The Normans in Normandy: Recent Historiography 3

Expanding horizons

The revival of rural history in the years since 1990, the exploration of written documents in terms of inventories, description, dating and typology and of critical editions of texts, for example, censuses[1] and terriers[2] has not always received the credit it deserves[3].

Recent work on the role of the Exchequer in Normandy has shown the radical transformation of fiscal administration that occurred in the duchy in the course of the 1190s and underlines the importance of this source for increasing our understanding of towns, of monetary exchange and inflation, the organisation of war and, more generally, the administrative structures of the Norman state. The absence of a modern edition of the twelfth century Norman Exchequer rolls will be remedied by the work of Vincent Moss at the University of Reading[4]. This work will provide an invaluable means for examining Norman society and the Norman state in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries allowing, for example, explanation of the functions of the Exchequer and the administrative geography of the duchy as well as stimulating research on economic and social history by identifying the eight thousand people mentions in the rolls and allowing a scientific examination of the ruling and administrative class of the duchy. On this point, there already exists a database of prosopographical and documentary evidence produced by Katharine Keats-Rohan[5] that contains 95000 names taken from Domesday Book, the Pipe rolls and nearly 5000 English charters.

The range of material that it is necessary to take into account is not unique. To say that a particular witness, such as a charter, cartulary or the workshop of a potter initially has a physical reality is not especially original save to underline the epistemological challenge facing historians of mastering particular methodological tools. From this perspective the reports of the colloquy de Cerisy in October 1999 on the Bayeux Tapestry[6] demonstrates the synthesis possible between different ways of looking at the tapestry from the interpretations elaborated by history, to those of specialists in art and languages. This applies equally well to other iconographical sources like illuminations[7] or the study of medieval inscriptions for which there is now a volume of Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale [8]dedicated to Normandy.

The resources of linguistics, in particular areas like the study of dialects and place names have been especially valuable in explaining the nature of the Scandinavian settlement in Normandy. This has highlighted the apparent paradox between the evidence from place names and the almost complete absence of archaeological evidence[9] for the Nordic colonisation of the province of Rouen and its place in the complex movements of population between Northern Europe and the France and Britain[10]. These questions were debated in a comparative perspective at two recent conferences on the maritime heritage of the Vikings in North-West Europe[11] (at Flottemanville-Hague, 30^th September-3^rd October 1999) and on the Scandinavian settlement in the West and the beginnings of the duchy of Normandy (at Cerisy-la-Salle, 25^th-29^th September 2002).

The expansion of available sources is clearly indebted to medieval archaeology. Of central importance was the path finding role played by Michel de Boüard in the blooming of this discipline, the scale of the information now available through annual reports in the scientific journals of the regional archaeological services, the accounts of excavations in Archéologie médiévale and from conferences and meetings. The archaeology of buildings has also seen an impressive number of publications especially two volumes on medieval Norman architecture recently republished with an up-to-date bibliography[12].

The confrontation of texts and archaeology has been especially fruitful in understanding the basis of power in ducal Normandy and its links to urban development. The example of Fécamp has already been recognised. Excavations at Rouen suggest a fundamental reorganisation of urban space at the end of the ninth century, perhaps comparable to the transformation that occurred at Winchester at the same time. This revision of established views has been associated by Jacques le Maho[13] with a change in the functions of the town from being a place of refuse for the mercantile and artisanal population under pressure from the Scandinavian invaders while ports were dispersed along the lower valley of the River Seine to an important expression of ducal power. The town was revitalised after it was captured by Rollo and became his capital and because it also contributed to the reunification of the Nordic settlers in Neustria. In the period between the tenth and the twelfth century, excavations show that the town became an important centre not simply for the growing Norman economy but as an important expression of a developing civil Norman architecture[14] from the reign of Richard I. Its growth was paralleled by the expansion of Caen[15] and a little later by Bayeux and Lisieux[16].

The study of Norman society cannot be concluded without taking into account the importance of castles[17]. The census of the fortified sites has been continued by department and regional archeological service and research departments such as the Centre de recherches Archéologiques et Historiques Médiévales. It was thus possible, for certain departments, like l’Orne, to suggest a comprehensive listing and classification of this mass of documentary material to explain the development of the network of castles. The results of several excavations carried out or started in the 1990s are accessible in various publications. This is the case for the castle of Domfort[18], the ‘Old Castle’ of Vatteville-la-Rue,[19] the motte of Rivray at Condé-sur-Huisne[20], at Bretoncelles[21] and Château-Gaillard aux Andelys[22]. The data collected is important in analysing methods of construction[23], the typology of castle construction and the material aspects of the everyday life at the sites[24]. The research undertaken informs the debate on the fundamental problems of the political and social history of the duchy[25]: the genesis of the castellans, the development of the great territorial domains on the southernmost borders of the duchy, like the seigneurie of Bellême[26] or the county of the Perche[27]. They also provide information on the vast subject of the occupation of the soil, the nature of dwellings and the organisation of the territory. These topics are also at the heart of the debates that have taken place on the genesis of the medieval village, an approach largely renewed by the archaeologists[28]. The 1990s saw major archaeological operations in the neighborhoods of Caen[29] on the sites of Saint-Martin de Trainecourt and at Sente, the resumption of the excavations of the deserted village of Saint-Ursin-of-Courtisigny that led to the excavations at Giberville, at Vieux-Fumé[30] in Tournedos-on-Seine and at Bouafles.

The analysis of decorated and glazed ceramics discovered in Rouen and the comparison with other batches of ceramics of the tenth and eleventh centuries found in North-West Europe, in particular in York, confirmed the importance of exchanges between the principality of Rouen and British Isles from the earliest years of ducal Normandy, already suggested by anthroponymic and toponymic data. Sites of production of ceramics already the scene of excavations has led to several publications like those devoted the work of the pottery at Roche-Mabile[31] (Orne), dating from the end of twelfth century, or papers from a conference organised in Rouen in 1994 on the ceramics of the eleventh to sixteenth centuries in Normandy, Beauvaisis and the Ile-de-France[32]. The centres of this ceramic production are known better and this is particularly the case for the workshops of Molay-Littry, where activity dates from the eleventh century[33]. It still remains necessary to specify the chronology of the development from the workshops of organised potters that can be identified in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Bessin[34], in Domfrontais and in Mortainais to the development of skilled artisans in clay[35]. The techniques used, the type of workplaces, the products and the nature of markets are of considerable interest to researchers but they also focus on the organisation of production and on the communities that contributed to the expansion of the industry. These problems that link the analysis of the data provided by archeology and by the texts also relates to other types of activities, like the iron and steel industry, for which Mathieu Arnoux[36] has underlined the importance and the diffusion of community structures of production largely anchored in the rural Norman society, which showed considerable evidence of economic vitality.

