The dynasty was founded by the Norwegian Viking Rollo, who received from the French king in 911 the territory of Normandy, which later became the duchy. As a result of the conquest of England by the duke William in 1066, the Kingdom of England passed under the authority of the Norman dynasty. The last representative of the male dynasty, Henry I, died in 1135 , he was succeeded by his nephew Stephen of Blois, also sometimes attributed to the Norman dynasty. After the death of King Stephen in 1154, the Plantagenet dynasty established itself on the thrones of England and Normandy.
History
On the question of the origin of Rollo, the founder of the Norman dynasty, medieval historians differ greatly. According to Dudo of Saint-Kantensky and Guillaume of Jumiege, Rollo came from a noble Danish family and was forced to flee from Denmark after the death of his father.
The Scandinavian sagas, first of all the Orcheans Saga, testify to the Norwegian roots of the first ruler of Normandy. The dispute between supporters of the Danish and Norwegian theories continued until the 20th century and has not been finally resolved to date. Nonetheless, most modern historians will be confronted with the version outlined in the Orgney saga and the sagas recorded by Snorri Sturluson. In accordance with this theory, Rollo’s father was Rögnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of Møre, a small early-state entity on the west coast of Norway between Trondheim and Bergen.
In the 860s, Møre was conquered by the king of Norway, Harald Fairhair. Numerous and restless local nobility, not finding a use in the framework of a single Norwegian state, rushed to the west, raiding the coast of Western Europe and colonizing new territories. Jarl Rögnvald managed to gain a foothold on the Orkney and Shetland Islands, where he founded the autonomous county of Orkney under the supreme sovereignty of the King of Norway. One of the sons of Rögnvald, Einar Rögnvaldsson became the founder of the line of Yarl of the Orkney Islands, which dominated the extreme north of the British Isles until the XII century.
Another son, Hrolf (or Rolf) “Pedestrian”, led a large detachment of Danish-Norwegian Vikings, who from 886 began to systematically destroy the French lands in the lower reaches of the Seine, sometimes moving inland and reaching Paris. In France, the name is pronounced Hrolfa Rollo.
In 911, King Charles III Prostatov, not having the strength to fight the Vikings, entered into a contract with Rollo, under which the latter received the coast of the Seine with the center in Rouen (modern Upper Normandy). This agreement laid the foundations of the Duchy of Normandy, which became the hereditary possession of Rollo and his descendants.
Normandy
The state, founded by Rollo in Normandy, had a dual nature from the very beginning: Scandinavian traditions were adjacent to Frankish institutions. Gradually, however, Scandinavian influence in all spheres of life declined, giving way to French culture and feudal relations. Nevertheless, representatives of the Norman dynasty for a long time preserved the customs of the Norman marriage law that went against church norms (the dukes of Normandy often married without a wedding and during the life of the previous spouse) and the practice of conferring two names on children – Scandinavian and Frankish. So, Rollo in relations with the outside world and the clergy used the name Robert (I), and his daughter Gerlock was simultaneously called Adela.
During the reign of Rollo’s son, William the Longsword, Normandy was actively introduced into the Frankish state traditions, and by the end of the 10th century, the Danish and Norwegian languages were almost completely driven out of French use.
To enhance the influence of the Norman dynasty, the successive marriages of Emma of Normandy, the daughter of Duke Richard I, with two English kings, Ethelred II and Knud the Great, were of great importance.
Edward the Confessor, the son of Emma and Ethelred, was brought up at the Norman court, and after assuming the English throne in 1042, he contributed to the Anglo-Norman rapprochement and even appointed Duke William the Illegitimate as his heir. Wilhelm succeeded in creating an effective state administration in Normandy and mobilized the country’s forces to invade England after the death of Edward the Confessor. As a result of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the Norman dynasty established itself on the English royal throne.
England
After the conquest of England, the thrones of Normandy and England were united under the rule of King William I. An Anglo-Norman monarchy was created, combining Anglo-Saxon and French-Norman institutions and characterized by a strong royal power and an extensive central administration.
However, after the death of William the Conqueror, in 1087, the state collapsed: the eldest son of William I Robert III Curthose became the Duke of Normandy, and the middle son of Wilhelm II Rufus became king of England. The struggle to restore the unity of the monarchy between the children of the Conqueror continued until 1106, when, as a result of the defeat of Robert III, Normandy was conquered by the English king Henry I, the youngest son of William I.
Henry I succeeded in significantly strengthening the Anglo-Norman state, and through marriage with Matilda of Scotland, the great-granddaughter of Anglo-Saxon King Edmund II, he legitimized the rights of the Norman dynasty to the English throne.
Although William the Conqueror left behind three sons, their offspring was soon suppressed: the only son of Robert III Wilhelm Clito died in 1128, King William II had no children, and the son of Henry I Wilhelm Adelin drowned in 1120 during the collapse of the White Ship. As a result, after the death of King Henry I in 1134, not a single descendant of William the Conqueror was left in a straight line.
In the country, a struggle developed between the daughter of Henry I, Empress Matilda, and his sister’s son Stephan of Blois. Although Stefan won, his position in the country was seriously undermined during the years of civil war. The threat from the husband of Matilda Geoffrey Plantagenet, the Count of Anjou, who invaded Normandy, also increased. Shortly before his death, King Stephen recognized Plantagenet’s son Geoffrey and Matilda to be his heir. In 1154, Henry II was crowned king of England, thus establishing the Plantagenet dynasty on the English throne.
The side branches of the Normandy dynasty were the descendants of the illegitimate children of the Norman and English monarchs of this house: the lines of the Counts of Evreux in Normandy, the powerful English aristocratic surname de Claire, as well as Count Robert of Gloucester and his sons.