Duke Richard I of Normandy (932-996), to whom his contemporaries gave the nickname "without Fear" is relegated to popular memory in favor of other personalities from the same dynasty, his grandfather Rollo or his great-grandson Guillaume the Conqueror... And yet, Richard I, master of Normandy from 943 to 996 AD. J.C, appears as a major figure in the history of the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of France. The historian François Neveux writes:“the principality of Richard I was a period of strengthening and consolidation which lasted half a century, that is to say two generations. It was during this period that Normandy was truly formed, that it acquired its original personality and its specific characteristics, immediately distinguishing itself from the other principalities of the kingdom in the process of formation”.
An ascension to the ducal dignity of Richard I
The sources are relatively poor on Richard's early years. We know that he was born around 930 and was baptized by Bishop Henri de Bayeux_. A few physical traits of his person appear in the Ascending Chronicle of the Roman de Rou in which Wace writes in verse 236 "Cheveleüre out bloie (blond) mez rousor (red) troubled", which underlines the Duke's Scandinavian origins by recalling this capillary particularity of the descendants of vikings to shoot blond and red. Dudon de Saint-Quentin writes that he is "remarkable for his eyebrows and the brilliance of his eyes, possessing a nose and superb cheeks, a long white beard, he was tall...". A handsome man in short and a proud Norman.
Some time before dying, Duke Guillaume Long-Sword had his son associated with his crown, in the feudal tradition which aimed to root the reigning dynasty, by having him recognized before all his barons gathered in assembly at Fécamp:"He will be your next lord after me." I ask you to take an oath of fidelity to him today”; favorable opinion of the vassals who swear to recognize Richard as legitimate heir to the duchy. In order to perfect his education and keep him in the tradition of his ancestors, Guillaume entrusted him to one of his vassals, Bothon, a former companion of Rollo, who took him to Bayeux to learn Norse, the rough language of the Scandinavian peoples still spoken in the north of the duchy. “Ricard sur en daneiz (danois) et en normant parle”, learning from which he later benefits by calling his “cousins”, King Harald’s Vikings, to the rescue in his disputes with the king of France.
In December 942, Guillaume Longue-Épée was assassinated in obscure circumstances in Picquigny (see online article by Joëlle Delacroix on Duke Guillaume). The Duke's only male heir, Richard inherited his father's title and lands when he was only 10 or 11 years old. While he was going to Rouen to attend the funeral, a regency council met. The oath of homage to young Richard is confirmed by all the barons who recognize him as Jarl of the Normans and Count of Rouen. This one receives from the archbishop of Rouen the ducal circle, the coat and the sword, the insignia of the duke. Bernard le Danois, a former companion of Rollo, presides over a council of regency while Osmond de Cent-villes takes care of the education of the young duke.
The King of France, Louis IV d'Outremer (920-954) is the overlord of the Dukes of Normandy. As such, his theoretical duty is to punish the murderer of his vassal William. Ambitious, he prefers to let himself be convinced, in particular by the Count of Flanders who is involved in the assassination, that the moment is right to put an end to the growing power of the Normans. He goes to Normandy under the pretext of avenging the death of Guillaume and meets Richard whom he welcomes in his apartments. The King of France declared that he wanted to treat the little duke as his own son and proposed to take him to Laon so that he could receive an education worthy of his rank. There is nothing extravagant in the fact that a miner goes to the court of his suzerain to perfect his education and Richard leaves for Laon, accompanied by his tutor, Osmond de Saint Quentin.
The paternalistic benevolence of the King of France is feigned and Guillaume sees himself ''locked up'' in Laon. He was forbidden to leave the city and while he was going on a hunting trip, Louis IV summoned him and called him a son of a whore (metrecis filium), threatening to gouge out his eyes and burn his red-hot shanks in the event of a recurrence, a measure which would destroy any chance of him being able to fulfill his duties as duke in the future. Despite increased surveillance over the person of the young duke, Osmond de Cent-Ville manages to get his ward to escape by disguising himself as a groom and, when the attention of the guards has slackened, to hide Richard in a haystack that he he carries on his shoulders to lead him to the stables. They flee together to the castle of Senlis, held by Richard's uncle, Count Bernard.
The Count of Flanders then convinced the King of France to engage in warlike action against the Normans by allying himself with the Duke of France and Count of Paris Hugues le Grand, son of King Robert I of France. At the end of this conquest, which everyone thought was quick and easy, Normandy would be shared between the three lords. Hugues attacks Bessin and lays siege to Bayeux while the royal host is heading towards the Pays de Caux at the same time.
