NORMANS By, Maria Thomas

INTRODUCTION  The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a reign in northern France.  They were descended from the Vikings.  Their identity emerged in the first half of the tenth century.  They played a major political, military and cultural role in Europe.  The Normans lived in wattle and daub huts with thatched straw roofs.  They ate anything they could grow or hunt.  Their clothes were made from animals.  They travelled by boat, horseback or on carts pulled by cattle.

The origin of the Normans  At the beginning of the tenth century, the French King, Charles had given some land in the North of France to a Viking chief named Rollo. He hoped that by giving the Vikings their own land in France they would stop attacking France.  The land became known as Northman Nia, the land of the North men. It was later shortened to Normandy. The Vikings intermarried with the French and by the year 1000, they were no longer Viking pagans, but French speaking Christians.  In the year 1030 a group of Normans conquered land in Italy. By 1099 they had taken over most of Southern Italy.  Although the Normans are best remembered for their military achievements, they also showed remarkable skill in government especially in Italy.

Conquest of England  Battle of Hastings: After the last Anglo-Saxon king died in England, several people claimed the throne. William, Duke of Normandy was also a vassal of the king of France. He had a very strong feudal organization in northern France. His vassals included nearly all the Norman nobles. He had no trouble putting together a huge army of 6000 men, along with several hundred ships. He invaded England, and at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William defeated another rival for the throne. He was crowned king of England.  The Great Council: William set up a council of Norman nobles and bishops. He called it the Great Council. The council's job was to help him rule effectively. The Great Council grew to become an important part of government. By the 1200's, the Great Council was called Parliament. It is still called Parliament today.

Invasion of Ireland The Norman invasion of Ireland was a two-stage process, which began on 1 May 1169 when a force of loosely associated Norman knights landed near Bannow, County Wexford at the request of Diarmait Mac Murchada, the ousted King of Leinster, who sought their help in regaining his kingdom. On 18 October 1171, Henry II landed with a large fleet at Waterford, becoming the first King of England to set foot on Irish soil. This would mark the beginning of English and later British rule in Ireland. Both Waterford and Dublin were proclaimed Royal Cities. In November Henry accepted the submission of the Irish kings in Dublin. In 1172 Henry arranged for the Irish bishops to attend the Synod of Cashel and to run the Irish Church in the same manner as the Church in England. Henry was happily acknowledged by most of the Irish Kings, who saw in him a chance to curb the expansion of both Leinster and the Normans. After the Norman invasion of 1171, Ireland was under an alternating level of control from Norman lords and the King of England.

Impact of invasion in Ireland  The Norman invasion resulted in the founding of walled borough towns, numerous castles and churches, the importing of tenants and the increase in agriculture and commerce; these were among the many permanent changes brought by the Norman invasion and occupation of Ireland. Normans altered Gaelic society with efficient land use. Feudalism never caught on in large parts of Ireland, but it was an attempt to introduce cash payments into farming, which was entirely based on barter. Some Normans living further from Dublin and the east coast adopted the Irish language and customs, and intermarried, and the Irish themselves also became "Normanised". Many Irish people today bear Norman-derived surnames such as Burke, Roche and Power.  The system of counties was introduced from Towns were perhaps the Normans' greatest contribution. Starting with Dublin in 1192, royal charters were issued to foster trade and to give extra rights to townspeople.  The Normans introduced Henry II's reforms including new concepts such as prisons for criminals.

The Norman decline  The Normans suffered from a series of events in the 1300s that slowed, and eventually ceased, the spread of their settlement and power. Firstly, numerous rebellious attacks were launched by Gaelic lords upon the English lordships. A lack of direction from both Henry III and his successor Edward I meant that the Norman colonists in Ireland were to a large extent deprived of financial support from the English monarchy. This limited their ability to hold territory. Furthermore, the Normans' position deteriorated due to divisions within their own ranks. These caused outright war between leading Norman lords. Finally, the division of estates among heirs split Norman lordships into smaller, less formidable units.  Norman Ireland was deeply shaken by four events in the 14th century: 1. The first was the invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce of Scotland in The European famine of 1315–17 affected Ireland as well. The Irish ports were unable to import wheat and other crops, or other foods, as none were available to buy. This was compounded by widespread crop burnings during the Bruce Invasion. 3. The murder of William Don de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster in June The Black death which arrived in Ireland in Because most of the English and Norman inhabitants of Ireland lived in towns and villages, the plague hit them far harder than it did the native Irish, who lived in more dispersed rural settlements.

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