bouet, Georges, 1868: Analyse architecturale de l'abbaye de Saint-Etienne de Caen. Caen: Le Blanc-Hardel Davy, R. 1954: Le grand orgue de L'Abbaye aux Hommes à Caen. Caen: Caron Gouhier, P. Fortier, J. A. 1974: L'Abbaye aux Hommes: Saint-Etienne de Caen. Nancy: Cefag Hippeau, Célestin, 1855: L'Abbaye de Saint-Étienne de Caen, 1066-1790. Caen: A. Hardel Decauville Lachênée, Abel, 1895: Le Lycée et l'Abbaye de St-Étienne de Caen. Caen: Chez tous les libraires Sauvage, R. N. 1911: Le Fonds de l'abbaye de Saint-Étienne de Caen aux archives du Calvados. Caen: H. Delesques French Romanesque architecture Visiting information
Normandy
Normandy is one of the 18 regions of France referring to the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy is divided into five administrative departments: Calvados, Manche and Seine-Maritime, it covers 30,627 square kilometres, comprising 5% of the territory of metropolitan France. Its population of 3.37 million accounts for around 5% of the population of France. The inhabitants of Normandy are known as Normans, the region is the historic homeland of the Norman language; the historical region of Normandy comprised the present-day region of Normandy, as well as small areas now part of the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe. The Channel Islands are historically part of Normandy. Normandy's name comes from the settlement of the territory by Danish and Norwegian Vikings from the 9th century, confirmed by treaty in the 10th century between King Charles III of France and the Viking jarl Rollo. For a century and a half following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by Norman and Frankish rulers.
Archaeological finds, such as cave paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Celts invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th to the 3rd century BC; when Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there were nine different Celtic tribes living in Normandy. The Romanisation of Normandy was achieved by the usual methods: Roman roads and a policy of urbanisation. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy. In the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates. Christianity began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east; as early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis. Vikings started to raid the Seine valley during the middle of the 9th century; as early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, the principal route by which they entered the kingdom. After attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagne's empire to take northern France.
The fiefdom of Normandy was created for Rollo. Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo gained the territory which he and his Viking allies had conquered; the name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking origins. To this day, in Norwegian language the word nordmann denotes a Norwegian person; the descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance language and intermarried with the area's native Gallo-Roman inhabitants. They became the Normans – a Norman-speaking mixture of Norsemen and indigenous Franks and Romans. Rollo's descendant William became king of England in 1066 after defeating Harold Godwinson, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, at the Battle of Hastings, while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants. Besides the conquest of England and the subsequent subjugation of Wales and Ireland, the Normans expanded into other areas.
Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the conquest of southern Italy and the Crusades. The Drengot lineage, de Hauteville's sons William Iron Arm and Humphrey, Robert Guiscard and Roger the Great Count progressively claimed territories in southern Italy until founding the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130, they carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor and the Holy Land. The 14th-century explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands in 1404, he received the title King of the Canary Islands from Pope Innocent VII but recognized Henry III of Castile as his overlord, who had provided him aid during the conquest. In 1204, during the reign of John Lackland, mainland Normandy was taken from England by France under King Philip II. Insular Normandy remained however under English control. In 1259, Henry III of England recognized the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under the Treaty of Paris.
His successors, however fought to regain control of their ancient fiefdom. The Charte aux Normands granted by Louis X of France in 1315 – like the analogous Magna Carta granted in England in the aftermath of 1204 – guaranteed the liberties and privileges of the province of Normandy. French Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years' War in 1345–1360 and again in 1415–1450. Normandy lost three-quarters of its population during the war. Afterward prosperity returned to Normandy until the Wars of Religion; when many Norman towns joined the Protestant Reformation, battles ensued throughout the province. In the Channel Islands, a period of Calvinism following the Reformation was suppressed when Anglicanism was imposed following the English Civil War. Samuel de Champlain founded Acadia. Four years
Pope Alexander II
Pope Alexander II, born Anselm of Baggio, was pope from 30 September 1061 to his death in 1073. Born in Milan, Anselm was involved in the Pataria reform movement. Elected according to the terms of his predecessor's bull, In nomine Domini, Anselm's was the first election by the cardinals without the participation of the people and minor clergy of Rome. Anselm was born in a town near Milan from 1923 district of the city, of a noble family. Contemporary sources do not provide any information, it was traditionally believed that Anselm de Baggio studied under Lanfranc at Bec Abbey, modern historiography rejects such possibility. He was one of the founders of the Pataria, a movement in the Archdiocese of Milan, aimed at reforming the clergy and ecclesiastic government in the province and supportive of Papal sanctions against simony and clerical marriage, they contested the ancient rights of the cathedral clergy of Milan and supported the Gregorian reforms. Anselm was one of four "upright and honest" priests suggested to succeed Ariberto da Intimiano as prince bishop of Milan.