Unable to counter-attack against this coalition, Bernard the Dane and the Norman lords devise a scheme. They swear an oath of vassalage to the King of France to make him give up attacking the duchy militarily, presenting him as already acquired in his power. The king goes to Rouen where the Normans explain to him the danger represented by the troops of Hugh the Great, and the partition he has concluded with him as being against him:"Sire you could have peace in all of Normandy, but why take the land (...) to give it (to the Count of Paris)? ". The king sends a messenger to Hugh to tell him that peace has been signed and that he must return to his lands within three days. Desiring to take revenge, the latter concludes an alliance in principle with the Normans who at the same time call on the king of Denmark, Harald "to the Blue Tooth", to send troops to Normandy to support Duke Richard militarily. /P>
Worried about this alliance, the King of France returned to Normandy with his army, accompanied by Herluin de Montreuil, the instigator for some of the assassination of Duke Guillaume. On July 13, 945, a battle took place in the Salines de Corbon during which Herluin was killed and the King of France was taken prisoner by Norman troops. The latter was released only after paying a large ransom, offering his two sons Lothaire and Carloman as hostages (Carloman died during his imprisonment) and recognizing Richard, then aged 13, as the true Duke of Normandy and the heir undisputed by his father. During an interview in Laon between Richard and Louis IV, the latter swore never to attempt anything against Normandy and never to demand any of the services normally imposed by allegiance, in particular war service. Richard, recognizes the king as his suzerain, even if he owes him no duty. The traditional relationship of vassal to suzerain is reversed and Richard appears as the only master in his kingdom. His status is reinforced by the alliance he seals with Hugh the Great who offers him his daughter Emma in marriage. Richard goes to Paris where he is knighted by his future father-in-law and the engagement is recorded.
An endlessly coveted duchy
New alliance and new distrust of King Louis IV who can only worry about seeing the two greatest lords of his kingdom, neighbours, moreover, to get along and form alliances. The count of Flanders - him again - proposes to the king to appeal for military aid from his brother-in-law the king of Germany Otto I (his wife's brother) by proposing to cede to him the rights of suzerainty that he holds on Lorraine, subject of continual discord between the two kingdoms.
In exchange, Otto must help him militarily to conquer Normandy. The coalition first attacks the possessions of Hugh the Great but fails to take Orleans in which he has taken refuge. She then headed for Normandy, plundering Pontoise and making her way to Rouen, the capital of the duchy. The coalition army is numerous and does not have to fear the Norman troops on a battlefield, which is why the vanguard, commanded by Otto's nephew, takes the risk of approaching Rouen without waiting the bulk of the troops. The Norman horsemen ambushed him, cut the German knights to pieces and killed the king's nephew.
Franco-German troops lay siege to the city and attempt an assault which is repulsed with heavy losses. After several weeks where the situation does not evolve, Otto asks Duke Richard the possibility of being able to go to the city to go and pray on the relics of Saint-Ouen, perhaps with the idea of being able to judge for himself. the state of the defenses and the morale of the inhabitants. One ploy calling for another, the Normans organize a scene to give the king the impression that the city has abundant resources:all that the city has in terms of food and commodities is exposed on the path that leads Otton from the gate from the city to the Church where the relics are kept. Returning to the camp, he declares that he will lift the siege the next day because the city is too well prepared and continuing the siege is pointless.
In an excess of anger, he threatens to deliver the Count of Flanders to Richard because he believes that he has deceived him by promising him an easy victory. The Count of Flanders, not reckless, is informed of these words and takes advantage of the night to leave the siege with his troops. The flight of the Flemings did not go unnoticed and defeatist rumors were heard in the camp of the besiegers. As the day progresses, more and more men imitate the army of the Count of Flanders and pack up. The Normans, who saw the troops slipping away and the enemy camp disorganized, made a sortie which caused the collapse of the remaining armies. They are pursued into the wood of Maupertuis where the rear guard of the fugitives is massacred. The victorious return of Duke Richard to Rouen is triumphant "granting the fame of a duke who defeats two kings by his power".
Some time later, the King of France died following a bad fall from his horse. His eldest son, Lothaire is only 14 years old and cannot succeed him yet. Hugh the Great, who could have asserted his rights to the crown, preferred to withdraw and in exchange received the suzerainty of Aquitaine and Burgundy, as well as the charge of guardian of Lothair. He himself died two years later, on June 16, 956, naming the Duke of Normandy guardian of his three children, and had his daughter Emma's engagement confirmed with Richard.