It is to be expected that this analysis of recent historiographical and bibliographical advances will quickly becomes obsolete as study of the materials relating to ducal Normandy develops. Research by Veronique Gazeau[37] on the abbots Benedictines, their manuscripts and on the liturgy[38] is a good indication of this process. As historians continue to examine different types of documents and explore the opportunities offered by electronic publication, it is to be expected that new developments will continue to emerge.

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[1] Denise Angers, Catherine Bebear and Henri Dubois, Un censier normand du XIII^e siècle. Le Livre des Jurés de l’abbaye de Saint-Ouen de Rouen, Paris, 2001

[2] Denise Angers, ‘Terriers et livres-terriers en Normandie (XIII^e-XV^e siècle)’, in Ghislain Brunel, Olivier Guyotjeannin, Jean-Marc Moriceau (eds.) Terriers et plans-terriers du XIII^e au XVIII^e siècle. Actes du Colloque de Paris (23-25 septembre 1998), Rennes-Paris, 2002, pages 19-35 and Thomas Jarry, Terriers et Plans parcellaires de Basse-Normandie (XIII^e-XVIII^e siècle), Caen, 1998

[3] See, Mathieu Arnoux and Ghislain Brunel, ‘Réflexions sur les sources médiévales de ‘histoire des campagnes’. De l’intérêt de publier les sources, de les critiquer et de les lire’, Histoire et Sociétés Rurales, volume i, 1994, pages 11-35. Édith Peytremann Archéologie de l’habitat rural dans le nord de la France du IV^e au XII^e siècle, two volumes, Caen, 2003 is especially important.

[4] Three papers by Vincent Moss are of especial value: ‘Normandy and England in 1180: The Pipe Roll Evidence’, in David Bates and Ann Curry (eds.), England and Normandy in the Middle Ages, London, Hambledon Press, 1994, pages 185-195, ‘The Norman Fiscal Revolution, 1193-98’, in M. Omrod, M. and R. Bonney (eds.), Crises, Revolution and Self Sustained Growth, Oxford, 1999, pages 38-57 and ‘The Norman Exchequer Rolls of King John’, in D. Church (ed.), King John: New Interpretations, Stephen Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1999, p. 101-116.

[5] COEL: Continental Origins of English Landholders, 1066-1166, 2002 to be found on the Internet at www.linacre.ox.ac.uk/research/prosop/dbase.stm from which two books have already appeared: K.S.B. Keats-Rohan Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 Volume I, Domesday Book, Woodbridge, 1999 and Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066- 1166 Volume II Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum, Woodbridge, 2002. See David Rolfe ‘The Continental Origins of English Landholders 1066-1166 database and the COEL Database System on CDROM’, Nottingham Medieval Studies, volume xvl, 2001, pages 234-7.

[6] Pierre Bouet, Brian Levy and François Neveux (eds.), La Tapisserie de Bayeux: l’art de broder l’histoire, Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle, octobre 1999, Caen, 2003.

[7] On this issue see, Pierre Bouet and Monique Dosdat (eds.), Manuscrits et enluminures dans le monde normand (X^e-XV^e siècle), Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle, octobre 1995, Caen, Presses Universitaires de Caen, 1999, Richard Gameson, The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (c. 1066-1130), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999 and Marie-Dominique Nobécourt, ‘L’enluminure dans les manuscrits normands vers l’An Mil, d’après les manuscrits de la Bibliothèque municipale de Rouen’, La Normandie vers l’An Mil, Rouen, Société de l’Histoire de Normandie, 2000, pages 61-70.

[8] Robert Favreau and Jean Michaud (eds.), Corpus des inscriptions de la France médiévale, volume xxii, Calvados, Eure, Manche, Orne, Seine-Maritime, Paris, 2003.

[9] A recent consideration of the issue is Anne Nissen Jaubert, ‘Some aspects of viking research in France’, in Steffen Stumann Hansen, Klaus Randsborg (eds.), Vikings in the West, Copenhagen, Munksgaard, 2000, pages 159-169, especially pages 165-169.

[10] Gillian Fellows-Jensen, ‘Les noms de lieux d’origine scandinave et la colonisation viking de la Normandie. Examen critique de la question’, Proxima Thulé, Revue d’études nordiques, volume i, 1994, pages 63-103.

[11] Elisabeth Ridel (ed.), L’Héritage maritime des Vikings en Europe de l’Ouest, Actes du colloque international de la Hague (Flottemanville-Hague, 30 septembre-3octobre 1999), Caen, 2002.

[12] L’architecture normande au Moyen Âge, published under the direction of Maylis Baylé, 2^nd ed., Presses Universitaires de Caen-Charles Corlet, 1997, 2001.

[13] The most important papers by Jacques Le Maho on Rouen are: ‘Autour d’un millénaire: l’œuvre architecturale à Rouen de Richard 1^er, duc de Normandie (996)’, Bulletin des Amis des Monuments Rouennais, October 1995-September 1996, pages 62-83; ‘Nouvelles hypothèses sur l’église Notre-Dame de Rouen au X^e siècle’, in Sylvette Lemagnen et Philippe Manneville (eds.), Chapitres et cathédrales en Normandie, Actes du XXXI^e Congrès des Sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Normandie, Annales de Normandie, Série des Congrès des Sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Normandie, Caen, II, 1997, pages 295-306; and in Philippe Manneville (ed.) ‘Les destins comparés de deux cités de fond d’estuaire: Rouen et Nantes du VI^e au X^e siècle’, in Des villes, des ports, la mer et les hommes, actes du 124e Congrès des sociétés historiques et scientifiques, Nantes, 19-26 avril 1999, Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques, 2001, pages 13-25.

[14] On civil architecture see, Bernard Gauthiez, ‘Les maisons de Rouen, XII^e-XVIII^e siècles’, Archéologie médiévale, volume xxiii, 1993, pages 131-217 and Dominique Pitte, ‘Architecture civile en pierre à Rouen du XIe au XIIIe siècle. La maison romane’, Archéologie Médiévale, volume xxiv, 1994, pages 251-299.

