The Normans in Normandy: Dudo of St Quentin

Who was Dudo?

Dudo, writing in the dedicatory letter to bishop Adalbero of Laon that serves as a preface to the work, says that Duke Richard I of Normandy commissioned a history and, after Richard’s death in 996, other members of the Norman ducal house continued to patronise him in the hopes that he would complete the task. Dudo writes that the commission was completed two years before the death of Richard I.  According to the oldest manuscript copies of Dudo’s narrative, this occurred either in 996 or 1002. The former year, 996, is the one that is usually acceptable by scholars. However, it is symptomatic of the difficulties involved in studying the period that the later date, 1002, was preferred by the scribes of the oldest extant manuscript copies of the text (Bern, Bürgerbibliothek, Bongars 390 of the early eleventh century and Berlin, Staatsbibliothek - Preußischer Kulterbesitz, Philipps 1854 of the late eleventh century)[1] and was left ‘uncorrected’ by the owners of the Berlin manuscript, namely the monks of the Norman monastery of Fécamp, where Duke Richard died and was buried. The manuscript was owned, in the twelfth century, by the Norman monastery of Fécamp, also on the Channel coast, and is listed in the twelfth-century library catalogue of that house under the title “Gesta Normannorum” or “Deeds of the Normans”.  Dudo’s history of early Normandy, unlike the vast majority of texts written before the age of the printing press, survives in a fairly large number of manuscripts, all of which differ from one another in a variety of ways, but most of which were copied during the eleventh or twelfth centuries, the height of the popularity of the text[2]. 

If determining the date at which Dudo began to write is difficult, determining the date at which he finished writing is even more problematic. In the author’s dedicatory letter to bishop Adalbero, Dudo called himself the ‘decanus’ (dean) of the community of canons of St. Quentin in the Vermandois. Because Dudo is called simply a ‘canonicus’ (canon) of St. Quentin in a charter of duke Richard II that dates from 1015[3], it is usually concluded that he completed his Norman history late in 1015, after receiving a promotion to ‘decanus’[4] Because the charter survives in the original, and not in some later copy, its own authenticity is not in doubt[5]. Nevertheless, the reasoning behind this particular end-date is not absolutely certain.

Dudo himself wrote the first four lines of the charter of 1015, calling himself the ‘capellanus’ (chaplain) of Duke Richard II. Another scribe wrote the rest of the charter and called Dudo a ‘canonicus’.  The title therefore does not have the kind of authority that it would have had had it come from Dudo’s own pen.  Yet, even if Dudo did use the title ‘canonicus’ in 1015, that would not preclude his already having become the ‘decanus’ of the congregation[6].  When a canon became dean of St. Quentin, he did not cease to be a canon of the community.  This can be seen in a typical charter in the cartulary (collection of charters) of St. Quentin that refers to “the dean and the other canons of the church of blessed Quintinus”[7]. The 1015 charter represents, in a sense, Dudo’s will, whereby he is guaranteed by Richard II that he may bequeath to his monastic family certain benefices that he had been given by Richard I.  At this moment, it is understandable that Dudo would have emphasised his status as a member of the community of the monastery, rather than his official position over it.  Finally, if Dudo was not the dean of the community at the time of the 1015 charter, there is no reason to assume that he necessarily became dean after drawing up the charter rather than that he had been dean before drawing up the charter. The deanship of a canonry is not a lifetime position from which one cannot abdicate.  Indeed, it is precisely the sort of position from which one might resign in order to become the ‘capellanus’ of Richard II, the position that Dudo described himself as holding in the charters of 1011 and 1015.

