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Archiver > NORMAN > 2005-12 > 1134324509


From: "Butch Adams" <>
Subject: RE: [NORMAN-L] Normans from France
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2005 13:08:29 -0500
In-Reply-To: <006801c5fdcb$83af7670$7b572141@Roger>


Hey Uncle R,
It was good to see email from you even though it was not to me. :)

Here are some good links I have on hand telling more of the Norman story of
the 11th Century.

http://www.great-britain.co.uk/history/ang-sax.htm

http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h04eng.htm

http://www.britannia.com/history/articles/normvik.html

Butch

-----Original Message-----
From: R Norman Jr [mailto:]
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 3:52 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [NORMAN-L] Normans from France

I thought all Normans were French, more or less. Norman is an old word that

means "North Man," and it was originally used to name the marauding Vikings
that came down out of the north, Norway and Denmark, etc., and devastated so

much of the British Isles. Then, in the 900s, when the Vikings went to the
coast of France, the king of Fance made a deal with them, giving them the
land that became known as Normandy (which sort of means "North Man State,"
or "North Man Land") if they would agree not to go around devastating the
towns, villages, monasteries and convents of France as they had done in
England and Scotland. Then in 1066, at the death of Edward the Confessor,
Harold Godwinson illegally assumed the throne of England, even though it had

been promised to William, Duke of Normandy, or so William always claimed.
(The mother of Edward the Confessor, who was the last Saxon king, was Emma
of Normandy,and an ancestor of William. So, I guess she was a Norman.)
Harold was married to Edward's sister, Edith, and that was his only claim to

any sort of royal status. So, William got together an army and went to
England, killed Harold in the Battle of Hastings, and, on Christmas Day,
1066, had himself crowned king of England in Westminster Abbey in London,
the first of the Norman kings of England. He brought many friends and nobles

with him from France, as well as soldiers, craftsmen, servants, etc., and he

gave large estates to his Norman (French) nobles, after he had taken them
from their Saxon owners. The Saxons hated them and referred to all of them
as "Normans." They even spoke a language called Norman French, which was
the official court language of England until mid 1300s. This is why we have

so many French words in the English language. All of the Normans from
England are descended from these Normans from France. The first priest in
St. Mary's Church in Payneswick, England, early 1100s, is named on a plaque
on the wall as "Roger, a Norman." So, I have just assumed that all of us
Normans are descended from those Medieval French Normans who so upset all of

England and her traditions that there is still hard feelings and much
discussion about it, especially from those of Saxon ancestry. In the phone
book in London, and in Gloucestershire, as well as Yorkshire, there are
pages and pages of listings for Normans. It's like Smiths, Kellys, Jonses,
and Rossers in North Carolina.

I am not a bona fide historian. I just enjoy reading history. So, what I
have written here is probably just riddled with errors. And, I don't know
if it is any help at all, but, here it is.

Roger W. Norman, Jr.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Shirley Norman-Gunn" <>
To: <>
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 2:55 PM
Subject: RE: [NORMAN-L] Normans from France


>I have already been trying to find French Normans, but
> mine would have been in this country prior to 1796 and
> possibly in Canada before then; therefore, it would be
> a miracle to find my French Connection.
>
> I have researched several "Francois Norman" lines who
> came to Canada, Missouri, or Louisiana. No luck, yet,
> but none of them have had DNA tests, as far as I can
> ascertain. In France, I have checked Norman, Normand,
> LeNormand, etc., etc. Language is not a big problem,
> (not fluent by any stretch of the imagination), but I
> get around France). Since surnames were "of
> Normandy", etc., many dropped LeNormand, etc., and
> that is wreaking havoc with my research.
>
> Thanks
> Shirley
>
>
>
>
>
>
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