Osprey - Warrior 01 - Christopher Gravett - Norman Knight 950-1204 AD (2006).pdf - Wikingowie-Waregowie-Normanowie - MMarkMMark

First published in Great Britain in 1993 by

Osprey, an imprint of Reed Consumer Books Limited,

Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road,

London SW3 6RB

Dedication

For Jane, with thoughts of Jumièges.

and Auckland, Melbourne, Singapore and Toronto

Acknowledgements

I should like to thank the following for many hours of

useful discussion, argument and for advice: Andrew

Bodley, Chris Dobson, Ian Eaves, Brian Gilmour,

Jeremy Hall, Mark Harrison, Dr. David Nicolle and

Karen Watts.

©. 1993 Reed International Books Limited

Reprinted 1994 (twice)

purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as

permitted under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act,

1988, no part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, electronic, electrical, chemical,

mechanical, optical, photocopying, recording or

otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright

owner. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publishers.

Artist's Note

Readers may care to note that the original paintings

from which the colour plates in this book were

prepared are available for private sale. All

reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the

publisher. All enquiries should be addressed to:

Scorpio Gallery

PO Box 475

Hailsham

E. Sussex BN27 2SL

The publishers regret that they can enter into no

correspondence upon this matter.

ISBN 1 85532 270 6

Filmset in Great Britain

Printed through Bookbuilders Ltd, Hong Kong

Publisher's Note

Readers may wish to study this title in conjunction

with the following Osprey publications:

MAA 85 Saxon, Viking and Norman Armies

MAA 171 Saladin and the Saracens

MAA 89 Byzantine Armies 886-1118

MAA 75 Armies of the Crusades

MAA 231 French Medieval Armies 1000-1300

Elite 9 The Normans

Elite 3 The Vikings

Campaign 13 Hastings 1066

For a catalogue of all books published by Osprey Military

please write to:

The Marketing Manager,

Consumer Catalogue Department,

Reed Consumer Books Ltd,

Michelin House, 81 Fulham Road,

London SW3 6RB

THE NORMAN KNIGHT

HISTORICAL

BACKGROUND

During the Viking incursions of the 9th and 10th

centuries, England and north-western France

suffered particularly. In or about 911, Charles III

(the Simple), King of the West Franks, was forced to

allow a chieftain called Rollo, operating in the Seine

valley, to settle his men on territory in what is now

upper or eastern Normandy bounded by the rivers

Bresle, Epte, Avre and Dives. The Treaty of St.-

Clair-sur-Epte has come down in a semi-legendary

form. In return for the gift of land the king would be a

nominal overlord, possibly recognising Rollo's con-

version to Christianity and receiving military aid.

The new state would also act as a buffer against

further raiding. Rollo soon expanded his territories

into lower or western Normandy. In 924 the Bessin

and districts of Sees and Exmes were granted to him,

whilst his son and successor, William Longsword,

gained the Cotentin and Avranchin in 933.

to have been Norwegian but the settlement of Vikings

soon saw the new creation given the name of

Normandy — land of the Northmen. It was not long

before the Normans in upper Normandy, their ducal

base at Rouen, began to adapt themselves to French

custom and largely adopted what is now termed the

Old French tongue. In lower Normandy Scandi-

navian customs tended to linger and for a time the

two areas lived uneasily with one another. This state

was ended after a revolt of lords, largely in Lower

Normandy, was crushed at Val-és-Dunes in 1047 by

the youthful Duke William II and King Henry I of

France. Thereafter William set about establishing a

ducal presence in the west at Caen and tied his lords

more closely, assisted by the old unifying boundaries

of metropolitan Rouen.

The newly defined boundaries fitted less those of

the Carolingian province of Neustria than the old

Roman province of the Second Lyonnaise. From

this, Rouen had become the metropolitan head of the

province and remained as the most important city of

the new Norman duchy. The new settlers spoke

Scandinavian and had come to a country in which the

native population was Gallo-Roman with an overcul-

ture of Germanic Frankish lords. Rollo at least seems

Knights of the early nth

century lunge at one

another with lances, as

portrayed in 'The Vision of

Habukuk' from the

northern French Bible of

St Vaast. The horses are

shown at a standstill as

opposed to the galloping

stance usual in the later

nth and 12th century. It

also highlights the use of

the lance as a thrusting

weapon rather than

couched under the arm in

the charge. Note the mail

neck-guard on the left-

hand figure who otherwise

appears to be unarmoured,

suggesting that, unusual at

this date, the mail is

possibly attached to the

brim of the helmet.

(Bibliothèque Municipale,

Arras, Ms 435)

The Norman dukes had always had an uneasy

relationship with the French king. As nominal

overlord they owed him feudal fealty and whilst

Normandy was in formation the king was content.

After Duke William's victory at Val-é-Dunes the

new stability disturbed the monarch who decided the

duchy was becoming too powerful for comfort. He

therefore allied himself with the Angevins on the

southern borders of Normandy. Anjou would always

be a rival for the land along the southern marches and

here lay perhaps the most contested border. In 1054

and again in 1057 King Henry, allied with Count

Geoffrey of Anjou, led forces into Normandy. He was

beaten off both at Mortemer and Varaville, leaving

William in a strong position.