To complicate matters even more, it is important to consider materials beyond the dedicatory letter and the two ducal charters. Can we be certain that we ought to trust the salutation of the dedicatory epistle when it refers to Dudo as the ‘decanus’ of St. Quentin, whether in 1015 or at any other time? The dedicatory letter does appear in a number of the earlier manuscript copies of the text.  However, none of these is separated from the date of Dudo’s own writing by fewer than several decades. On the other hand, the Annals of St. Quentin, written in a ninth-century manuscript from St. Quentin and then updated by tenth- and eleventh-century hands contemporary with the events recorded, describe the rule of ‘abbates’ (abbots) and ‘custodes’ (guardians) throughout the period in question, with no reference to anyone named Dudo, or indeed to any ‘decani’.[8]  Against a background of such uncertainty, it is difficult to see how historians can say anything more specific than that Dudo wrote the history during the late tenth and/or early eleventh centuries, while associated in a variety of ways with the ruling family of ducal Normandy.

Issues in Dudo

The origin story

By the beginning of the eleventh century, there was a growing awareness in Normandy that a new people, as well as a new principality, had been formed over the course of the previous century.  This consciousness forms an important theme in Dudo’s chronicle.  He wrote his tale of Normandy’s past to please an audience that was largely members of the Norman ducal court.  According to Dudo, Rollo the tenth century Viking founder of Normandy saw a vision of his future while still a pagan wanderer.  Rollo was transported to a mountain in Francia, washed in a clear and fragrant fountain and joined there by thousands of birds who came from every direction to build their nests around the mountain.  A Christian, who Rollo had taken captive in battle, interpreted the dream: the mountain symbolised the Christian church; the fountain was the baptism that Rollo would receive; and the birds represented the ‘men of different realms’ who would make their homes with Rollo and accept him as their leader.

Origin stories like this were widespread in medieval Europe.  Common to many other cultures and periods, their purpose was to create a viable past that reinforced collective identity and values.  To be effective, these stories need to have the ring of truth about them though this point is often overlooked.  A common feature of medieval origin stories was the assumption of a single descent: the people who formed the cultural and political unit were generally seen as racially homogeneous and this common ancestry is often the point of the story.   Graham Loud[9] argues that Norman historians conformed to the traditional view of common descent: Dudo and his successors do describe Rollo and his followers as Danes/Dacians who descended from the Trojan exile Antenor.  But this point seems to miss the broader picture.  By recognising the different origins of the people of Normandy, Dudo broke with this tradition. 

Dudo would, given his education and training, have been fully aware of this tradition.  However, he chose to offer a truer account that underlined the message of inclusion that was central to his patrons.  The Norman achievement and this was recognised by Dudo, was the successful incorporation of various peoples from different backgrounds into one community and, as a result, created a new people, a new ethnicity and a new identity.  The dominant theme in Dudo’s work is that Normandy was the product of a difficult but ultimately successful union between newcomers and natives[10].

Fact and fancy

Despite Dudo’s willingness to subordinate fact to fancy, his work represents the beginning of Norman historiography[11].  Written at the express command of the duke, his work sheds light on how early eleventh century Normans interpreted the first century of their rule, or at least how Dudo imagined they did.  Had his version not rung true in the ears of later Normans, it would not have been so widely plagiarised by later historians.  The message of Rollo’s dream was repeated again and again by historians and summarised in the late eleventh century by a monk of the abbey of Saint-Wandrille[12] who simply wrote that Rollo reconciled “the men of all origins and different professions in little time, and he made one people out of different races”.

The problem is that the view Dudo expressed of a new people born of the synthesis of several groups has been lost in the historiographical debate on the origins of the duchy.  The debate can be seen as one of two polarised positions: one that sees discontinuity in the Viking heritage of the Normans and one that stresses continuity by stressing the Norman capacity to assimilate and absorb Frankish culture.  Again, this obscures the broader picture: discontinuity at the upper levels of society did not mean discontinuity at the lower levels.  Dudo recognised that the important issue was not whether Normandy was more Viking or more Frankish at a given date but rather how it evolved through combining these divergent traditions into a new and dynamic society.