[15] On Caen, see Christophe Collet, Pascal Leroux and Jean-Yves Marin (eds.), Caen, cité médiévale. Bilan d’archéologie et d’histoire, Caen, 1996 and Laurence Jean-Marie, Caen aux XI^e et XII^e siècles. Espace urbain, pouvoirs et société, Caen, 2000.

[16] François Neveux, Bayeux et Lisieux Villes épiscopales de Normandie à la fin du Moyen Âge, Caen, 1996.

[17] Bruno Fajal (ed.), Autour du château médiéval, Actes des Rencontres Historiques et Archéologiques de l’Orne, Alençon, 5 avril 1997, Alençon, 1998 is a useful summary of developments. See also, Jean Flori, ‘Châteaux et forteresses aux XI^e et XII^e siècles. Étude sur le vocabulaire des historiens des ducs de Normandie’, Le Moyen Âge, volume ciii, 1997, pages 261-273

[18] Gérard Louise, ‘Châteaux et pouvoirs dans le Domfrontais médiéval (XI^e-XIII^e siècle)’, Les conférences d’histoire locale du lycée de Domfront, volume xiii, 1993, pages 11-28.

[19] Anne-Marie Flambard Hericher, ‘Le château des comtes de Meulan à Vatteville-la-Rue, étude comparative d’une demeure aristocratique normande’, Aux marches du palais, Qu’est-ce qu’un palais médiéval? VII^e congrès international d’archéologie médiévale, Le Mans-Mayenne 9, 10 et 11 sept. 1999, Le Mans, 2001, pages 213-221 and ‘La construction dans la basse vallée de la Seine: l’exemple du château de Vatteville-la-Rue (Seine-Maritime), Château-Gaillard, volume xviii, Caen, 1998, pages 93-102.

[20] Joseph Decaëns, ‘De la motte de conquête (XI^e siècle) à la seigneurie châtelaine (XII^e siècle). L’exemple de Rivray à Condé-sur-Huisne’, Château-Gaillard, volume xvi, actes du colloque international tenu à Luxembourg 23-29 août 1992, Caen, 1994, pages 109-120.

[21] Anne-Marie Flambard Hericher, Philippe Bernouis, Joseph Decaëns, ‘La Butte du Château à Bretoncelles. Un exemple de la conquête territoriale des Rotrou’, Château-Gaillard, volume xix, actes du colloque international de Graz (Austria) 22-29 août 1998, Caen, 2000, pages 75-82.

[22] Dominique Pitte, Sophie Fourny-Dargère, Paola Caldéroni (eds.), Château-Gaillard: découverte d’un patrimoine (catalogue de l’exposition, Vernon, Musée municipal A. G. Poulain, 15 novembre 1995-février 1996), Vernon, Musée municipal A. G. Poulain. 1995.

[23] There are three important papers on castle construction by Anne-Marie Flambard Hericher, ‘Méthodes de recherche archéologique sur les châteaux de terre et de bois. L’exemple de la Normandie’, IV European Symposium for teachers of medieval archaeology, volume iv, Séville-Cordoue, 29th september-2nd october 1999, Séville, 2001, pages 99-112, ‘Fortifications de terre et résidence en Norman-die’, Château Gaillard, volume xx, Actes du 20^e colloque international ‘Château Gaillard’, tenu à Gwatt (Switzerland) 2-10 septembre 2000, Caen, 2002, pages 87-100 and ‘Quelques réflexions sur le mode de construction des mottes en Normandie et sur ses marges’, in Mélanges Pierre Bouet, Caen, 2002, pages 123-132.

[24] Annie Renoux, Fécamp, du palais ducal au palais de Dieu, Bilan historique et archéologique des recherches menées sur le site du château des ducs de Normandie, II^e siècle A.C.-XVIII^e siècle P.C., Paris, C.N.R.S, 1991.

[25] Annie Renoux, ‘Palais capétiens et normands à la fin du X^e siècle et au début du XI^e siècle’, in Michel Parisse et Xavier Barral (eds.) Le Roi de France et son royaume autour de l’an Mil, actes du colloque Hugues Capet 987-1987, la France de l’an Mil, Paris-Senlis 22-25 juin 1987, Paris, 1992, pages 179-191.

[26] Gérard Louise, ‘Châteaux et frontière seigneuriale au XI^e siècle: l’exemple du Saosnois aux confins de seigneurie de Bellême et du comté du Maine’, Château Gaillard, volume xiv, 1990, pages 225-239; and La Seigneurie de Bellême X^e-XII^e siècles, dévolution des pouvoirs territoriaux et construction d’une seigneurie de frontière aux confins de la Normandie et du Maine à la charnière de l’An mil, two volumes, Flers, 1992-1993.

[27] Kathleen Thompson, Power and Border Lordship in Medieval France: The County of the Perche, 1000-1226, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2002 is the best study available in English. There are several important articles on the Perche: Joseph Decaëns, ‘Les Châteaux de la vallée de l’Huisne dans le Perche’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume xvii, 1995, pages 3-20 and ‘La motte comme moyen de conquête du sol et comme instrument de la seigneurie châtelaine (XI^e-XIII^e siècle): l’exemple de quelques châteaux à motte du Perche’, in Elisabeth Magnou-Nortier (ed.), Aux sources de la gestion publique, volume iii, Hommes de Pouvoirs, Ressources et lieux de Pouvoir (V^e-XIII^e siècle), Actes du colloque du 26 et 27 janvier 1997, Lille, 1997, pages 263-281.

[28] There are several important papers on this subject: Vincent Carpentier, ‘Un cas d’occupation du sol à l’époque carolingienne: le site du ‘Mesnil’, à Plomb’, Revue de l’Avranchin et du Pays de Granville, volume lxxvii, 2000, pages 177-18 and ‘Un habitat des XI^e-XII^e siècles dans la campagne d’Argentan (Orne)’, Archéologie médiévale, volume xxxii, 2002, pages 69-103 and Claire Hanusse, ‘L’habitat rural du haut Moyen Âge (VI^e-X^e siècle) de ‘la Sente’ à Grentheville (Calvados): premiers éléments de synthèse’, Actes du III^e Colloque Européen des Professeurs d’Archéologie Médiévale (Caen, 11-15 septembre 1996), Caen, 1999, pages 85-93.

[29] Claude Lorren, ‘Le village en Gaule du Nord pendant le haut Moyen Âge. Quelques remarques et hypothèses suscitées par l’observation des résultats des fouilles archéologiques récentes’, Actes du III^e Colloque Européen des Professeurs d’Archéologie Médiévale (Caen, 11-15 septembre 1996), Caen, 1999, pages 116-132.

