Norman Expansion by Andrew Jotischky

Author:Andrew Jotischky [Jotischky, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-05-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 5

The Concept of the Frontier in Norman Chronicles: A Comparative Approach

Leonie V. Hicks1

The different groups of people we now know as ‘the Normans’ were part of the creation of Latin Europe, which in Robert Bartlett’s paradigm saw young(ish) aristocratic men leaving their homelands, and connecting and interacting with territories on the periphery of European political culture.2 Whereas the Normans undoubtedly did have a profound effect on the territories they colonised, to regard them as a homogenous group, as historians are prone to do, hides the nuances and differences within the processes of settlement. The primary purpose of this chapter, therefore, is to consider contemporary understandings of the nature of frontiers by examining how they were described in Normandy, and the differences apparent from study of other areas where the Normans settled. Central to the discussion is the importance of descriptions of border landscapes and how such landscapes were used to reflect significant themes within the available chronicle sources – themes such as the ebb and flow of Norman ducal power, the expansion of Norman influence beyond Normandy and the ability of individual leaders to govern effectively and appropriately.

In comparing concepts of the frontier, it is essential to begin with the homeland of Normandy, itself an area on the periphery of the former Carolingian empire. The discussion then broadens out to consider in particular the March of Wales and Sicily.3 The different political contexts of these areas provide good reasons for adopting a comparative approach. Normandy and the Welsh March were under the direct control of the dukes of Normandy, in the latter case in their role as kings of England from 1066. Accordingly, we might expect to find similar ideas about ‘the frontier’ present in the chronicle accounts. For example, Orderic Vitalis, the most comprehensive of the historians of the Normans, spent the first 10 years of his life in Shropshire before swapping one border for another and moving to the abbey of Saint-Evroult on the southern edge of Normandy.4 By contrast, both southern Italy and Sicily were not within the orbit of the dukes of Normandy. The process that led to Norman rule in these areas was, unlike the organised planning that went into the invasion of England, essentially piecemeal and opportunistic, and they were characterised by a number of competing factions and rulers. The nature of the frontier in Normandy, the March of Wales and Sicily also presents important differences. The duchy was a province of a wider kingdom, albeit one with a large degree of independence, in which its people shared a language, similar customs and a political culture with their neighbours. The Welsh–English border was a political boundary, separating two distinct entities, though it possessed a long tradition of cross-border raiding and alliances. Sicily had not only administrative structures that were different from those of the Italian mainland, but a mix of languages, ethnicities and religions.

The word ‘frontier’ or ‘border’ is a contested term. Thus, in addition to the challenges presented by a comparison of

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