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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2006-08 > 1156626394


From: (John Chandler)
Subject: Re: #7 Re: [DNA] `Ultra-Norse`..who is making up this stuff? / Normandy study
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 17:06:34 -0400 (EDT)
References: <e468a0040608251738v66686371kc63abc0c0f8dba84@mail.gmail.com> <004201c6c8be$cccb8830$86139a8e@PeterAKincaid> <e468a0040608260728w4751e92dg1aa89d67db015c77@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <e468a0040608260728w4751e92dg1aa89d67db015c77@mail.gmail.com>(descartes3@gmail.com)


DesCartes wrote:
> Peter, I did not suggest that the `vikings` had a big genetic impact on
> FRANCE. At the time of Viking settelment, there effectively was no France,
> in todays politcal / geographic terms. In the small province of
> Normandie, which was actually RE-NAMED after the `Northmen` who moved there,
> I do suggest they had a significant impact. I also do not believe a
> legitimate case can be made for native gauls in any number remaining in the
> province in the years immediate around its settlement.

History shows that the Normans were, and continued to be, wielders of
SWORDS, not of PLOWSHARES. If Normandy had truly been depopulated,
as you suggest, there would have been no one to grow the food to feed
the province. I could also point to the linguistic evidence, which
shows a rapid assimilation into the French background. There can be
no doubt at all that the bulk of the population of Normandy was little
changed by the Norman incursion.

> (As to your concerns about the logistics of the re-population of the small
> province of Normandy following its conquest, an analogy- when Louis settled
> what is today Canada, a massive region, he did so with appox. 10,000 adult
> French. 300 years later, today, there are Six Million French Canadians.)

That's no analogy at all. Despite the colorful escapades of the
"voyageurs" and the allure of getting rich in the fur trade, the
main occupation of the Canadian immigrants was intensive
agriculture, which sustained a heavy population growth and which
destroyed the ecological niche occupied by the sparse indigenous
population.

> After years of violent raids throughout Europe in which they were dreaded by
> all, I dont think logic allows that the natives stayed around in hopes of
> benevolent masters once the Normandy province was itself taken by Viking
> forces.

You've got it backwards. Once the Viking forces had a stake in the
province, the raids there stopped. This is an early example of the
"protection" racket.


John Chandler

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