[30] Vincent Hincker, Christophe Maneuvrier, Guy San Juan and Denis Thiron, ‘Des vestiges d’habitats des XI^e-XII^e et XIII^e-XV^e s. sur le site de la déviation de Vieux-Fumé (Calvados)’, Histoire et traditions populaires du canton de Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives, volume lxviii, pages 7-18 and ‘L’habitat des XI^e-XII^e siècles de Vieux-Fumé (Calvados)’, in Dominique Pitte and Brian Ayers (eds.) La maison médiévale en Normandie et en Angleterre, Actes des tables rondes de Rouen (16-17 octobre 1998) et de Norwich (16-17 avril 1999), Rouen, 2002, pages 123-130.

[31] Philippe Bernouis, Daniel Dufournier, Bruno Fajal, , ‘Un atelier de potier de la fin du XII^e siècle à la Roche-Mabile’, Revue archéologique de l’Ouest, volume x, 1993, pages 129-139.

[32] Xavier Delestre and Anne-Marie Flambard Héricher (eds), La céramique du XI^e au XVI^e siècle en Normandie, Beauvaisis, Ile-de-France, Actes de la table ronde organisée à Mont-saint-Aignan, 12 février 1994, Publications de l’Université de Rouen, 1995.

[33] Anne-Marie Flambard Héricher, ‘L’organisation de la communauté de potiers du Bessin au bas Moyen Âge’, in L’artisan au village dans l’Europe médiévale et moderne, Actes des XIX^e Journées Internationales d’Histoire de l’Abbaye de Flaran (5-7 sept 1997), Toulouse, 2001, pages 149-168.

[34] Anne-Marie Flambard Hericher, Potiers et poteries du Bessin. Histoire et archéologie d’un artisanat rural du XI^e au XX^e siècle en Normandie, Caen, 2002.

[35] On this point see, Bruno Fajal, ‘Une communauté de potiers normands du XV^e au XIX^e siècle (Manche): statuts et règlements du centre de Ger’, Histoire et Sociétés Rurales, volume x, 1998, pages 239-263.

[36] Mathieu Arnoux, Mineurs, férons et maîtres de forge. Études sur la production du fer dans la Normandie du Moyen Age, XI^e-XV^e siècle, Paris, 1993.

[37] Véronique Gazeau, Recherches sur l’histoire de la principauté normande (911-1204), I Les abbés bénédictins de la principauté normande (911-1204), II Prosopographie des abbés bénédictins (911-1204), Mémoire d’habilitation, Université de Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2002.

[38] On this point see, David Chadd, The Ordinal of the Abbey of the Holy Trinity, Fécamp (Fécamp, Musée de la Bénédictine, Ms 186), part I, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2000.

The Normans in Normandy: Recent Historiography 2

Looking at hagiography

Other places, like Rouen,[1] Fecamp[2] or Mont-Saint-Michel[3] benefited from conditions that resulted in the development of important Norman hagiographical sources. This can be seen in the publications of the colloquy of Cerisy-la-Salle on the saints in medieval Normandy[4], the case studies of the output of Saint-Wandrille[5] and of Jumièges in a volume of Beihefte der Francia on the hagiography of the high Middle Ages in northern France and the recent edition of the Gesta of the abbots of Fontenelle[6]. Three pieces produced in the Norman-Poitevan milieu that led to the revival of the abbey of Jumièges[7] were: the life of Saint Aycadre, that of Saint Hugh[8] and the Complaint of William Longsword[9]. Their importance lies in the insight they provide into the regency of Louis IV in Normandy after the assassination of William Longsword in 942 and the role played by Jumièges in the revival of historical narrative in the tenth century. It was in the period after 942 that Felice Lifshitz[10] dated the Vita Romani written by a certain Fulbert, whose identity and chronology has not been accepted uncritically by historians. If the results of this research on the life of Saint Romain are contested, it becomes even more important to pose questions about the development of Norman ‘identity’[11] and the role played by the archbishops of Rouen[12] in restoring a literary culture to the duchy of Normandy.

Examining this material poses a series of problems about the ideas that were established during the first century of the duchy’s history. First, it means ditching the notion of a ‘cultural desert’ that has traditionally been ascribed to Normandy before 1000[13]. Secondly, the paucity of history that seemed to characterise the civil and ecclesiastical elites in the duchy in the tenth century now needs substantial revision[14]. It is now evident that the first major historiographical work composed in Normandy by Dudo of Saint-Quentin was not an isolated example and considerable efforts were being made to translate oral testimony into written forms. This was clearly visible in the last decade of the tenth century at precisely the same time as there were profound changes in society and the Norman state[15]. From this standpoint, though a range of possible interpretation remains, there is ample evidence of assimilation of the Normans in the civilisation of Christian Europe and this situation led to major anxieties especially how the descendants of the Scandinavian invaders established in Neustria[16] created a clear ‘identity’.

Diplomatic sources and the ‘mutation documentaire’ of the eleventh century

Historical writing was not simply the domain of chroniclers[17]. David Bates has underlined the fact that several of the great Norman charters of confirmation possibly resemble a sort of literary work. The two versions of the charter of donation to the collegial church of Auchy, drawn up at the end of the eleventh century, each in different ways trace the establishment of Norman domination on the frontiers of Normandy[18]. Research on the cartularies of Mont-Saint-Michel, Notre-Dame de Mortemer, Saint-Pierre de Préaux and Saint-Martin de Troarn shows that they were not only concerned with the management of the church but that there was also a temptation to use them to write or rewrite the histories of the establishments concerned. This systematic use of quite detailed charters and the systematic keeping of large charter collections[19] after c.1000 signalled what has been called a ‘documentary mutation’ rather than a tenurial or familial one. The familiarity of those writing documents with the production of history can easily be demonstrated. It is often the same individuals who produced both. The anonymous author of the Gesta of the abbots of Fontenelle was probably the monk charged with the care of the archives that he could easily have used to supplement his history. We know that Dudo of Saint-Quentin produced ducal diplomas: in one of the two original acta[20] carrying his signature, the author of De moribus et actis primorum Nomanniae ducum called himself ‘cancellarius’.

