lightly constructed, and drew but little water, they were not only enabled to disembark at almost any point of the coast at pleasure, but could penetrate with ease up every river. Hauling them ashore, and leaving them sufficiently guarded, they commenced by putting the whole neighbourhood under contribution, and, when they did not find sufficient booty, advanced in quest of more into the interior of the country; then, safely embarking their spoils, hastily disappeared. But, the moment their treasures were landed on their own shores, they either returned to the scene of their late devastations, or tried their fortune in some other quarter not far remote, so that the people of one particular district might be repeatedly pillaged by the same hands. It sometimes happened that ample preparations had been made to receive them, in which case the Normans, whose only object was plunder, speedily retreated, but as quickly showed themselves elsewhere; whence again, if they perceived themselves likely to be foiled in their attempts, they would as hastily decamp. Thus the inhabitants of the countries exposed to their attacks, seeing them every moment in so many different quarters, naturally conceived very exaggerated notions of their number. England, during two centuries, was almost incessantly devastated by them and sometimes subdued; Ireland and Scotland were also subject to their incursions. 6 Before the reign of Charlemagne they were greatly feared; they had penetrated into every sea which bordered on his dominions; but that great prince, to prevent them from entering the rivers of his empire, stationed fleets at the mouths of them; the admirals were styled comites, ad custodiendam oram maritimam, deputati;' on his death, however, in 814, they became still more formidable. They spread like a devastating tempest over Lower Saxony, Friesland, Holland, Flanders, and ravaged the coasts of Courland, Livonia, and Pomerania. France was overrun by them, and at length utterly ruined. So great was the fear which the continental nations entertained of this people, that a supplication to be delivered from so dreadful a visitation was introduced into the litany, a furore Normannorum libera nos, Domine!' They even carried their arms into Spain, Italy, and Greece; so that after having gained the north-western extremities of Europe by land, they at length attained its south-eastern extremities by sea; thus, once again approaching the deserts of their ancestors. Robert Wace, Vace, or Vaice, or, as he calls himself, maistre Wace, a native of the island of Jersey, who had studied at Caen, wrote, at the request of Henry II., king of England, and duke of Normandy, the Roman de Rou (Rollo) et des Ducs de Normandie; in which performance he does not give by any means a favorable character of his forefathers: La gent de Danemarche fu toz tems orgueillose, Toz tems fu sorkuidée (presomptueuse), è mult fu convoitose; Fière fu, preisant (arrogante) gaie è luxuriose. Ne poout sa gent paistre tres tout li plus maṇanz (riches); Por Ne poout pas sufire quanque il gagnoient, A paistre li enfez, ki trop multiplioient. Des forz è des meillors, la terre délivroient : ço avint sovent ke par sort, kil gatoient (jetaient) Fust par terre, fust par mer, du païx les cachoient (chassaient); Cil fescient grant mal kel part ke il aloient. The first descent which the Normans made in England was in the year 787, when a small body landed, from three ships in Wessex, in order to reconnoitre the country. The reve, or magistrate of the place, summoned them to appear before the king, in order to account for the object of their visit, on which they slew him, and, retreating to their ships, departed. Six years afterwards they landed in Northumberland, and returning the next year plundered Wearmouth abbey; but some of their leaders being slain, and their ships much damaged by a storm, the whole of them were either drowned or put to the sword by the inhabitants. In 832 they pillaged the isle of Sheppey, and the next year disembarked at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire, where they were attacked by king Egbert: a desperate engagement ensued, in which, although the Normans had the advantage, they lost so many men that it was deemed advisable to retreat to their ships. In 835 a large body of them landed in West Wales, or Cornwall, and, being joined by the Britons, advanced into Devonshire, but were defeated by king Egbert at Hengesdown. Two years afterwards, having attacked Southampton, they were repulsed by Wulfherd, alderman or governor of the county; the same year they were attacked in the isle of Portland by Ethelhelm, the alderman, who at first gained ground, but eventually was defeated and slain. They also engaged the English in East Anglia and Kent, and defeated king Ethelwulf at Charmouth. It was about the year 808 that the coasts of France began to be grievously harassed by their attacks. A few years afterwards they sailed up the Seine, and endeavoured to penetrate into the interior of Neustria, but were repulsed. In 841 they again ascended the Seine, and pillaged all the places seated on its banks: four years afterwards, under the command of Regner Lotroc, or Lodbrog, king of Denmark, they