The Normans; told chiefly in relation to their conquest of EnglandJewett, Sarah Orne
History
The Normans; told chiefly in relation to their conquest of England
Jewett, Sarah Orne
Great Britain -- History -- Norman period, 1066-1154; Normans
The Viking's grandchildren had by no means lost their love for
journeying by land or sea. As in old Norway one may still find bits of
coral and rudely shaped precious stones set in the quaintly wrought
silver ornaments made by the peasants, so in Normandy there are pieces
of Spanish leather and treasures from the east and from the south,
relics of the plundering of a later generation. Roger de Toesny, one
of William's fiercest enemies, does not become well-known to us until
we trace out something of his history as a wanderer before he came to
join Talvas in a well-planned rebellion.
In Duke Richard the Good's time there was a restless spirit of
adventure stirring in Norman hearts, and the foundations were laid of
the Southern kingdoms which made such a change in Europe. A Norman
invasion of Spain came to nothing in comparison with those more
important settlements, but in 1018 Roger de Toesny carried the Norman
[Pg196] arms into the Spanish peninsula. A long time before this
Richard the Fearless had persuaded a large company of his Scandinavian
subjects to wander that way, being pagan to the heart's-core and
hopelessly inharmonious. Roger followed them on a grand crusade
against the infidel Saracen, and also hoped to gain a kingdom for
himself. He was of the noblest blood in Normandy, of Rolf the Ganger's
own family, and well upheld the warlike honor of his house in his
daring fights with the infidel. Almost unbelievable stories are told
of his cannibal-like savagery with his captives, but the very same
stories are told of another man, so we will not stop to moralize upon
Roger's wickedness. He married the Spanish countess of Barcelona, who
did homage to the king of France, and every thing looked prosperous at
one time for his dominion, but it never really took root after all,
and de Toesny went back again to Normandy, and blazed out instantly
with tremendous wrath at the pretentions of William the Bastard. He
could not believe that the proud Norman barons and knights would ever
submit to such a degradation. De Talvas was only too glad to greet so
sympathetic an ally, and the opposition to the young duke took a more
formidable shape than ever before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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