When examining documentary sources, it is necessary to recognise the continued importance of the views of Léopold Delisle expressed at the end of a lecture to the Société des Antiquaires de Normandie on 4^th December 1862, that it was essential to publish the Norman sources[21]. Echoes of this demand can be seen in the articles published in the last few years. Cassandra Potts clearly recognised this in 1992: “Outside of the corpus of ducal charters, the number of private charters available in Normandy in the eleventh century is impressive. A considerable number have been published but hundreds remain unedited in archives, in libraries and in private collections in France.” This was reinforced by David Bates at a conference on actas as an expression of power in the high Middle Ages in November 1999 when he underlined the difficulties created for the analysis of Norman documents in the eleventh century because of the large number of unedited actas.

The publication by David Bates[22], in 1998, of the actas of William the Conqueror after his conquest of England completed the work of Marie Fauroux[23] and Lucien Musset[24]. This means that there are 340 known ducal actas covering the tenth and eleventh century as far as 1087. Beyond this date, historians have to rely to the older publications of Charles Homer Haskins[25], Léopold Delisle and Elie Berger[26] or the theses of Henry Chanteux[27] and Claude Fagnen[28], respectively on the Norman acta of Henry I and Richard I. Projects to publish the acta of Robert Curthose are underway in France by Pierre Bauduin and V. Gazeau and in Britain by David Bates, Judith Green and Elisabeth Van Houts, of Henry II and Richard Cœur de Lion[29] by Nicholas Vincent and there has already been some important work published in the charters of the Empress Matilda[30] and the Young Henry[31].

The publication of other Norman diplomas is not as well advanced. The tools necessary to examine the fascicules containing sources for the history of Normandy in the Bibliothèque nationale have already been published by Michel Nortier[32]. A list of sources for a history of the ‘régime domanial’ produced by Lucien Musset in 1945[33] included tenth century Normandy but there has been little research using these sources for the early decades of the duchy. The list of eleventh century acta established by Emily-Zack Tabuteau in 1988[34], does not pretend to be exhaustive but contains 888 acta, of which forty percent remain unedited or in a large number of old publications. This gives a good idea of the scale of what remains to be accomplished[35]. Several initiatives are already underway. The last few years have seen the publication of important documents from the abbey of the Trinité de Caen[36], the establishments of the regular canons in the province of Rouen[37], the abbeys of Notre-Dame-du-Val and Val-Richer[38]. The publication of the cartularies of the abbey of Saint-Pierre de Préaux[39], of Mont-Saint-Michel[40], of the cathedral of Coutances[41], the charters of the abbey of Conches (by Claire de Haas), the cartulary of Saint-Martin de Sées[42] and Savigny[43] is imminent The letters of leading Norman and Anglo-Norman church leaders (Anselm[44], Thomas Becket[45], and Arnoul de Lisieux[46]) are now available.

Besides the gradual extension of the range of documents, one of the most significant advances has examined the production of Norman diplomas by placing the form and diversity of the practice of writing in their political, social and cultural contexts (‘mutation documentaire’). Ten years ago, Cassandra Potts[47] identified the main characteristics of the evolution of Norman charters before 1066, linking observable changes before the reign of Richard II to a breakdown of public authority and control but also to more widespread use of writing and the growth of secular involvement in the religious life of the duchy. These conclusions were strengthened by an examination of different types of diploma such as charters[48], bills, chirographs and conventiones[49]. It was believed that even if the diversification of Norman documents, especially in the second half of the eleventh century is no problematic, there was no fundamental break and the development of new types of diplomas was not accompanied by the disappearance of older forms. As far as the supposed relationship between the ‘mutation documentaire’ and social and political change is concerned, David Bates[50] has recently emphasised the difficulties in regarding charters simply as an accurate reflection of political power: the analysis needs to take into account the complex forms of power takes A major problem remains the amount of material that is still unedited[51]: for example, there is still insufficient material available on the acta of the Norman episcopacy[52]. However, in others area of the production of Norman diploma, like dating or diffusion in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries[53] there are also problems.

These advances necessitate the use of existing methods and the creation of new ways of analysing documentary sources[54]. The database of ‘diplomatic texts’ developed by ARTEM (Atelier de recherche sur les textes médiévaux) is familiar to those working on Norman acta between the eleventh and the early thirteenth century. The inventory of 5000 original acta before 1121 that exist in French archives[55] contains more than 180 acta in favour of establishments inside the duchy of Normandy as well as dependencies of Norman houses outside Normandy: Jumièges[56]: 34 actas, Saint-Ouen de Rouen: 33, Fécamp: 22, and more than 12 acta covering Saint-Etienne de Caen[57], Saint-Wandrille and Saint-Martin de Troarn[58]). The project ‘Données textuelles et production documentaire dans la Normandie médiévale’ launched in 2000 by Centre de Recherches Archéologiques et Historiques Médiévales de Caen, proposes the development of ways of working that focus research on the process of documentary production in medieval Normandy. The area of research currently deals with the tenth and eleventh centuries though this will undoubtedly be chronologically extended. Its current objective is the creation of a database of Norman acta from the tenth and eleventh centuries. However, the development of this body of evidence will be linked to the conditions in which the production of documentary materials occurred and the ways in which writing developed in Norman society. This means taking into account the narrative sources, the transmission of memories and the ways in which writing revealed social changes. The journal Tabularia, issued by the project provides a medium through which the findings of the project and further debate and reflection may occur.

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[1] Mathieu Arnoux, (dir.), Des clercs au service de la réforme. Etudes et documents sur les chanoines réguliers de la province de Rouen, Bibliotheca Victorina, volume ix, Turnhout, Brepols, 2000, pages 273-367 and Pierre Bauduin, ‘A propos d’un acte inédit du fonds de Saint-Ouen de Rouen: aperçu sur les débuts de la féodalité normande’, La Normandie vers l’An Mil , Rouen, Société de l’Histoire de Normandie, 2000, pages 93-104.

[2] Mathieu Arnoux, Les premières chroniques de Fécamp: de l’hagiographie à l’histoire’ in Pierre Bouet and François Neveux (eds.), Les Saints dans la Normandie médiévale, Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle (26-29 septembre 1996), Caen, PUC, 2000, pages 71-82

[3] Pierre Bouet and Olivier Desbordes are preparing an edition of the Revelatio, the Introductio monachorum and the De scuto et gladio of Baudry de Bourgueil and Catherine Bougy an edition of Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel by Guillaume de Saint-Pair. Pierre Bouet, ‘La Revelatio ecclesiae sancti Michaelis et les origines du culte de saint Michel sur le Mont Tombe’, in Cultes et pèlerinage à saint Michel en Occident, Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle (2000) is also in preparation.