advanced as far as Paris in 120 boats, and the city being abandoned on their approach, they acquired immense booty: the clergy and the monks, as usual, were the first to take flight, carrying with them their relics, and, that which they valued still more, their treasures. But, some years after this event, the Normans had the satisfaction of capturing this important corps de reserve. In the year 849 a large army under the command of Eric, who assumed the title of king of Denmark, landed from 600 vessels at Hamburgh, plundered the city and penetrated a great way into Germany. In 856 they again pillaged Paris, and burnt almost all the churches, a few only being spared, for which they received large ransoms. Two years after this, Hasten or Hading, better known as Hastings, their famous admiral, passed the straits of Gibraltar. He had previously sailed up the Somme, ravaged the adjacent country, and set fire to the towns; plundering the monasteries and churches, and drowning the bishop and clergy of St. Quentin. This he termed giving as much to the hogs as they could swill.' He then proceeded to Neustria. The magnificent abbey of Fécamp was one of the first objects of his attack; the nuns, it is said, disfigured their faces in order to escape the violence of the Normans; but, if they preserved their chastity by these means, they lost their lives, for the northmen brutally put them to the sword, and destroyed the convent. The abbey of Jumieges shared the same fate; but the lazy monks, amounting to 900, escaped with their relics. At length, not satisfied with the immense booty which had been acquired in France, Hastings resolved to visit Rome, of the riches of which he had heard exaggerated rumors. He accordingly put to sea, and, when arrived within the straits of Gibraltar, the work of devastation commenced: he plundered the coasts on the north and south, sacked several maritime towns of Spain and Africa, and, landing on the coast of Tuscany, assailed Luna, near Genoa, which he mistook for Rome, probably owing to some little similarity in the sound of Luna and Roma. The strength of the fortifications for some time baffled all his efforts, but, having at length entered its walls by stratagem, Hastings himself commenced operations by splitting the skull of the bishop at a blow; thus, as Maistre Wace exclaims, full of indignation, The followers of Hastings first despatched the clergy, and then massacred the count or governor, and his barons, the city being abandoned to pillage and slaughter. On his return home from Italy, where he had wasted his strength to no adequate end, he boasted of having destroyed the mistress of the world. About Easter, in 861, the Normans re-appeared at Paris, which they plundered and burnt, as well as the monastery of St. Germain-des-Près, in which they had the pleasure of surprising the monks, catching at last the hogs in the sty,' towards whom they entertained no very favorable predilection, and on whom they always wreaked their vengeance in preference to the laity, deeming the watchful dog to be much better than the lazy hog;' then, sailing up the river, they committed further depredations. Orleans, Poictiers, and Mans in Brittany, were taken and burnt; at the attack on the latter Robert Le Fort, duke of Paris, the ancestor of Hugh Capet, was slain. In 851 they again harassed England, and, notwithstanding they were worsted both on land and at sea, they ventured to take up their winter quarters in the isle of Thanet, see our article ENGLAND, whence they removed a year or two afterwards to the isle of Sheppey. In 866 Ethelred succeeded his brother Ethelbert: his whole reign was one continued scene of trouble, owing to the irruptions of the Normans. After many desperate conflicts, fought with various success, he was defeated by them at Basing, and shortly afterwards at Marden. At this critical juncture Ethelred died of a wound he had received, so that the cares of gover ment devolved on his brother Alfred, then twenty-two years of age, who was no sooner seated on the throne than he found himself compelled to take the field. No less than nine battles were fought that year, to the south of the Thames, besides innumerable skirmishes. ALFRED (see that article) continued for some years to make head against his formidable enemy; but, strong reinforcements continually arriving, the northmen were enabled to keep the field. At length another large body landed and surprised Chippenham; and Alfred could no longer bear up against the torrent that deluged the kingdom. At the expiration of a twelvemonth he received intelligence of a check the enemy had received; quitted his retreat, as we have stated; stormed the enemy's camp at night, being well acquainted with it, and put the whole of their army to flight. Those who escaped the slaughter took refuge in a fortified camp, which Alfred immediately reduced to great straits. By this decisive stroke he procured for himself and his subjects several years of repose, until his improvements and projects were cut short by death, in 901. now The Normans, thus discomfited in England, let loose all their fury against the continental states; and France, in particular, was doomed to feel this scourge with additional