The people who seized control of the region were opportunists and this represented their Viking heritage.  However, Rollo and his successors quickly recognised the importance of broadening the basis of their support internally and externally.  This was essential as there were many people who still saw them as the scourge of God.  Although the Vikings were not engaged in a deliberately anti-Christian crusade, to their victims they appeared both as ‘the rod of God’s wrath’ and ‘the people of God’s wrath’ and Carolingian charters often refer to them as the enemies of Christianity.  The assassination of William Longsword in 942 and the attack on Rouen that followed it showed that the position of the Normans was by no means secure or permanent.  Opportunities were taken by the Normans from the 940s to strengthen their position.They preserved and, to a significant degree maintained Carolingian legal and administrative institutions that helped to centralise their rule.  They expanded their network of alliances and neutralised potential threats through the practive of selective marriage, internally and externally.  They increased their wealth by controlling the currency, collective revenue based on Carolingian taxes and encouraged economic growth under their authority.  They used the church to reshape their advantage and there is little doubt of the centrality of the role played by the Church in the establishment of Normandy before 1066. 

Dudo placed considerable emphasis on the theme of predator to patron and protector of the Church.  A contrast is drawn between ‘bad’ Vikings who attacked the church and those ‘good’ Vikings who rebuilt it.  As patrons of the church from Rollo onwards, the Normans were able to throw off their bloodthirsty image and, more importantly, the church provided an infrastructure for the Norman rulers to expand their authority geographically and socially.  Dudo claimed that Rollo received all his lands in Normandy, as well as in Brittany, from the Frankish king in 911.  In reality, Rollo’s rule was far more limited and it was not until the late tenth century that his successors were able to claim effective control over the area that later became lower Normandy. 

Dudo’s chronicle provides a justification for the position of the Normans in Normandy and a legitimacy for their rule based on a combination of fact and fabrication.  Latin models such as Dudo of Saint-Quentin and Guillaume de Jumièges largely inspired Benoît de Sainte-Maure as he fulfilled King Henry II Plantagenêt’s request to write a history of the dukes of Normandy. Yet his perspective was different. Besides reporting military deeds and conquests, Benoît also allowed himself religious and political comments. He showed how the Norman dukes, who were said to be Henry II’s ancestors and descended from the Danes, themselves allegedly descendents of the Trojans, built the foundations of a harmonious civilisation as they combined their military role and their worldly power under the sway of the Roman Church. Their patria, Troy and the splendid civilisation Benoît had conjured up in his Roman de Troie, might have disappeared, but the history of the Danes who became Dukes of Normandy and Kings of England was an ongoing affair. Reaching its high point under Henry II, as Benoît claimed, it illustrates how they could retrieve and develop ‘Trojan’ virtues such as how to guide and rule their people in the light of the Christian faith, and how they founded the Trojan civilisation again, this time on the boundaries of the Western world.

---

[1] Gerda Huisman ‘Notes on the Manuscript Tradition of Dudo of St. Quentin’s Gesta Normannorum’, Anglo-Norman Studies volume 6 (1984), page 122; J. J. G. Alexander Norman Illumination at Mont St.-Michel, 966 - 1100, Oxford, 1970, pages 40, 235.

[2] Gerda Huisman ‘Notes on the Manuscript Tradition of Dudo of St. Quentin’s Gesta Normannorum’, Anglo-Norman Studies volume 6 (1984), pages 122-136.

[3] 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.

[4] Leah Shopkow ‘The Carolingian World of Dudo of St. Quentin’, Journal of Medieval History, volume 15 (1989), pages 19-37.

[5] Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Collection de Picardie 352 no. 1.

[6] He also wrote, as ‘capellanus’ another extant charter of Richard II (Recueil des chartes ed. Fauroux no. 13, pages 86 - 89), which also survives in the original: Rouen, Archives Départementales, Seine-Maritime ms. 14 H 915A.

[7] “...ecclesie beati quintini decanus ceterique canonici”: Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Ms. Latin 11.070 no. 74 folio 86r.

[8] Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica ms. latinus 645 ed. L. Bethmann, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, volume XVI, Hannover, 1859, coll. 507 - 508. The Benedictines of St. Maur, by contrast, present the governance of the house to have involved lay abbots and deans throughout the period; however, they provide no source for “Vivianus”, said to have been the ‘decanus’ in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries, before Dudo: Gallia Christiana volume ix, Paris, 1751, coll. 1038 - 1054).