[4] Of especial importance are the papers by Pierre Bouet ‘Les sources hagiographiques: nature et méthode d’analyse’ and ‘Bibliographie des sources relatives aux saints normands’, in Pierre Bouet and François Neveux (eds), Les Saints dans la Normandie médiévale, Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle (26-29 septembre 1996), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2000, pages 11-20 and pages 305-323

[5] On the historiography of Saint-Wandrille, see: Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts, ‘Historiography and Hagiography at Saint-Wandrille: the “Inventio et Miracula Sancti Vulfranni”’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume xii, 1989, pages 233-251, reprinted in Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts, History and Family Traditions in England and the Continent, 1000-1200, Ashgate (Variorum Collected Studies Series), 1999, John Howe, ‘The Hagiography of Saint-Wandrille (Fontenelle) (Province of Haute-Normandie)’, in L’hagiographie du haut Moyen Age en Gaule du Nord. Manuscrits, textes et centres de production, Martin Heinzelmann (dir.), Stuttgart, Thorbecke, Beihefte der Francia, volume lii, 2001, pages 127-192 and Pascal Pradié, ‘Saint Wandrille à Romainmôtier’, Gesta. Revue de l’abbaye Saint-Wandrille, volume xxiv, 2002, pages 151-166.

[6] Chronique des abbés de Fontenelle (Saint-Wandrille), edited by Pascal Pradié, Paris, Les Belles-Lettres, 1999.

[7] On Jumièges, see Mathieu Arnoux, ‘Disparition ou conservation des sources et abandon de l’acte écrit: quelques observations sur les actes de Jumièges’, dossier Jumièges, foyer de production documentaire. Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale, Etudes, n° 1, 2001, pages 1-10, Pierre Bouet, (editor and translator), ‘Carmen de fundatione, ruina et restauratione inclyti monasterii Gemmeticensis’, dossier Jumièges, foyer de production documentaire. Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale, Etudes, n° 1, 2001, pages 33-52, Jacques Le Maho, ‘La production éditoriale à Jumièges vers le milieu du X^e siècle’, dossier Jumièges, foyer de production documentaire. Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale, Etudes, n° 1, 2001, pages 11-32, Benoit-Michel Tock, ‘Les chartes originales de l’abbaye de Jumièges jusqu’en 1120 ’, Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale, Études, n° 2, 2002, pages 1-19 and John Howe, ‘The Hagiography of Jumièges (Province of Haute-Normandie)’, in L’hagiographie du haut Moyen Âge en Gaule du Nord. Manuscrits, textes et centres de production, Martin Heinzelmann (dir.), Stuttgart, Thorbecke, Beihefte der Francia, volume lii, 2001, pages 91-125.

[8] Nancy Gauthier, ‘Quelques hypothèses sur la rédaction des vies des saints évêques de Normandie’, Memoriam sanctorum venerantes. Miscellanea in onore di Monsignor Victor Saxer, Vatican, Pontifico Istituto di archeologia cristiana, Vatican, 1992, pages 449-468.

[9] Robert Helmerichs (ed.), The Planctus for William Longsword, http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/Planctus). See a discussion and translation of this enigmatic text in my Rollo and William Longsword, 2003, pages 29-53.

[10] Felice Lifshitz, ‘St Romain de Rouen: missionnaire franc dans la Normandie des Vikings’, Voix d’ouest en Europe. Souffles d’Europe en ouest. Actes du colloque international d’Angers, 21-24 mai 1992, Presses de l’Université d’Angers, 1993, pages 23-30.

[11] On the issue of ‘identity’ see the papers by Pierre Bauduin, ‘Autour d’une construction identitaire: la naissance d’une historiographie normande à la charnière des X^e-XI^e siècles’, in Conquête, acculturation, identité: des Normands aux Hongrois. Les traces de la conquête, textes rassemblés et présentés par Piroska Nagy, Cahiers du GRHIS, 2001, pages 79-91 and Cassandra Potts, ‘Atque unum ex diversis gentibus populum effecit: historical tradition and the norman identity’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume xviii, 1995, pages 139-152.

[12] Louis Violette, ‘Une entreprise historiographique au temps de la Réforme grégorienne: les Actes des archevêques de Rouen’, Revue d’Histoire de l’Église de France, volume lxxxiii, 1997, pages 343-365. For further information on Rouen see, Mathieu Arnoux, ‘La conversion des Normands de Neustrie et la restauration de l’Église dans la province de Rouen’, in Le christianisme en Occident du début du VII^e siècle au milieu du XI^e siècle. Textes et documents réunis par François Bougard, Paris, SEDES, 1997, pages 269-281 and Louis Violette, ‘Le thème des origines de l’Église de Rouen d’après une œuvre de ses chanoines: les Annales de Rouen’, in Sylvette Lemagnen et Philippe Manneville (eds.), Chapitres et cathédrales en Normandie, Actes du XXXI^e Congrès des Sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Normandie, Série des Congrès des Sociétés historiques et archéologiques de Normandie, Caen, 1997, pages 287-294 and ‘Le problème de l’attribution d’un texte rouennais du XI^e siècle: les Acta archiepiscoporum Rothomagensium’, Analecta Bollandiana, volume cxv, 1997, pages 113-129.

[13] Bate, Keith, ‘Les Normands et la littérature latine au début du nouveau millénium, Cahiers de civilisation médiévale, 43^e année, juil.-sept., Poitiers, 2000, pages 233-241.

[14] Two papers are of particular importance on this issue: Pierre Bouet, ‘Les chroniqueurs francs et normands face aux invasions vikings’ and Catherine Bougy, ‘Comment les chroniqueurs du XII^e siècle ont-ils perçu les invasions vikings?’, in Elisabeth Ridel (ed.) L’Héritage maritime des Vikings en Europe de l’Ouest, Actes du colloque international de la Hague (Flottemanville-Hague, 30 septembre-3 octobre 1999), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2002, pages 57-74 and pages 75-100 respectively.

[15] See, for example the two papers by Elisabeth M. C Van Houts, ‘A Note on Jezabel and Semiramis, Two Latin Norman Poems from the Early Eleventh Century’, Journal of Medieval Latin, volume ii, 1992, pages 18-24 and ‘The Date of Warner of Rouen’s Moriuth’, both reprinted in Elisabeth M. C. Van Houts History and Family Traditions in England and the Continent, 1000-1200, Ashgate (Variorum Collected Studies Series), 1999

[16] Felice Lifshitz, The Norman Conquest of Pious Neustria. Historiographic Discourse and Saintly Relics 684-1090, Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1995 is crucial.

