Politics911

Founding of the Duchy of Normandy

Also called: Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte

In 911 King Charles III of West Francia granted the lower Seine to the Norse leader Rollo, creating the Duchy of Normandy.

Statue of Rollo, founder of the Duchy of Normandy, Rouen
Statue of Rollo, founder of the Duchy of Normandy, Rouen

Man vyi · Public domain · Source

To stop the Norsemen who sailed up the Seine and threatened even Paris, King Charles III (the Simple) of West Francia granted the lands around Rouen to their leader Rollo at Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911. Rollo was baptised, became the king’s vassal and undertook to keep other Vikings out. The Normans soon adopted French and Christianity, and the Duchy of Normandy raised a strong knightly class that became the springboard for the conquest of England in 1066 and the advance into southern Italy. In the same year (911) on the Korean peninsula, Gung Ye renamed his state Taebong.

The map in AD 911

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States at the time
West Francia

Before and after

Themes that include this event

  • Medieval Europe and ByzantiumAD 476 – 1077

    From the fall of Rome in the West to Canossa — the feudal West built by the Franks and the papacy, Byzantium as heir of Rome, and a church divided east and west