horrors. Hastings again made his appearance in that unfortunate country, his forces having been augmented by all his countrymen who had felt averse to accept Alfred's offer of settling peaceably in England, and he continued his ravages until it was no longer in a condition to subsist his army: smiling provinces were converted into so many deserts, and covered with the smoking ruins of towns and villages. France had scarcely begun to recover from his terrible ravages when another Norman chief appeared at the head of a powerful army. This was the celebrated Rollo. No historical event is more interesting, nor were the consequences of any of more importance, than this inroad of the Normans into Neustria; for the descendants of their successful leader were destined to subdue England, and not only to change its laws and customs, but the manners, and in some degree the language, of the country; events, which even now, excite our astonishment. Rollo had a few years before (about A. D. 870) incurred the displeasure of Harold, surnamed Harfagre, king of Denmark and Norway, in consequence of having disobeyed a proclamation issued by that monarch, shortly after he had completed the conquest of the latter country. Being desirous of procuring repose for his subjects, who inhabited the coasts, Harold prohibited all chieftains, under the severest penalties, from exercising any hostilities against their own country, notwithstanding which Rollo made a descent on the province of Viken, and carried off a great quantity of cattle. The king, happening to be in the neighbourhood, was greatly incensed at this, and instantly condemned him to perpetual banishment. But the decrees of sovereigns are sometimes more easily promulgated than executed, and thus it proved in this case. Deaf to the remonstrances of his honest and faithful counsellors, who represented to him the impolicy of driving from his country so powerful a man (for Rollo was the son of Rognevald or Roguald, the king's favorite iarl, a dignity similar to that of a feudal baron), and the danger of such a measure on account of the misfortunes he might occasion should he become desperate,-Harold remained inflexible. Rollo, after a long contest with that monarch, having been expelled his hereditary dominions, and entertaining but faint hopes of regaining possession of them, began to look towards the more genial and inviting countries of the south, as offering him a permanent if not a superior settlement. With this view he set about collecting a large body of troops, composed of Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, and other northern tribes, who had been induced by his reputation to join his standard; and, their numbers being augmented by several of his old subjects, he found himself at the head of a powerful army. He first sailed to the Hebrides, whither the flower of the Norwegian nobility had retired in disgust after Harold had obtained possession of their country; they immediately joined him, on which he directed his course towards England, against which long harassed country his first attempts were directed. But the wise and prudent chief soon perceived that in this enterprize he had but a poor prospect of success; Alfred had now for some years been seated on the throne; he had introduced into his dominions an order until then unknown, had rendered his subjects firmly attached to his government, and was fully prepared to repel any invader. Rollo, convinced that fewer obstacles would present themselves in that quarter, now therefore directed his operations against France; at this time under the feeble sway of Charles the Simple. Disembarking at Walcheren; he defeated the count of Hainault, and some other nobles, compelling the countess to pay an immense sum for her husband's ransom. He then bent his course towards Neustria, and sailing up the Seine took possession of Rouen. Pleased with its situation, he repaired the fortifications, and thus secured an important station, whence he could march upon any part of France. The whole kingdom was thrown into consternation. Hastings remained at Chartres, and the French king, conceiving that from his knowledge of the invaders he would be the best adapted for an envoy, requested him to ascertain from Rollo what object he had in view. He received for answer that the Normans were resolved to push their conquests as far as possible. Preparation for a vigorous defence was thereupon made, but resistance proved vain; the French were repeatedly defeated; Evreux, Bayeux, Nantes, and other considerable towns were taken, the whole of the western districts laid waste, and Paris itself was besieged. Not to enter at length into the events of this war, it may suffice to observe that the entire cession of the greatest part of Neustria followed, and that Charles, being unable to make head against so warlike and politic a chieftain, thought it advisable to relinquish to him part of his dominions rather than be dispossessed of the whole. The Normans, having thus obtained possession of the most fertile and valuable portion of the kingdom, retired, it is said, into Brittany, until their newly acquired dominions were reduced to a state of cultivation; for, in consequence of their own repeated devas tations, Neustria had been reduced to an uninhabitable desert. Charles had an only daughter, Giselle or Gisela, whom he offered in marriage to Rollo; and, independently of the territory which he was compelled to surrender by treaty, ceded to him as a marriage portion a considerable tract; but when it was intimated to the Norman duke, that it was requisite he should prostrate himself at the feet of the French monarch, and acknowledge him as his supreme lord, according to the feudal rites, he peremptorily refused to submit to such a ceremony, and it was a task of great difficulty to prevail on him to allow it to be performed by deputy. Rollo was soon after persuaded to embrace Christianity, and was baptised with much ceremony by the archbishop of Rouen, in the cathedral of that city, by the name of Robert, after the duke of Paris, who stood sponsor to him: a week after that event he received the hand of the princess Giselle. Many of his chiefs and followers submitted to baptism at the same time. Thus it was that Normandy became a separate and independent state; and Brittany, once a kingdom, sunk into an arrière fief. This was the origin of that renowned duchy, and of its ancient dukes, whose blood, mingled with that of the royal house of France, afterwards gave monarchs to England, and from among whose subjects, Sicily received her kings! The conquests of Rollo were slowly but securely made. Upwards of five-and-thirty years had elapsed from his first arrival, until the final cession of Neustria, during the whole of which pe riod he was occupied in consolidating his government, and in conciliating the affections of the Normans and the original inhabitants of the country. To the latter he allowed the free exercise of their religion, and his liberality in this respect was equalled by the refined policy which he evinced in other matters. Good legislators are the only true conquerors: his regulations for the security and administration of his new dominions would have done honor to the most experienced prince of a more polished age. To defend his states against the attacks of his enemies, he erected several strong forts and filled them with veteran troops: and, his long military experience having fully convinced him of the advantages of civilised warfare, he accustomed his followers to submit to regular discipline. On his countrymen he conferred lands and seignorial rights, while the taxes which he imposed on the conquered were far from severe. He conceded to both more extensive privileges than were at that time enjoyed in any other part of France; which encouraged the inhabitants of the neighbouring provinces to settle in Normandy. ment, after all, which Rollo established was however a sort of military aristocracy, the great body of the people having little or no authority either in framing or in ratifying laws; but, so long as the Norman dukes remained in the country, they were ruled with the greatest equity; although, after their accession to the English throne, the feudal barons, having no superior at The govern hand to watch their conduct, committed many excesses. To repair the devastations of preceding years he paid the greatest attention to agriculture; and such was the extraordinary fertility of the soil, and the skill and industry of its new proprietors, that Normandy in a few years became one of the finest provinces of Europe. He founded more churches and monasteries than he had destroyed; but he limited the privileges of the clergy, rendering them dependent on him as their temporal head. The system of internal administration which he established was rigorous, and he evinced great but necessary severity in his judicial capacity. Theft was punished with peculiar rigor, the punishment being proportioned to the offence: the culprit was condemned to lose a hand, a foot, his eyes, or even his life, according to the nature of his crime, and so great was the dread inspired by the examples which he made of some notorious offenders in this way, that the crime became almost unknown. We are informed by Wace that the peasantry were in the habit of leaving their agricultural implements in the fields at night, and that if any of these were stolen, and the thief remained undiscovered, the duke always made them good. Rollo, now far advanced in years, became desirous of repose, and began to think of withdrawing from the cares and toils of government. He determined to abdicate in favor of his son William, and applied himself with zeal and diligence to the final settlement of his dominions: having had the satis. faction of establishing perfect order throughout the state, and of securing a prompt and impartial administration of justice, he resigned the government in the year 917, and died in 922, universally and deservedly regretted. He was buried in the cathedral of Rouen, where his tomb is still to be seen. William I., second duke of Normandy, surnamed Longa-spatha or Longue-epée, assumed the reins of government on his father's abdication. Rollo having resigned the duchy to his son, with the consent of his subjects, this young prince promised to maintain the laws by which they had been always governed, as well as the statutes of his father: he in consequence did