NORMANS (OF. Norina,p, :Vorniand, from Dan. Normand, Icel. Norpina))r, Northman, from Icel., AS. ?tor?, OHG. ncrd, Ger. Nord, north, probably connected with nertro, to the left, Gk. veprepos, nertcros, lower + nut Jir, Goth. manna, AS., OHO. man, Ger. Mann, man). A name generally restricted in its application to those sea rovers who established themselves in the part of France called, after them, Normandy; but sometimes embracing also the early inhabit ante of Norway. During the Middle Ages the name NorIbmen, or Norsemen, was often used in a broader sense, to denote the entire population of Scandinavia. The Germans and French called the piratical hordes who ravaged their shores Normans or Northmen; the Saxons, usually Danes or Eastmen. They were also distinguished by the latter as Mark (or March) men (from Den WI 2-k), as Ash-men (i.e. men of the us/tun-ships), and as the Heathen. The primary cause of the. plundering expeditions southward and westward across the seas, undertaken by the Norse Vikings, 'Sea-Kings,' was doubtless the over-population and consequent scarcity of food in their native homes; besides, the relish for a life of warlike adventure, conjoined with the hope of rich booty, strongly attracted them. Finally, discontent with the ever-increasing power of the greater chiefs or kings induced many of the nobles with their followers to seek new homes.
The first Danish Norsemen made their appear ance 011 the eastern and southern coasts of Eng land about 787. In 795 they settled in some of the towns on the coast of Ireland. After S32 their invasions of England were repeated almost every year. In 851 they wintered for the first time in the island, and after 866 obtained firm footing there. The Anglo-Saxon Ethelred I. fought valiantly against them. His brother, Alfred the Great (q.v.), after a long and doubtful struggle, partially reduced them to subjection ; neverthe less, be was compelled to leave them in possession of Northumbria and East Anglia, and had not only to defend himself against a new and fierce invasion led by the famous rover Hastings (q.v.), but to contend against the revolts of his Dano Norman subjects, which continued to trouble his immediate successors. A period of external peace ensued; but. in 991 the invasions of the Danes and Norwegians began anew. The Saxon King, Ethel red 11., at first sought to buy them off by payMg a sort of tribute money, called Danegeld (q.v.) ; but the massacre of the Danes living in England, by command of that monarch, November 13, 1002, was avenged by four expeditions under the Danish King, Sweyn, who frightfully wasted the country, and finally conquered it in 1013, dying the fol lowing year. His son, Kurt. or Canute (q.v.), after carrying on a struggle for the supreme power with Ethelred and his successor Edmund Ironside (q.v.), at length, on the death of the latter, became sole monarch of England, which now remained under Danish or Norse rulers till 1042. The government of the country then re
verted into the Saxon hands of Edward the Con fessor (q.v.), who was succeeded in 1066 by I. (q.v.). son of the powerful Godwin q.v. ) , Earl of Wessex; but in (letober of the same year Harold lost his life and crown at the battle of Hastings, and William the Conqueror, a de scendant of a Norwegian chief who had settled in Normandy, once more established a Norse dynasty on the throne of England, It was also Danish Norsemen. in particular, who ravaged the western coasts of the European mainland. from the Elbe to the Garonne. As early as 810 the Danish King, Gottfried, had overrun Friesland; hut the power of Charles the Great was too much for these undisciplined bar barians, and they were overawed and subdued for a time. Soon after his death. however. they re eommeneed (c.S20) their piratical expeditions, and, favored by the weakness and dissensions of the Carolingian rulers, became, during the ninth century, the terror and scourge of North western Germany and France. They plundered Hamburg several times, ravaged the coasts of the Frisians (whose country then extended as far as the Scheldt ), and in 843 firmly planted them selves at the mouth of the Loire. Ere long they swarmed up the great rivers into the in terior of the country, which they devastated far and wide. In 842 they were at Rouen. In 845 they ascended the Seine and plundered Paris—an exploit which was frequently repeated. In 885 not less than 40,000 of these Vikings, in 700 ves sels. are said to have ascended the river from Rouen, under the leadership of one Siegfried, and besieged the capital for ten months. It was only saved at the expense of Burgundy, which was abandoned to their ravages. In 881 Louis III.. King of the NVest Frank., inflicted a severe defeat on the invaders at \ineu, near Abbeville. in Picardy; but neither that nor the repulse which they sustained from the brave German monarch Arnulf near Louvain in 801 could hinder them from making fresh irruptions. In 892 they ap peared before Bonn. and tradition says that bands of Danish rovers penetrated even into Switzer land, and established themselves in the Canton of Schwyz and the Vale of Hash. From their settle ments in Aquitania they proceeded nt an early period to Spain. plundered the cnasts of Galicia in 844, and subsequently landed in Andalusia, but were defeated near Seville by the Arab prince Alul-ur-Rahman. In 850-84i0 they forced their way into the Alediterranean, plundered the shores of Spain, Africa, and the Balearic Isles, and penetrated up the Illione as far as Valence; then, turning their piratical prows in the direction of Italy, entered the Tyrrhenian Sea, burned Pisa and Lucca, and actually touched distant Greece before their passion for destruction was satiated.