When Emperor Henry III chose instead the more worldly Guido da Velate, protests followed. In order to silence a vocal critic, Bishop Guido sent Anselm to the Imperial Court; the emperor named Anselm bishop of Lucca. As bishop, he was an energetic coadjutor with Hildebrand of Sovana in endeavouring to suppress simony and enforce clerical celibacy. So bad was the state of things at Milan, that benefices were bought and sold, the clergy publicly married the women with whom they lived. With the increased prestige of his office, he reappeared twice in Milan as legate of the Holy See, in 1057 in the company of Hildebrand, in 1059 with Peter Damian. In the papal election of 1061 following the death of Pope Nicholas II, Anselmo de Baggio of Lucca was elected as Pope Alexander II. Unlike previous papal elections, the assent of the Holy Roman Emperor to the election was not sought, cardinal bishops were the sole electors of the pope for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church; the bull removed the control held by the Roman metropolitan church over the election of the pontiff.
The new Pope Alexander II was crowned at nightfall on October 1, 1061 in San Pietro in Vincoli Basilica, because opposition to the election made a coronation in St. Peter's Basilica impossible, the German court nominated another candidate, bishop of Parma, proclaimed Pope at the council of Basel under the name of Honorius II, he marched for a long time threatened his rival's position. At length, Honorius was deposed by a council held at Mantua. In 1065, Pope Alexander II wrote to Béranger, Viscount of Narbonne, to Guifred, bishop of the city, praising them for having prevented the massacre of the Jews in their district, reminding them that God does not approve of the shedding of innocent blood; that same year, he admonished Landulf VI of Benevento "that the conversion of Jews is not to be obtained by force." In the same year, Alexander called for the Crusade of Barbastro against the Moors in Spain. Alexander II issued orders to the Bishops of Narbonne, instructing crusaders en route "that you protect the Jews who live among you, so that they may not be killed by those who are setting out for Spain against the Saracens... for the situation of the Jews is different from that of the Saracens.
One may justly fight against those who persecute Christians and drive them from their towns and their own homes." In 1066, he entertained an embassy from William, Duke of Normandy, after his successful invasion of Brittany. The embassy had been sent to obtain his blessing for William's prospective invasion of Anglo-Saxon England. Alexander gave it, along with a papal ring, the Standard of St. George, an edict to the autonomous Old English clergy guiding them to submit to the new regime; these favors were instrumental in the submission of the English church following the Battle of Hastings. Count Eustace carried his papal insignia, a gonfanon with three tails charged with a cross, which William of Poitiers says was given to William I to signify the pope's blessing of his invasion to secure a submission to Rome. Alexander elevated his former teacher, Lanfranc of Bec, to the See of Canterbury and appointed him Primate of England. In 1068, Emperor Henry IV attempted to divorce Bertha of Savoy; the Papal legate Peter Damian hinted that any further insistence towards divorce would lead the Pope to deny his coronation.
Henry obeyed and his wife, who had retired to Lorsch Abbey returned to Court. In 1072 Alexander commanded the reluctant Polish priest Stanislaus of Szczepanów to accept appointment as Bishop of Kraków - becoming one of the earliest native Polish bishops; this turned out to be a significant decision for the Polish Church: once appointed, Stanislaus was a assertive bishop who got into conflict with Polish king Bolesław II the Bold, was assassinated by him and was canonized and venerated as a major Polish saint. Alexander II oversaw the suppression of the "Alleluia" during the Latin Church's celebration of Lent; this is followed to this day. List of Catholic saints List of papal elections List of popes This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed.. "Pope Alexander II". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Ro
Duchy of Normandy
The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III of West Francia and Rollo, leader of the Vikings. The duchy was named for the Normans. From 1066 until 1204 it was held by the kings of England, except for the brief rule of Robert Curthose, eldest son of William the Conqueror but unsuccessful claimant to the English throne. In 1202, Philip II of France declared Normandy forfeit to him and seized it by force of arms in 1204, it remained disputed territory until the Treaty of Paris of 1259, when the English sovereign ceded his claim except for the Channel Islands. In the Kingdom of France, the duchy was set apart as an apanage to be ruled by a member of the royal family. After 1469, however, it was permanently united to the royal domain, although the title was conferred as an honorific upon junior members of the royal family; the last French duke of Normandy in this sense was Louis-Charles, duke from 1785 to 1789. The first Viking raid on the region took place in 820.
