Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 History and Ethics: The Framework of an Enquiry
- 2 Ethics: From Classical Philosophy to Monastic Practice
- 3 Ethical Thought in the Works of William of Malmesbury
- 4 The Reading of Ethics and the Ethics of Reading: History as a Vehicle for Moral Education
- 5 The Gesta Regum Anglorum, Books I and II
- 6 The Norman Kings
- 7 History, Ethics – and Truth?
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - The Norman Kings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- 1 History and Ethics: The Framework of an Enquiry
- 2 Ethics: From Classical Philosophy to Monastic Practice
- 3 Ethical Thought in the Works of William of Malmesbury
- 4 The Reading of Ethics and the Ethics of Reading: History as a Vehicle for Moral Education
- 5 The Gesta Regum Anglorum, Books I and II
- 6 The Norman Kings
- 7 History, Ethics – and Truth?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In the same way that he treated the Angli as a single, unitary group from the first Jute-led landing in Britannia, William prepares the reader for the Norman invasion some time before the actual invasion narrative. In William's account, the Normanni have some aspects in common with the Angli; William knew that both people had stemmed from Germanic roots. Moreover, the characteristics of the Northmanni – eventually given Normandy in exchange for a cessation of their ravaging – resemble to some extent the corresponding characteristics of the first Anglian settlers in Britannia: they were audacious and indomitable, but of less than desirable virtue and refinement. After their establishment in Normandy, however, they soon distinguished themselves by harnessing their martial prowess to more peaceful qualities. Their progress coincided with English decadence under Æthelred II, whom William continuously contrasts unfavourably with the Norman dukes. Æthelred married Emma, the daughter of Rollo's grandson Richard I, but his relationships with both his wife and his father-in-law were less than harmonious. Reportedly, Æthelred was scornful and rejecting of his wife, while his quarrels with Richard made Pope John XV intervene to stop ‘two Christians fighting each other’ (‘duos Christianos digladiari’). The pope was able to broker an agreement between king and duke, and Richard is praised by William both for his general uprightness and for his efforts in turning Fécamp into a rich and rule-abiding monastery. Æthelred's continuing depravity, conjoined with the more acceptable mores of the Normans, was to colour William's account of the chain of events leading up to the Norman assumption of power in England.
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- Information
- William of Malmesbury and the Ethics of History , pp. 187 - 258Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2012