Aged around 25, Richard appears as the undisputed master of his kingdom, the first vassal of the King of France, engaged to the daughter of Hugh the Great. His personal fame and the peace that reigns in his duchy stir up the jealousy and greed of his powerful neighbors. The Count of Chartres and Blois, Thibaut le Tricheur, vassal of Hugh the Great, took advantage of the latter's death to emancipate himself and did not recognize his son Hugues Capet as his lord. Similarly, after the death of the Duke of Brittany Alain Barbetorte, Thibaut and his brother-in-law Foulque d'Anjou shared the suzerainty of the duchy without taking into consideration the Norman guardianship over Breton territory.
Thibaut conspires with the King of France Lothaire and offers him an alliance against the Duke of Normandy, claiming the danger that the power of his vassal represents for his own crown. An assassination attempt in which Brunon, the king's uncle and Archbishop of Cologne offers Richard an interview to lure him into an ambush is discovered and Richard escapes. A second assassination attempt is planned but this one also fails.
A new coalition composed of the royal host, the armies of the Count of Flanders, Count Thibaut and his brother-in-law the Duke of Anjou quickly penetrates Normandy but is repelled by Norman troops. A great council is assembled in Melun where the ban and the rear ban of the royal host are convened, and a project of invasion of Normandy planned. The army returns to Normandy, takes Évreux which surrenders to the royal troops without a fight and then heads for Rouen, the main target of the invasion plan. The troops are camped on the edge of the forest on the other side of the river but during the night, the Normans cross the Seine on boats, take by surprise the army of Thibaut who is still sleeping and massacre it.
The victory of the Normans in the forest of Rouray opens the way to the capital of Count Thibaut, Chartres, which is taken and burned. The Count called to his aid the troops of the Count of Flanders, of the royal host, of Geoffroy d'Anjou and that of Count Rotrou de Perche. Faced with this multitude, Richard sends a messenger to the King of Denmark to ask for his help. Harald, too old to undertake the journey, dispatches forty ships which take the road to Normandy. Danish troops raid the lands of Count Thibaut and the King of France. The ferocity with which they are unleashed is such that the nobles of the kingdom openly criticize the king for being the person behind such a calamity.
In 965, a meeting took place in Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between Richard, Thibaut and Lothaire during which the Duke of Normandy confirmed his oath of vassalage to the king of France in whom he owes faith and homage. The king promises in return never again to lend a hand to the duke's enemies and to come to his aid if a lord attacks him. Thibaut is granted peace in exchange for the restitution of Évreux and a promise never to act against Normandy again. Until Richard's death, thirty-one years later, the duchy is no longer threatened by anyone.
Duke Richard:a mighty among the mighty
Richard is truly what you might call powerful. Vassal without duty of the King of France, the affairs of his duchy concern only him, the King of France does not have the slightest stronghold in Normandy. His ducal power is reinforced by his marriage to Emma, the daughter of Hugh the Great, from the branch of the Robertians with whom he is, from 960, (date of his marriage) associated, even if the union will remain sterile. .
After a war declared by King Lothair against his cousin Emperor Otto II of Germania in 978, during which the city of Paris was besieged and defended by Hugh Capet, the King of France appears to his vassals as a warlike sovereign while the Count of Paris, as a courageous person, garnering the esteem of all the nobility. The personal virtues of Hugh are to be associated with the importance of the lands and troops at his disposal, surpassing those of the King of France.
Lothaire died suddenly at Laon on March 2, 986. His son, Louis, already associated with the throne in 979, became King of France under the name of Louis V. March 22, 987 , a year after his coronation, he died following a fall from a horse during a hunt, without an heir. The last claimant to the throne of France from the Carolingian branch is the youngest son of Louis IV d'Outremer and the brother of King Lothaire, Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine. He himself considers himself the natural successor of his nephew, but the assembly of barons meeting in June in Senlis to choose a new king reproaches him for having paid homage for his lands to the Emperor Otto "a thing which too harshly angered the barons of France” and preferred the Count of Paris Hugues Capet to him. The Duke of Normandy provides strong support to his former pupil during the election and immediately recognizes himself as his faithful vassal.
Richard becomes a vassal and trusted advisor to the King of France. He helps him militarily during the siege of Melun in 991. Similarly, while the Flemings, revolted against Hugues are attacked by royal troops, Richard, in front of the supplication of the count of Flanders, intercedes in favor of this denarius and pushes the king to start peace talks.
Internationally too, Richard is a man who counts. He maintains good relations with the king of Norway and Denmark Harald who is a cousin of his. After a period of stormy relations with the King of England Aethelred II, an agreement is signed which promotes commercial relations between the two states. Richard also managed to restore his authority over the Duchy of Brittany and to impose non-aggression treaties on his main political rivals (Anjou, Flanders, Blois) who sometimes called on him for help, such as Eudes I of Blois who fought against the Count of Anjou Foulque Nerra in 992.