By 911, the area had been raided many times and there were small Viking settlements on the lower Seine. The text of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte has not survived, it is only known through the historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin, writing a century after the event. The exact date of the treaty is unknown, but it was in the autumn of 911. By the agreement, Charles III, king of the West Franks, granted to the Viking leader Rollo some lands along the lower Seine that were already under Danish control. Whether Rollo himself was a Dane or a Norwegian is not known. For his part, Rollo agreed to defend the territory from other Vikings and that he and his men would convert to Christianity; the territory ceded to Rollo comprised the pagi of the Caux, Évrecin and Talou. This was territory known as the county of Rouen, which would become Upper Normandy. A royal diploma of 918 confirms the donation of 911. There is no evidence that Rollo owed any service or oath to the king for his lands, nor that there were any legal means for the king to take them back: they were granted outright.
Rollo does not seem to have been created a count or given comital authority, but sagas refer to him as Rúðujarl. In 924, King Radulf extended Rollo's county westward up to the river Vire, including the Bessin, where some Danes from England had settled not long before. In 933, King Radulf granted the Avranchin and Cotentin to Rollo's son and successor, William Longsword; these areas had been under Breton rule. The northern Cotentin had been settled by Norwegians coming from the region of the Irish Sea. There was much hostility between these Norwegian settlers and their new Danish overlords; these expansions brought the boundaries of Normandy in line with those of the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. The Norman polity had to contend with the Frankish and Breton systems of power that existed in Normandy. In the early 10th century, Normandy was not a monetary unit. According to many academics, "the formation of a new aristocracy, monastic reform, episcopal revival, written bureaucracy, saints’ cults – with different timelines" were as important if not more than the ducal narrative espoused by Dudo.
The formation of the Norman state coincided with the creation of an origin myth for the Norman ducal family through Dudo, such as Rollo being compared to a "good pagan" like the Trojan hero Aeneas. Through this narrative, the Normans were assimilated closer to the Frankish core as they moved away from their pagan Scandinavian origins. There were two distinct patterns of Norse settlement in the duchy. In the Danish area in the Roumois and the Caux, settlers intermingled with the indigenous Gallo-Romance-speaking population. Rollo shared out the large estates with his companions and gave agricultural land to his other followers. Danish settlers cleared their own land to farm it, there was no segregation of populations. In the northern Cotentin on the other hand, the population was purely Norwegian. Coastal features bore Norse names as did the three pagi of Haga and Helganes; the Norwegians may have set up a þing, an assembly of all free men, whose meeting place may be preserved in the name of Le Tingland.
Within a few generations of the founding of Normandy in 911, the Scandinavian settlers had intermarried with the natives and adopted much of their culture. But in 911, Normandy was not a monetary unit. Frankish culture remained dominant and according to some scholars, 10th century Normandy was characterized by a diverse Scandinavian population interacting with the "local Frankish matrix" that existed in the region. In the end, the Normans stressed assimilation with the local population. In the 11th century, the anonymous author of the Miracles of Saint Wulfram referred to the formation of a Norman identity as "shaping all races into one single people". According to some historians, the idea of "Norman" as a political identity was a deliberate creation of the court of Richard I in the 960s as a way to "to create a powerful if rather incoherent sense of group solidarity to galvanize the duchy's disparate elites around the duke". Starting with Rollo, Normandy was ruled by an long-lived Viking dynasty.
Illegitimacy was not a bar to succession and three of the first six rulers of Normandy were illegitimate sons of concubines. Rollo's successor, William Longsword managed in expanding his domain and came into co
Stigand
Stigand was an Anglo-Saxon churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England who became Archbishop of Canterbury. His birth date is unknown, he was named Bishop of Elmham in 1043, was Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of Canterbury. Stigand was an advisor to several members of the Anglo-Saxon and Norman English royal dynasties, serving six successive kings. Excommunicated by several popes for his pluralism in holding the two sees, or bishoprics, of Winchester and Canterbury concurrently, he was deposed in 1070, his estates and personal wealth were confiscated by William the Conqueror. Stigand was imprisoned at Winchester. Stigand served King Cnut as a chaplain at a royal foundation at Ashingdon in 1020, as an advisor and later, he continued in his role of advisor during the reigns of Cnut's sons, Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut. When Cnut's stepson Edward the Confessor succeeded Harthacnut, Stigand in all probability became England's main administrator. Monastic writers of the time accused Stigand of extorting money and lands from the church, by 1066 the only estates richer than Stigand's were the royal estates and those of Harold Godwinson.
