Empires of the Normans, Roach - B

                      In the early 10th century, Vikings established a foothold in the lands around the lower Seine. They slowly consolidated what became the duchy of Normandy and adopted the Catholic faith. A century later, they were Francophones and culturally French. The last king of England prior to the Norman conquest was actually half-Norman. Edward the Confessor had spent most of his life in the duchy. Indeed, Duke William was a cousin. He died without an heir in January, 1066.  A rival Englishman, Harald, claimed the throne. In late September, William, Duke of Normandy crossed the Channel and defeated Harald at Hastings on Oct.14. William ravaged the Home Counties as he marched to London. He was crowned on Christmas Day. William acted quickly to assert his control as the English did not readily submit. For the next five years, William brutally suppressed his Anglo-Saxon opponents. He replaced the ruling elites with Normans loyal to him.

                     Normans, under the leadership of the de Hauteville family, came to southern Italy in the 11th century and established a state that survived for 800 years. They expelled Saracens and Byzantines from the peninsula. "For the first time in almost half a millennium, all of southern Italy stood under a single banner."  They were also an integral part of the First Crusade, which Pope Urban II called for in 1095. The Crusader state of Antioch, established in 1096 and in place for 170 years was ruled by Normans. They also expanded south into Africa in the 12th century for a short-lived occupation.

                     Over the course of the two decades the Conqueror sat on the English throne, his focus was on consolidation. Expansion was a matter left to his earls and knights. They pushed west into Wales and north into Scotland. Both regions were poor and there was little interest in conquering them. The goal was to start establishing a light-touch hegemony over them. Centuries would pass before the absorption of the two regions into a United Kingdom. In the late 12th century, Henry II invaded Ireland, beginning the long English occupation of the island. In 1202, France claimed the Norman duchy and proceeded to conquer it. The Normans no longer ruled Normandy. The descendants of  the Vikings had a broad impact on Western Europe, Italy, and the Middle East. "In the end , they were victims of their own success. They became so much a part of the fabric of European society that they scarcely occasioned note. They were gone and soon, forgotten."