Richard's political and religious work
The Duchy of Normandy is endowed, under the principality of Richard, with a unique code of laws. The charters, written in Latin, take up elements of Carolingian rights in force in the Frankish world and associate them with Scandinavian customs, such as the right to exile "ullac" or the formal prohibition against attacking a house at gunpoint " Hamfara”. Other Norse laws, in particular those concerning maritime law (monopoly of the right of wrecks, stranding of marine mammals which are reserved for the person of the duke alone) are validated.
Proud of his Scandinavian origins, Richard entrusts Dudon, canon at Saint-Quentin then Chancellor to the Duke, with writing the history of his dynasty since Rollo. This chronicle, continued after the Duke's death at the request of Raoul d'Ivry, was then continued by Guillaume de Jumièges and served as a basis for Norman historians such as Wace and Ordéric Vital in the 12th century.
To ensure the support of the bishops of his duchy, Richard distributes ecclesiastical offices to various members of his family. His son, Robert "the Dane", Count of Évreux was appointed Archbishop of Rouen.
Mystical like his father was, Richard undertook a large number of religious constructions, donations and foundations during his reign. He began the construction of the cathedral in Rouen, raised the abbey of Fécamp which had been destroyed by the Vikings in the 9th century and founded a college of canons there. He also restored the abbey of Saint Taurin and favored the establishment of the rule of Saint-Benoît in his duchy, notably at Mont-Saint-Michel where he placed twelve Benedictine monks, including Maynard, prior of Saint-Wandrille who became first abbot of the Mont in 966. At Saint-Michel, he began work on the abbey church and the Notre-Dame-sous-Terre chapel and donated "gold and silver panels, chalices in gold with crosses and candelabra of fantastic weight »_. These donations were confirmed at Richard's request by the King of France and Pope John's legate.
In the Ascending Chronicle of the Roman de Rou, Wace summarizes this religious work in verses 245-247:
For his funeral, Richard ordered a stone sarcophagus, asking that it be placed in the Church of the Trinity in Fécamp, consecrated shortly before his death around 990, "asking that on a feast day, it is filled to the brim with wheat to be distributed to the poor with an alms of five sous”. When in 996, he was stricken with fever, he went to Fécamp to appoint his successor there. Having never had children with his wife Emma, he chooses the son he had with Gonnor, his frilla (his concubine), wife more danico, (in Danish fashion), Richard as heir.
He died the same year and was buried according to his wishes under the gutter of the church of Fécamp. A large crowd attends his funeral and disrupts the course of the funeral. His half-brother Raoul d'Ivry, who could not arrive in Rouen until the day after the funeral, went with the bishops to his tomb to pay homage to him. Lifting the lid, he would have found the body of the duke intact, "a sweet smell of turpentine and balsam" emanating even from the corpse which is said to be "in the odor of sanctity".
The legacy of a great leader
Despite a complicated start to his reign due to the ambition of the King of France and the Count of Flanders, Richard imposed himself at the head of his duchy. He consolidates, with the help of his Danish allies, the borders of Normandy and restores order there. Its charters, written in Latin, form a unique Norman legal code. Religious, he founded and restored many religious establishments which he endowed richly. His reign reflects the transition from a decentralized Normandy attached to Scandinavian customs to a strong state, Christianized and perfectly integrated into the Frankish world.
Richard will have lacked this conquering dimension so that his prestige and his courage, however proven, did not equal that of his successors, from William the Conqueror to Richard the Lionheart. In the preamble to a study devoted to Duke Richard, N. Cazauran writes:we said it for a long time, at least jokingly”.
Bibliography
Sources
- SAINT QUENTIN, Dudon de, De moribus et actis promorum Normaniae
- Wace, Le Roman de Rou, ed. A.J Holden, 3 vol., Paris, Picard, 1970
Works and works
- BAUDUIN Pierre, The First Normandy (10th-11th century), Presses Universitaires de Caen.
- CAZAURAN N. “Richard without fear:a character in search of an author”, travaux de Littérature, IV, 1991.
- CHOFFEL Jacques, Richard without fear, Duke of Normandy. F. Lanore, 1999.
- NEVEUX François, Normandy from dukes to kings. 10th-12th century. West-France University, Rennes, 1998.
- PRENTOUT Henri, Critical studies on Dudon de Saint-Quentin and his History of the first Norman dukes, 1916. Book 4 “Richard I”.
- RIDEL Elisabeth, “Did the “Danish language” really be spoken in Bayeux around 940? A re-reading of Dudon de Saint-Quentin”, Cahier des Annales de Normandie, 2002, vol.32, n°1.