In 1043 Edward appointed. Four years he was appointed to the see of Winchester, in 1052 to the archdiocese of Canterbury, which Stigand held jointly with Winchester. Five successive popes, including Nicholas II and Alexander II, excommunicated Stigand for holding both Winchester and Canterbury. Stigand was present at the deathbed of King Edward and at the coronation of Harold Godwinson as king of England in 1066. After Harold's death, Stigand submitted to William the Conqueror. On Christmas Day 1066 Ealdred, the Archbishop of York, crowned William King of England. Stigand's excommunication meant. Despite growing pressure for his deposition, Stigand continued to attend the royal court and to consecrate bishops, until in 1070 he was deposed by papal legates and imprisoned at Winchester, his intransigence towards the papacy was used as propaganda by Norman advocates of the view that the English church was backward and needed reform. Neither the year nor the date of Stigand's birth is known, he was born in East Anglia in Norwich, to an prosperous family of mixed English and Scandinavian ancestry, as is shown by the fact that Stigand's name was Norse but his brother's was English.
His brother Æthelmær a cleric succeeded Stigand as bishop of Elmham. His sister held land in Norwich. Stigand first appears in the historical record in 1020 as a royal chaplain to King Cnut of England. In that year he was appointed to Cnut's church at Ashingdon, or Assandun, dedicated by the reforming bishop Wulfstan of York. Little is known of Stigand's life during Cnut's reign, but he must have had a place at the royal court, as he witnessed occasional charters. Following Cnut's death Stigand successively served Harold Harefoot and Harthacnut. After Harthacnut died Stigand became an advisor to Emma of Normandy, Cnut's widow and the mother of Harthacnut and his successor Edward the Confessor, he may have been Emma's chaplain, it is possible that Stigand was one of her advisors while Cnut was alive, that he owed his position at Ashingdon to Emma's influence and favour. Because little is known of Stigand's activities before his appointment as a bishop, it is difficult to determine to whom he owed his position.
Stigand was appointed to the see of Elmham shortly after Edward the Confessor's coronation on 3 April 1043 on Emma's advice. This was the first episcopal appointment of Edward's reign; the diocese of Elmham covered East Anglia in eastern England, was one of the poorer episcopal sees at that time. He was consecrated bishop in 1043, but that year Edward deposed Stigand and deprived him of his wealth. During the next year, Edward returned Stigand to office; the reasons for the deposition are unknown, but it was connected to the simultaneous fall from power of the dowager queen, Emma. Some sources state that Emma had invited King Magnus I of Norway, a rival claimant to the English throne, to invade England and had offered her personal wealth to aid Magnus; some suspected that Stigand had urged Emma to support Magnus, claimed that his deposition was because of this. Contributing factors in Emma and Stigand's fall included Emma's wealth, dislike of her political influence, linked to the reign of the unpopular Harthacnut.
By 1046 Stigand had begun to witness charters of Edward the Confessor, showing that he was once again in royal favour. In 1047 Stigand was translated to the see of Winchester, but he retained Elmham until 1052, he may have owed the preferment to Earl Godwin of Wessex, the father-in-law of King Edward, although, disputed by some historians. Emma, who had retired to Winchester after regaining Edward's favour, may have influenced the appointment, either alone or in concert with Godwin. After his appointment to Winchester, Stigand was a witness to all the surviving charters of King Edward during the period 1047 to 1052; some historians, such as Frank Barlow and Emma Mason, state that Stigand supported Earl Godwin in his quarrel with Edward the Confessor in 1051–1052. Stigand, whether or not he was a supporter of Godwin's, did not go into exile with the earl; the quarrel started over a fight between Eustace of Boulogne, brother-in-law of the king, men of the town of Dover. The king ordered Godwin to punish the town, the earl refused.
Continued pres
.jpg)
Birt, Henry Norbert (1910). . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Birt, Henry Norbert (1910). 