[17] Gilduin Davy, ‘Le scribe, le droit et le prince : recherche autour de l’utilisation de l’écrit juridique par les ducs de Normandie de la fin du X^e à la fin du XI^e siècle’, Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale, http://www.unicaen.fr/mrsh/crahm/revue/tabularia/debatdavy.html, 2002.

[18] On this point see, Pierre Bauduin, La Première Normandie (X^e-XI^e siècles). Sur les frontières de la haute Normandie: identité et construction d’une principauté, Caen, Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2002.

[19] The systematic keeping of large charter collections was not unique to Normandy. There is ample evidence from southern Italy, for example, the chronicle-chartulary of Casauria written around 1175 copied some 2,100 charters and the archives of the abbey of the Holy Trinity, Cava near Salerno contains over a thousand eleventh century charters and over 3,500 from the twelfth.

[20] The first acta is dated 1011, printed in Recueil des chartes des ducs de Normandie, 911-1066 ed. Marie Fauroux, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie 36; Caen, 1961, no. 13, pages 86-89, and survives in the original (Rouen, Archives Départementales, Seine-Maritime ms. 14 H 915A). The second is dated 1015, printed in Recueil des chartes des ducs de Normandie, 911-1066 ed. Marie Fauroux, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie 36; Caen, 1961, no. 18, pages 100-102 from the original in Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Collection de Picardie 352 no. 1.

[21] Léopold Delisle, ‘Discours d’ouverture de la séance publique du 4 décembre 1862’, Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, volume ii, 1862, pages 304-337 and 336-337: “En publiant nos anciennes chartes, vous resterez fidèles aux inspirations qui ont présidé à la fondation de la Société; vous arracherez à l’oubli les restes d’un passé glorieux; vous établirez sur des bases inébranlables l’histoire de la Normandie; vous mettrez dans tout son jour la part que nos pères ont prise à développer la civilisation du moyen-âge et à préparer les progrès des temps modernes”. This statement is quoted by David Bates in the introduction to his edition of the charters of William I.

[22] David Bates, Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum. The Acta of William I (1066-1087), Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998. See also his ‘The Conqueror’s Charters’, in Carola Hicks (ed..), England in the Eleventh Century, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, volume ii, Stamford, 1992, pages 1-15 and ‘The Prosopographical Study of Anglo-Norman Royal Charters’, in Katharine Keats Rohan (ed.), Family Trees and the Roots of Politics: the Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Centuries, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1997, pages 89-102.

[23] Marie Fauroux (ed.) Recueil des actes des ducs de Normandie (911-1066), Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, volume xxxvi, Caen, 1961 remains essential.

[24] Lucien Musset, Les actes de Guillaume le Conquérant et de la reine Mathilde pour les abbayes caennaises, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, volume xxxvi, Caen 1967.

[25] Charles Homer Haskins, Norman Institutions, Harvard University Press, 1918.

[26] Léopold Delisle and Elie Berger, Recueil des actes d’Henri II, roi d’Angleterre et duc de Normandie concernant les provinces françaises et les affaires de France, four volumes, Paris, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1909-1924.

[27] Henry Chanteux, Recueil des actes d’Henri I^er Beauclerc, duc de Normandie, three volumes, Thèse de l’École nationale des chartes, Paris, 1932.

[28] Claude Fagnen, Essai sur quelques actes normands de Richard Cœur-de-Lion, five volumes, Thèse de l’École nationale des chartes, Paris, 1971.

[29] Richard Mortimer, ‘The charters of Henry II: what are the criteria for authenticity?’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume xii, 1989, pages 119-134 and ‘The Angevin Acta Project in France and England’, Anglo-Norman Anonymous, 13, 3, October 1995.

[30] Marjorie Chibnall, ‘The charters of the Empress Mathilda’, in George Garnett and John Hudson (eds.), Law and Government in Medieval England, Essays in honour of Sir James Holt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pages 276-298.

[31] R. J. Smith, ‘Henry II’s heir: the Acta and Seal of Henry the Young King, 1170-1183’, English Historical Review, volume cxvi, 2001, pages 297-326.

[32] Pierre Bauduin ‘Bibliographie des travaux de Michel Nortier’, in Recueil d’études normandes offert en hommage à Michel Nortier, Cahiers Léopold Delisle, volume, xliv, 1995, pages 5-27.

[33] Lucien Musset, ‘Notes pour servir d’introduction à l’histoire foncière de la Normandie. Les domaines de l’époque franque et les destinées du régime domanial du IX^e au XI^e siècle’, Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, volume xlix, 1942-1945, pages 7-97.

[34] Emily Zack Tabuteau, Transfers of Property in Eleventh-Century Norman Law, University of North California Press, 1988.

[35] Important publications in this area include two papers by Mathieu Arnoux, ‘Cartulaire de la sidérurgie normande (1085-1337)’, in Mineurs, férons et maîtres de forge. Études sur la production du fer dans la Normandie du Moyen Âge, XI^e-XV^e siecles., Paris, 1993, pages 419-484 and ‘Aux origines d’une léproserie: la pancarte de la Madeleine d’Orbec (1105-1135)’, in Recueil d’études normandes offert en hommage à Michel Nortier, Cahiers Léopold Delisle, volume xliv, 1995, pages 209-222. In addition, see David Bates, ‘Four recently rediscovered charters’, Annales de Normandie, volume xlv, 1995, pages 35-48, Marc-Antoine Dor, Seigneurs en Ile-de-France occidentale et en Haute-Normandie: contribution à l’histoire des seigneurs de Montfort-l’Amaury, des comtes d’Evreux, et de leur entourage au XII^e siècle et au début du XIII^e siècle, Thèse de l’École nationale des chartes, two volumes, Paris, 1992 and Judith Everard and Michael Jones (eds.), The Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family, 1171-1221, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2000

[36] John Walmsley, Charters and custumals of the abbey of Holy Trinity Caen, Part 2: The French Estates, Oxford University Press, 1994.

[37] Mathieu Arnoux (ed.), Des clercs au service de la réforme. Études et documents sur les chanoines réguliers de la province de Rouen, Bibliotheca Victorina, volume xi, Turnhout, Brepols, 2000. A documentary appendix, pages 273-357 contains the Chronique de Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge, pages 275-293, Chronique de fondation de l’Ile-Dieu, pages 297-306 and the Chronique de fondation de Notre-Dame d’Ardenne, pages 306-310.

