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Pro tutela regni : revisiting a royal diploma from 918 on the birth of Normandy and the first ‘ducal’ laws
Author(s) -
Davy Gilduin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
early medieval europe
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 1468-0254
pISSN - 0963-9462
DOI - 10.1111/emed.12388
Subject(s) - reign , settlement (finance) , kingdom , history , saint , politics , interpretation (philosophy) , power (physics) , ancient history , law , classics , treaty , ideology , political science , philosophy , art history , paleontology , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , world wide web , computer science , payment , biology
The Treaty of Saint‐Clair‐sur‐Epte (911) and the cession of Normandy to Rollo have long been considered as evidence of a decline in Carolingian power during the reign of Charles III the Simple. If, during the twentieth century, this view has undergone gradual revision, the role that the king could have played in the process of the Normans’ installation on the Seine remains obscure. A review of the relevant royal diplomas, in particular that of 14 March 918, suggests, however, active participation by the king in the emergence of a Norman march in Neustria: that is to say, a political and legal programme intended to reaffirm royal authority over this part of the regnum Francorum . This rereading, based on Frankish texts, on Christian ideology and on the Roman heritage, suggests a new interpretation of the settlement of Scandinavians in Normandy, the emergence of a Norman principality, and the genesis of the famous ‘laws of Rollo’.