[9] Graham Loud ‘The “Gens Normannorum”: Myth or Reality?’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume 4 (1982), pages 104-116.

[10] On this see, Cassandra Potts ‘Atque unum ex diversisgentibus populam effecit, Historical Tradition and the Norman Identity’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume 18, (1996), pages 139-152.

[11] Dudo’s historicity was savaged in Henry Howorth, “A Criticism of the Life of Rollo as Told by Dudo of St Quentin,” Archaeologia volume 45 (1880): pages 235-50, and Henri Prentout, Étude critique sur Dudon de Saint-Quentin et son histoire des premiers ducs Normands, Paris: Picard, 1916.  Despite defences such as Lair’s introduction to his edition of Dudo and Johannes Steenstrup, Normandiets Historie under de syv første Hertuger, 911-1066, Mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences et des lettres de Danemark, 7^me série, Section des Lettres 5.1, Copenhagen: Andr. Fred. Høst & Søn, 1925, Dudo’s critics have largely held the field as even his harshest critics seem to hold to a largely Dudoesque early Normandy. In recent years, however, Dudo has enjoyed a significant resurgence. At Caen, a “neo-Dudonist” school is emerging, seeking to rehabilitate Dudo as historian, led by Pierre Bouet and François Neveux; see François Neveux, La Normandie des ducs aux rois (X^e-XII^e siècle), Rennes: Ouest-France, 1998 and L’Aventure des Normands, Perrin, 2006. Further, some historians have come to appreciate Dudo as a source not for the history of the 10^th century, but for the intellectual climate of Normandy and the Carolingian world in the 11^th century. See, M. Arnoux ‘Before the Gesta Normannorum and Beyond Dudo: Some Evidence on Early Norman Historiography’, Anglo-Norman Studies, volume 22 (2000), pages 29-48, important for evidence as to the early development of Dudo’s text; Eleanor Searle ‘Fact and Pattern in Heroic History: Dudo of Saint-Quentin’, Viator volume 15 (1984), pages 119-37; Leah Shopkow ‘The Carolingian World of Dudo of Saint-Quentin’, Journal of Medieval History volume 15 (1989), pages 19-37; Pierre Bouet ‘Dudon de Saint-Quentin et Virgile: L’Enéide au service de la cause normande’, in Recueil d’études en hommage à Lucien Musset, Cahier des Annales de Normandie 23, Caen: Musée de Normandie, 1990, pages 215-36; Victoria B. Jordan ‘The Role of Kingship in Tenth-Century Normandy: Hagiography of Dudo of Saint-Quentin’, Haskins Society Journal volume 3 (1991), pages 53-62; Emily Albu (Hanawalt) ‘Dudo of Saint-Quentin: The Heroic Past Imagined’, Haskins Society Journal volume 6 (1994), pages 111-18; Felice Lifshitz ‘Dudo’s Historical Narrative and the Norman Succession of 996’, Journal of Medieval History volume 20 (1994), pages 101-20; Claude Carozzi, ‘Des Daces aux Normands, le mythe et l’identification d’un peuple chez Dudon de Saint-Quentin’, Claude Carozzi et Huguette Taviani-Carozzi (eds.), Peuples du Moyen Âge. Problèmes d’identification, Séminaire Société, Idéologies et Croyances au Moyen Âge, Publications de l’Université de Provence, 1996, pages 7-25; and the articles in Dudone di San Quintino: Sono qui raccolte le relazioni tenute dagli intervenuti al Convegno su Dudone di San Quintino, organizzato a Trento dal Dipartimento di scienze filologiche e storiche dell’Universita atesina il 5 e 6 maggio 1994, edited by Paolo Gatti and Antonella Degl’Innocenti, Labirinti 16 (Trent: Universita degli studi di Trento, 1995).

[12] Jean Laporte (ed.) Invention et miracula Sancti Vulfrani, Rouen, 1938, page 21.

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.

---

[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.