homage to Raoul, regent of France, who had usurp ed the royal authority. All historians agree in representing him as one of the most amiable and accomplished princes of his time, notwithstand ing which he fell a victim to the treachery of Arnoul, count of Flanders, at whose instigation he was assassinated at Pequigny on the 17th of December 942. He was also interred in the cathedral of Rouen, in the chapel opposite to that which contained the remains of his father. Richard I., surnamed the Old and the Hardy, succeeded his father while yet in infancy; for at the time of his death he was only ten years of age. Bernard the Dane, his guardian during his minority, and he himself after he had attained his majority, were incessantly occupied in counteracting the efforts of Louis IV. king of France, surnamed Transmarine, and the no less vigorous attempts of Lothaire, his successor, to recover possession of Normandy. During the twentyfive years that the late duke had reigned the Normans had become thoroughly incorporated with the French, and had acquired their language and manners. Great advances were made in civilisation; and the state of society must have improved rapidly, for on his assassination his son, although a child, tranquilly succeeded him. Duke Richard, being hard pressed by Lothaire, was under the necessity of calling to his aid an army of northmen; but his allies, not satisfied with laying waste the dominions of the French monarch, continued their devastations in Normandy, and were with difficulty prevailed on, even by the payment of large sums, to return home, and allow the two princes to come to amicable terms; for, as they truly observed, 'that was not what they came for.' Richard I. died in 996, after a long and glorious reign of fiftyfour years, and was interred in the abbey church of Fécamp. He was succeeded by Richard, his eldest son. Richard II., surnamed the Good and the Intrepid, fourth duke of Normandy, enjoyed less tranquillity than his father, treason and intrigue being during his reign often at work. Lothaire, who reigned in France when Richard succeeded, affected to consider this prince only as his lieutenant, whose duty it was to guard the frontiers of the kingdom, and therefore addressed him by the title of marquess. In consequence of this, some nobles, whom the former dukes had invested with fiefs of great dignity, thought themselves entitled to refuse doing homage for them to Richard. The count of Hiesmes, his natural brother, was of the number, and was richly punished for his temerity. Notwithstanding the singular specimen which his father had received of the friendship of the northmen, Richard II. was also under the necessity of summoning them to his assistance. He maintained himself with difficulty against the formidable attacks of Robert, king of France; and being at length in danger of losing the territory so gloriously acquired by duke Rollo, his great-grandfather, invited over the Danes from England. King Ethelred, although by no means sorry to be thus rid of them, was struck with the important effects that might attend an alliance with that warlike nation; for, although the Normans of France and England had been separated for nearly a century, they appeared to be ever ready to uphold the interests of those whom they still considered their countrymen. He was now a widower, and turned his thoughts towards Emma, one of the daughters of Richard I. and sister of the reigning duke, who was of exquisite beauty. He sent to demand her hand in marriage, which having been granted, she repaired to England in the year 1002, where her nuptials were celebrated. Ethelred being subsequently dispossessed of his kingdom, by Swein king of Denmark, was compelled to take refuge, with his queen and children, at the court of Normandy, where he was most hospitably received; but on the sudden death of the Danish monarch at Gainsborough, on the 3d of February 1014, the English, desirous of emancipating themselves from a foreign yoke, invited him to return home. The king, on his arrival, acting with uncommon promptitude and vigor, shortly obliged the Danes to quit the kingdom; but they soon returned again under Canute or Knute, overran great part of the country, and committed great excesses. At this unfortunate crisis Ethelred expired, on the 23d of April 1016, leaving his family and kingdom in the most dreadful circumstances. Prince Edmund, his eldest son, vigorously asserted his right to the crown, and had succeeded in obtaining possession of great part of the kingdom, when he was murdered at Oxford: the English now made no further opposition, quietly submitting to the government of Canute. The duke of Normandy, however, evinced a determination to espouse the cause of his nephews, Alfred and Edward, who were both at his court. He first sent ambassadors to Canute, to request him to cede to the two princes some part of the possessions of their ancestors. But the embassy arrived at a moment when the Danish monarch was so firmly seated on the throne that he at once and altogether refused the request. This so incensed Richard that he fitted out a large fleet, resolved to compel him, if possible, to do justice to these princes, and embarked for England with a numerous and powerful army. He was doomed however to witness the destruction of the greatest part of his fleet during a violent tempest, a loss which he could not easily repair. Canute in the meantime, feeling convinced that the Norman duke intended to attempt the restoration of his nephews, and aware of the danger to which he was exposed from the enmity of so warlike a people as the Normans, proposed to relinquish in favor of the former, part of the kingdom of Wessex, and made an offer of marriage to queen Emma, the widow of Ethelred, stipulating that the English crown shonld descend to the children of this marriage. These offers having been accepted, Emma once more repaired to England where she was married to Canute in 1017. Richard II. died in 1026, after a reign of thirty years, and was buried near his father in the abbey church of Fécamp. He was succeeded by his eldest son. Richard III., fifth duke, was no less exposed to the machinations of the seditious than his father; but the grief which his brother Robert caused him in taking possession of the county of Hiesmes and using every endeavour to supplant him (although his intrigues proved unsuccessful), shortened his days, and he died in 1028, having reigned only two years: some have said by poison, but this was never satisfactorily proved. Robert II., surnamed by his subjects the Liberal and the Magnificent, and by his enemies Robert the Devil, succeeded to the ducal throne. He had now attained the object of his wishes. Although his conduct towards his brother cannot but be severely condemned, his character as a sovereign commands our respect, for he proved himself a wise and just one. He acquired and preserved the affection of his subjects, and his valour caused him to be feared and respected by his enemies. It was owing to his powerful aid, that Henry I. of France took possession of the throne, notwithstanding the opposition of his younger brother Robert, who was supported by a powerful party. The French monarch repaired to Rouen to request his assistance, when Robert first sent to his aid 500 spearmen, and soon followed himself at the head of a large body of troops, and with them he placed Henry without opposi tion on the throne, and left his younger brother in possession of Burgundy. The king, grateful for so signal a service, protested that he would be always mindful of it, and immediately resigned to the duke of Normandy the cities of Chaumont and Pontoise. His protestations, however, appear to have been pretty soon forgotten. Robert's reign offers nothing further worthy of notice, if we except the custom which his vassals had adopted of making him presents when they did homage, and the address with which he caused the principal nobles of his duchy to acknowledge his natural son, William, as their sovereign, before his departure on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, on his return from which he died, July 2d 1035. William II., seventh duke of Normandy, and first king of England of the Norman line, over which he reigned by the title of William I., was born in 1024, and on the death of his father was only in the eleventh year of his age. His mother, Arlotta, was the daughter of William, Rollo, or Fulbert de Croy, generally reputed a tanner at Falaise, although it is more probable that he was a private gentleman of Normandy; it is at least very singular, if such was his profession, that be should have borne the illustrious name of de Croy. His father having induced the states to swear fealty to him before his departure for Jerusalem, carried him into France to do homage to the French king for the duchy, and left him under the care of that monarch. The moment that Robert's death became known several powerful nobles, descended from the ducal family, claimed the succession, which, in the common course of things, would have devolved on the count of Arques, half-brother by the father's side of the late duke; but the states declared they would not violate the oath they had taken, and that they were determined to acknowledge William. Ambassadors were thereupon despatched to the king of France to demand the young prince. On his arrival at Rouen, Raoul de Gace, constable of Normandy, was appointed his governor, while the discontented barons, bis kinsmen, broke out into open rebellion. The first claimant that appeared, was Roger de Tresney or Toeni, standard-bearer of Normandy, descended from Malahulcius, an uncle of duke Rollo: he was soon defeated and slain by Roger de Beaumont, who commanded the duke's forces. The next claimant was his uncle, William, count of Arques, and in fact the rightful heir to the crown. William put himself at the head of his army, and quickly obliged him to retreat to Arques, which he immediately invested: the king of France endeavoured to raise the siege, but was twice repulsed. After some time the count surrendered, and was sent into exile. Guy or Guido of Burgundy, count of Vernon, a son of Adelis or Alix, one of the daughters of duke Richard II., now preferred his claim, and his competitor appeared so formidable that William applied to the king of France for aid, and that monarch, either feeling compunction for having attacked a young prince already sur |