MAP—EUROPE AT CLOSE OF ELEVENTH CENTURY 1
ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CARRIED IN A LITTER TO JERUSALEM 127
CONFERRING KNIGHTHOOD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE 167
The ten illustrations in this volume which are from designs by Thomas Macquoid, have been reproduced (through the courtesy of Messrs. Chatto & Windus) from Mrs. Macquoid's "Pictures and Legends from Normandy and Brittany," the American edition of which was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.
ROLF, First Duke of the Normans, r. 911-927. | WILLIAM LONGSWORD, r. 927-943. | RICHARD THE FEARLESS, r. 943-996. | +-----+------+ | | RICHARD EMMA, THE GOOD, m. 1. Æthelred II. r. 996-1026. of England; | m. 2. Cnut of England | and Denmark. | +-------+----------+ | | RICHARD III., ROBERT r. 1026-1028. THE MAGNIFICENT, r. 1028-1035. | WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, r. 1035-1087. | +-------------------+----+--------+---------------+ | | | | ROBERT II., WILLIAM HENRY I., ADELA, r. 1087-1096 RUFUS, r. 1106-1135. m. Stephen, (from 1096 to 1100 r. 1096-1100. | Count of Blois the Duchy was MATILDA | held by his m. GEOFFRY STEPHEN brother William), COUNT OF OF BLOIS, and 1100-1106 ANJOU s. 1135. (when he was AND overthrown at MAINE Tinchebrai by his (who won the brother Henry). Duchy from Stephen). | HENRY II., invested with the Duchy, 1150, d. 1189. | +-----------+-------+ | | RICHARD JOHN, THE LION-HEART, r. 1199-1204 r. 1189-1199. (when Normandy was conquered by France).
"Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, Survey our empire and behold our home."—BYRON.
The gulf stream flows so near to the southern coast of Norway, and to the Orkneys and Western Islands, that their climate is much less severe than might be supposed. Yet no one can help wondering why they were formerly so much more populous than now, and why the people who came westward even so long ago as the great Aryan migration, did not persist in turning aside to the more fertile countries that lay farther southward. In spite of all their disadvantages, the Scandinavian peninsula, and the sterile islands of the northern seas, were inhabited by men and women whose enterprise and intelligence ranked them above their neighbors.
Now, with the modern ease of travel and transportation, these poorer countries can be supplied from other parts of the world. And though the [Pg002] summers of Norway are misty and dark and short, and it is difficult to raise even a little hay on the bits of meadow among the rocky mountain slopes, commerce can make up for all deficiencies. In early times there was no commerce except that carried on by the pirates—if we may dignify their undertakings by such a respectable name,—and it was hardly possible to make a living from the soil alone. The sand dunes of Denmark and the cliffs of Norway alike gave little encouragement to tillers of the ground, yet, in defiance of all our ideas of successful colonization, when the people of these countries left them, it was at first only to form new settlements in such places as Iceland, or the Faroë or Orkney islands and stormiest Hebrides. But it does not take us long to discover that the ancient Northmen were not farmers, but hunters and fishermen. It had grown more and more difficult to find food along the rivers and broad grassy wastes of inland Europe, and pushing westward they had at last reached the place where they could live beside waters that swarmed with fish and among hills that sheltered plenty of game.