THE NORMANS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1195, 2 August 1911, Page 6

THE NORMANS.

PIRATES WHO FOUNDED MONARCHIES. THOUSANDTH ANNIVERSARY. "The peoplo of Normandy are just no* celebrating the thousandth year of their settlement in that country, tho noriod of 1000 years being counted, from tte meeting between Charles tho Simple and Hollo, which took place in Oil at Saint-Clair-snr-Kptc," says tho "Morning Post" in a highly interesting article. "At that time the Northmen had been for many years a. terror to tho coasts, and indeed for many years masters of tho lower basin of the Seine as well as of the lower waters, of tho Loire. Contemporary writers usually called them pirates, but they were not pirates in tho modern sense of the word. There was little seaboard trade with which they could interfere. Splendid Boats, "Their practice was bo harry and rob on land. _ One of their boats, which wa9 dug up in Norway thirty years ago, is seventy-six feet long and sixteen feet wide where the breadth of beam is tho greatest. It is only about four feet deep, and had no deck. Tho oars are about seventeen feet long, and the rudder was «. largo oar held on tho starboard side, the rowers' benches were short seats at tho boat s. sides, interrupted so as to leavo plenty of room for a free passaga fram bow to stern. Thirty-two round shields, about three feet in diameter, alternately red and black, were fixed round the boats sides, and there was also'found ii chessboard, of which tho pieces wero held in their places by pegs fixed in tho middle of each square, Evidently tho warriors had means of amusement during tho leisure of their voyages. Masters of the Seine. "When they landed for an expedition they seem to have made long and fast raids, helping themselves to- horses, and ready to fight either mounted or on foqt. Sometimes they made a fort on the river's bank, and there built smaller boats in order to penetrate far into the inferior. It was their raids which compelled tho inhabitants of most of the coasts of Europe to organise themselves for defence, and to put themselves under, the protection of such chiefs as could build torts as havens of security. By tho end of tho ninth century these raiders from tho sea had established themselves in a largo district on both sides of the Seine, and had made many incursions further inland. How French Kings Came, "The successful defence of Paris against nno of their attacks seems to have boon tho beginning of the rise of those Lords of Paris who eventually becamo Kings of France. Iu July, 911, an expedition of Northmen under Hollo was besieging Charlres when it was attacked by Robert Count of Paris, Richard Duke of Burgundy, and Ebles Count of Poitiers. The townsmen under their bishop made a sortie, and tho Northmen were defeated with great loss. The moment seemed favourable to make some sort of agreement with them, and on tho initiative of tho Archbishop of Rouen, King Charles the Simple was induced to come to terms with Rollo, the leader of the Northmen. "Tho Church had already been busy among tho Norman warriors, of whom a certain number had boon baptised, and, at tho meeting arranged by the Archbishop at Saiut-Clair, where the road from Paris to Rouen crosses tho River Epte, Rollo agreed to become the King's man, and tho King io confirm him in the lands which he had already conquered. The French Tongue. "Nothing is more remarkable than the progress of the Normans from the timo when thoir settlement was completed and recognised in Oil. Tho French language had only just taken shape. The earliest document .known to its historians, the famous Strasbourg Oath, might have been subscribed to as a boy by an old man present at the interview between Rollo and Charles. Yet, in a generation or two the Northmen had forgotten their mother tongue, and were speaking the best French of their time. They wore no longer Northmen biif Normans, and they wero in tho van of civilisation. They imported tho lw>st soldiers and mademuch of learning. They encouraged architecture, sacred and profane, as their cathedrals and their castles attest. They wero still tho best masters in the art of war. Gift of Organisation. "M. Albert-Petit, in his scholarly paper in the 'Revue des Deux Mondcs,' sums . up their qualities in a word when ho sayg that they were pre-eminontly men of organisation. Theirs if was in after times to create tho wonderful Sicilian Kingdom, and theirs, by their remarkable power of organisation, to givo now and long-last, ing shape to the Monarchy and tho political institutions of England. Thois gift of organisation was accompanied bv on equal power of aclnptibility. A few"gen-' orations of life in Normandy transformed them from Scandinavian corsairs into polished Frenchmen. A few generations of life in England transformed them from Frenchmen into Englishmen. Wherever they went they wero leaders, and becamo identified with tho population which they led.

"Their material traces are spread far and wide. The Norman Gnstlo may bo seen by the Heine and by many an English stream. But if may be seen also on the rocks of the Peloponnesus, and it may be seen in its supreme grandeur amid the hills of Syria—a monument of the energy with which the West has sought to penetrate the East and of the futility of the effort. Tot the East is willing to learn from tho West tho lessons of force. The casl'lo built by tho Turks to domi.n. ate the Bosphorus is a proof that the House of Otlnunn learned something from tho llouso of Rollo.

Shapers of Destinios. "Possibly the greatest work of tho Nor. mans lay entirely outside tho scope of their ideas and their intentions. It was their presence which shaped tho destinies of 1 ranee. In resistance to thorn tho Lords of Paris were compelled to become strong and to lay tho foundations of the l'rcneh Monarchy. Through resistance to the Monarchy which thoy founded in Eng. land, tho French nation caiuo into being. This is the instinctive, if not tho historical, justification of what might at first sight seem the anomalous combination of the celebration of the thousandth anniversary of the formation of Normandy, with ceremonies performed in memory of the Maid, tho now canonised representative of French national feeling, A Unique Voyage, "A touch of realism was given to the Norman fetes by the arrival at Rouen of five Norwegian students in a Norwegian dralcar," says "The Times'." "Wishing to re-enact tho exploits of their ancestors a thousand years ago, fivo men left Chris, tiauin in the middle of last mouth and covered (he voyarto, partly sailing and partly rowing. They aro said to havo been somewhat fatigued on their arrival when they were welcomed by large crowds assembtod on'tho quays." ' WHEN YOU ARE KEPT AWAKE at night with that .troublesome cough, remember that it can be speedily ■ removed / by Dr. Sheldon's Key Discovery. Price, Is. Gd. and 3s. per bottle.* J One. result of the extension nf wireless telegraphy (says Mr. Maieoni) is.thatbusv people can no lon-er find quiet on board ship. For Children's Hacking Cough at Night, \\ cods' Great Peppermint Cure. Is iid. • Owing to labour dispute* in the United Kingdom during tho last year, workmrn lest timo amounting in all to 9,T22,503 days. At an inquest held at Stepney, a woman, aged 12, informed the corouor that she had kid 22 children, but only six were now living. No fewer than sixteen racehorses' with names beginning with "Baclieior" arc ia traiuing in England this For . Chrome -~rm Complaints, Woods'ur, a I r> |,|:n-.,.,:' ~.■. Is. Oil.' Ireland produces in proportion to its papulation by far the greatest number of supposed centenarians in the Britisa Isles. There aro considerably ovor 1100 flyiufr pigeon clubs in England. Over .£450,000,000 wore spent on alcoholic liquor last year by the United States.