When William's second cousin, Edward of Eng-

land, died in 1066 the Duke swore he had been named

as heir during that king's previous exile in Nor-

mandy. The Angevin count and the French king had

both died in 1060; the new king was a minor in the

wardship of William's father-in-law; the Bretons to

the west had been given a show of strength. Under

these auspicious circumstances the duke made his bid

for the English crown. Harold, the new king, was

beaten near Hastings and William at a stroke had

brought a new and rich kingdom under the sway of

Normandy. As king of England he now increased his

power enormously. Unfortunately the cohesion of

this situation was never strong. His sons squabbled as

each wished to control all. William Rufus succeeded

his father in 1087 but died whilst hunting in the New

Forest in 1100. His young brother, Henry, took the

throne and imprisoned his elder brother, Robert of

Normandy. Tragedy robbed Henry of a male heir

when his own son drowned in the White Ship disaster

in the Channel. Consequently civil war broke out on

Henry's death in 1135 between his daughter, Ma-

thilda, and his nephew, Stephen, who had been made

king by barons hostile to a woman's rule.

The war made the lords aware of how difficult it

was to owe fealty to a duke of Normandy and an

English king. On Stephen's death in 1154 Mathilda's

son, Henry, took the crown. Henry, who had inher-

ited the county of Anjou from his father, marked the

beginning of the Plantagenet line of kings; England

was now part of an Angevin empire that stretched

from the borders of Scotland to the Pyrenees. The

country, of course, was still essentially an Anglo-

Norman realm. However, now lords were forced to

renounce dual control of cross-Channel possessions,

either settling in England or Normandy. It was the

French king, Philip II Augustus, who finally wrested

the duchy from the control of the English crown.

Unsuccessful against Henry's bellicose son, Richard

the Lionheart, he nevertheless managed to take it

from Richard's brother, John.

The energy of the Normans carried them beyond

Normandy and England. At the same time as

adventurers were conquering England, other Nor-

mans were carving out kingdoms in southern Italy

and Sicily. Mercenaries had fought in a revolt against

the Byzantines in Italy as early as 1017 and began

settling in about 1029 but it was not until 1041 that

Robert Guiscard and his followers began to seize land

for themselves. The Pope recognised their pos-

sessions around Apulia and Calabria in 1059, hoping

to use the Normans as a counter to pressures from the

emperor in the German lands to the north. By 1071

Circular shields were used

until about AD 1000 when

they were supplemented

by the kite-shaped variety.

This survivor is from the

Gokstadship burial in

Norway and dates to about

goo. Although a funeral

piece it was probably-

made in similar fashion to

war shields. It is

constructed from butted

planks, presumably glued

together, and is fitted with

a typical Scandinavian low

hemispherical boss. The

metal bands at rear are

modern supports.

(University Museum of

National Antiquities, Oslo.

Photograph: L.Pedersen)

they had taken Bari, effectively ending Byzantine

control. The invasion of Sicily began in 1060 and was

not completed for 31 years. Initially ruled separately,

the states came under one authority in 1127, being

recognised as a kingdom three years later. In about

1134 a successful invasion of Tunisia was under way,

taking advantage of internal feuding between the

Zirid rulers. From 1148 until its collapse by 1160 the

Normans ruled an area from Tunis to the Gulf of

Sirte. Despite attempts to attack the Greek mainland

and the capture of Thessaloniki, the Siculo-Norman

kingdom was riven by discord which ended in 1194

with the invasion by the German Hohenstaufen

Emperor, Henry VI.

Normans were also very much in evidence in the

1st Crusade. Two of the leaders were Duke Robert of

Normandy and Bohemond of Taranto with his

contingent of south Italian fighters. Bohemond went

on to set up the principality of Antioch in Syria.

Situated on a trade route and the richest Crusader

state, the port of Lattakieh was the final town of the

principality to fall to the Muslims in 1287.

CHRONOLOGY

The cutting sword usually

had a fuller running for

much of the blade's length.

These examples are fitted

with a tea-cosy pommel

from as early as the 1 0th

century, a brazil-nut

pommel, popular from the

late 10th century until

about 1150, while the 12th

century sword on the right

has a disc pommel and is

possibly Italian. (By kind

permission of James

Pickthorn. Reproduced by

permission of the Trustees

of the Wallace Collection,

London)

911 Treaty of St.-Clair-sur-Epte. Rollo becomes

first duke of Normandy.

931 Death of Rollo. Succeeded by his son, William I

Longsword.

942 Death of William I. Succeeded by his son,

Richard the Fearless.

996 Death of Richard. Succeeded by his son,

Richard II, the Good.

1017 (?) First Norman mercenaries arrive in south-

ern Italy.

1 026 Death of Richard II. Succeeded by his son,

Richard III .

1027 Death of Richard III. Succeeded by his bro-

ther, Robert the Magnificent.

1028 (?) Birth of William the Conqueror.

1035 Death of Robert. Succeeded by his illegitimate

son as Duke William II.

1041 Battle of Monte Maggiore. Italo-Norman mer-

cenary rebels defeat Byzantine army.

1047 Battle of Val-és-Dunes. Duke William defeats

Norman rebels.

Osprey - Warrior 01 - Christopher Gravett - Norman Knight 950-1204 AD (2006).pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: