#RACE_NORMANS
^The Normans are $LINK<expansionist and militaristic=GCON_Strengths>. They start the game with
$LINK<Warrior Code=TECH_Warrior_Code> and $LINK<Pottery=TECH_Pottery> and build
$LINK<Norman pikemen=PRTO_Norman_Pikeman> instead of $LINK<pikemen=PRTO_Pikeman>.
^
^The people of Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) found it difficult to produce enough food their needs. In
the 8th century Scandinavians, who became known as Vikings or Northmen, began to send out raiding parts in search
of food and plunder. When they discovered the superior quality of land in Europe, some Vikings decided not to return
to Scandinavia. The Vikings who stayed in France became known as the Normans (Northmen).
^The first great Norman leader
was Rollo the Ganger. Rollo the son of a Norse earl from Orkney, was born in about 860. He was the leader of a band of Vikings
which invaded north-western France in 911. In peace talks with Charles III he was offered a large tract of land on
the lower Seine. In return, Rollo became the king`s vassal and accepted the Christian faith. This land was the beginning
of the future duchy of Normandy. Rollo was such a large man that horses had difficulty carrying him. He was therefore
given the name, Rollo the Ganger (the walker). He died in 932.
^The Normans married local women and gradually adopted the French language. They sometimes fought for the French king, but
were an independent people and preferred to follow their own leader who became known as the Duke of Normandy.
^The Normans
were successful farmers but they still felt the need to raid other lands. The main reason for this, was their belief in
primogeniture - when a Norman died, all his property was given to his eldest son. This often resulted in younger sons
leaving to go in search of their own lands.
^As Christians, Normans feared that when they died, they would be punished for
stealing land and for other crimes they had committed. To help protect themselves, the Normans used some of the wealth
they obtained from their raids to build churches and monasteries. Norman leaders also went on pilgrimages to the Holy Lands.
#DESC_RACE_NORMANS
^
^
In 1035, Robert the Devil, fifth Duke of Normandy, died while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Robert was a direct descendant
of Rollo the Ganger. Traditionally, the duke`s eldest son became the next leader. In Robert`s case this proved a problem as he
had not produced any sons in marriage. However, he did have an illegitimate son called {William}. Leading Normans decided that
William, who was only eigth years old at the time, was to become the new Duke of Normandy.
^For the next twelve years of his minority the dukedom was in a constant state of anarchy. The rebellion of the barons came
to a head in 1047, when the whole of lower Normandy rose against him. With the help of his feudal overlord Henry I of France,
William, aged twenty, crushed the revolt on the field of Vales Dunes, near Caen. The castles of the rebellious barons were razed
and the nobles never challenged the duke`s power again.
^Norman relations with Anglo-Saxon England were uncomplicated. As the Normans became Christian and adopted the French language,
so their dukes found a common interest with the rulers of southern Britain in closing the English Channel to Viking fleets.
This alliance broke up when the Normans supported Edward and the House of Wessex against Canute (Knut) of Denmark in their
struggle for the English throne. When Edward the Confessor returned from exile in Normandy to take the English crown in 1042,
he was understandably pro-Norman. It was probably because of these pro-Norman sympathies that William`s claim to the throne had any
credibility.
^Many Norman warriors, administrators and churchmen had served in England under Edward the Confessor. Some were responisble
for reorganising English defences along the Welsh borders around 1055, although their attempts to introduce Norman-French cavalry tactics
to the English ultimately failed.
though I'm still trying 
.