[38] Mathieu Arnoux and Christophe Maneuvrier, ‘Deux abbayes de Basse-Normandie: Notre-Dame du Val et le Val Richer (XII^e-XIII^e siècles)’, Le Pays Bas Normand, n° 237-238, 2000 (1-2).

[39] Dominique Rouet, Le cartulaire de l’abbaye Saint-Pierre de Préaux: étude et édition du manuscrit dans son état de 1227, Thèse pour le diplôme d’archiviste paléographe, Paris, École nationale des chartes, four volumes, 1999 and ‘Le cartulaire de l’abbaye Saint-Pierre de Préaux: présentation du manuscrit’, Tabularia, n° 1, 2000, pages 1-11.

[40] Katharine S. B. Keats-Rohan, The Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel, Stamford, Paul Watkins Publishing, (in press) and her earlier statement ‘Bibliothèque municipale d’Avranches, 210: Cartulary of Mont-Saint-Michel’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume xxi, 1998, pages 95-112.

[41] Julie Fontanel, Le chartrier de la cathédrale de Coutances, XI^e-XIV^e siècles. Étude et edition, Thèse pour le diplôme d’archiviste paléographe, four volumes, Paris, École nationale des chartes, 1999 and her paper ‘La réorganisation religieuse sous Guillaume le Conquérant: le cas de l’église de Coutances’, Revue de l’Avranchin et du Pays de Granville, volume lxxvii, 2000, pages 189-208.

[42] Jean-Michel Bouvris, ‘Aux premiers temps d’une grande abbaye normande au XI^e siècle: les chartes de fondation de Saint-Martin de Sées’, Annales de Normandie, volume xxxix, 1989, pages 452-454.

[43] Béatrice Poulle Le chartrier de l’abbaye de Savigny au diocèse d’Avranches: édition partielle (1202-1243) et commentaires, Thèse de l’École nationale des chartes, Paris, 1989 and Béatrice Poulle, ‘Les sources de l’histoire de l’abbaye cistercienne de Savigny (Manche) au diocèse d’Avranches’, Revue Mabillon, new series, volume vii, 1996, pages 105-125

[44] The Letters of Saint Anselm of Canterbury translated and annotated by Walter Fröhlich, three volumes, Cistercian Publications (96, 97 and 142), Kalamazoo, 1990-1994.

[45] The Correspondence of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1162-1170, edited and translated by Anne J. Duggan, two volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press (Oxford Medieval Texts), 2000.

[46] The letter collections of Arnulf of Lisieux, translated by Carolyn Poling Schriber, Lewiston (N.Y.), Mellen Press, 1997.

[47] Cassandra Potts, ‘The Early Norman Charters: A New Perspective on an Old Debate’, in Carola Hicks (ed.), England in the Eleventh Century, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, volume ii, Stamford, 1992, pages 25-40.

[48] David Bates, ‘Les chartes de confirmation et les pancartes normandes du règne de Guillaume le Conquérant’, Pancartes monastiques des XI^e-XII^e siècles, études réunies par Michel Parisse, Turnhout, Brepols, 1998, pages 97-109.

[49] David Crouch, ‘A Norman conventio and bonds of lordship in the Middle Ages’, George Garnett and John Hudson (eds.), Law and Government in Medieval England, Essays in honour of Sir James Holt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994, pages 299-324.

[50] David Bates, ‘La mutation documentaire et le royaume anglo-normand (seconde moitié du XI^e siècle-début XII^e siècle)’, Les actes comme expression du pouvoir au Haut Moyen Âge, Actes de la table ronde organisée par l’ARTEM (Nancy 2), 27-29 novembre 1999, in press.

[51] Hubert Dupuy, Recueil des actes des évêques de Bayeux antérieurs à 1205, two volumes, Thèse de l’École nationale des chartes, Paris, 1970 and Thomas Waldman, Hugh of Amiens, archbishop of Rouen (1130-1164), PhD Thesis, University of Oxford, 1970, containing the acta of Hugues d’Amiens on pages 166-561.

[52] David Bates, ‘Le rôle des évêques dans l’élaboration des actes ducaux et royaux entre 1066 et 1077’, Pierre Bouet et François Neveux (eds.)Les évêques normands du XI^e siècle, Actes du colloque de Cerisy-la-Salle (30 sept.-3 oct. 1993), Presses Universitaires de Caen, 1995, pages 103-115.

[53] Mathieu Arnoux, ‘Essor et déclin d’un type diplomatique: les actes passés coram parrochia en Normandie (XII^e-XIII^e siècles)’, Bibliothèque de l’École des Chartes, volume cliv, 1996, pages 323-357.

[54] Véronique Gazeau, , ‘Recherches autour de la datation des actes normands aux X^e-XII^e siècles’, Michael Gervers (ed.), Dating Medieval Undated Charters, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press-Collegium Budapest, 2000, pages 61-79.

[55] La diplomatique française du Haut Moyen Âge. Inventaire des chartes originales antérieures à 1121 conservées en France, Benoît-Michel Tock (dir), two volumes, Turnhout, Brepols, 2001.

[56] Mathieu Arnoux, ‘Disparition ou conservation des sources et abandon de l’acte écrit: quelques observations sur les actes de Jumièges’, Tabularia, 2001, pages 1-10 and Benoît-Michel Tock, ‘Les chartes originales de l’abbaye de Jumièges jusqu’en 1120’, Tabularia, 2002, pages 1-19.

[57] See the two papers by Jean-Michel Bouvris, ‘A propos des échanges entre les “scriptoria” des abbayes caennaises au XI^e siècle: la “donation” de la dîme de Biéville par Renouf, vicomte de Bayeux’, Recueil d’études en hommage à Lucien Musset, Caen, 1990, pages 203-214 and ‘Une possession des comtes d’Eu dans le Houlme à l’époque ducale: Bazoches. A propos d’une charte originale de Jean, comte d’Eu, de 1154’, Annuaire des cinq départements de la Normandie, volume clv, 1995, pages 79-89.

[58] Dominique Rouet, ‘Une dépendance de l’abbaye Saint-Pierre-de-Préaux: le prieuré Sainte-Radegonde de Neufchâtel-en-Bray d’après les sources de l’abbaye de Préaux’, Annales de Normandie, volume xixl, 1999, pages 515-538 and Entre gestion et historiographie: les cartulaires monastiques de la Normandie moyenne (X^e-XII^e siècles). L’exemple des cartulaires de Notre-Dame de Mortemer, Saint-Pierre de Préaux et Saint-Martin de Troarn, Diplôme de conservateur de bibliothèque, Lyon, 2000.