Rollo was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had secured a permanent foothold on Frankish soil in the valley of the lower Seine. After the Siege of Chartres in 911, Charles the Simple, the king of West Francia, gifted them lands between the mouth of the Seine and what is now Rouen in exchange for Rollo agreeing to end his brigandage, swearing allegiance to him, religious conversion and a pledge to defend the Seine's estuary from Viking raiders.
Robert the Magnificent was the duke of Normandy from 1027 until his death in 1035.
Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. Modern historians view him as a reliable source.
Richard II, called the Good, was the duke of Normandy from 996 until 1026.
Richard I, also known as Richard the Fearless, was the count of Rouen from 942 to 996. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum", called him a dux. However, this use of the word may have been in the context of Richard's renowned leadership in war, and not as a reference to a title of nobility. Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy or he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign, the most important Norman landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.
Dudo, or Dudon, was a Picard historian, and dean of Saint-Quentin, where he was born about 965. Sent in 986 by Albert I, Count of Vermandois, on an errand to Richard I, Duke of Normandy, he succeeded in his mission, and, having made a very favorable impression at the Norman court, spent some years in that country. During a second stay in Normandy, Dudo wrote his history of the Normans, a task which Duke Richard had urged him to undertake. Very little else is known about his life, except that he died before 1043.
Jumièges is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north-western France.
Gesta Normannorum Ducum is a chronicle originally created by the monk William of Jumièges just before 1060. In 1070 William I had William of Jumièges extend the work to detail his rights to the throne of England. In later times, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, extended the volumes to include history up until Henry I.
Roman de Rou is a verse chronicle by Wace in Norman covering the history of the Dukes of Normandy from the time of Rollo of Normandy to the battle of Tinchebray in 1106. It is a national epic of Normandy.
Robert of Torigni (c.1110–1186) was a Norman monk, prior, abbot and twelfth century chronicler.
William of Jumièges was a contemporary of the events of 1066, and one of the earliest writers on the subject of the Norman conquest of England. He is himself a shadowy figure, only known by his dedicatory letter to William the Conqueror as a monk of Jumièges. Since he also mentions that he was an eyewitness of some events from the reign of Duke Richard III (1026-7), it seems reasonable to assume that he was born some time about the year 1000. He probably entered the monastery during the first quarter of the eleventh century and received his education from Thierry de Mathonville. According to Orderic Vitalis, William's nickname was "Calculus". The meaning behind this nickname is unknown. His death, after 1070, is unrecorded. He was a Norman writing from a Norman point of view. Although only a monk with evidently no military training, he wrote with pride in the accomplishments of his people.
William Longsword was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.
Gesta Tancredi in expeditione Hierosolymitana, also known by its full title Gesta Tancredi Siciliae Regis in expeditione Hierosolymitana, is usually called simply Gesta Tancredi, is a prosimetric history written in laconic Latin prose and episodes of verse by Norman chaplin Ralph of Caen. His text provides an exceptional narrative of the First Crusade and events the Crusade entailed, especially those that involved Tancred. It is one of only half a dozen firsthand Latin accounts of those events.
John of Avranches was bishop of Avranches from 1060 to 1067, and archbishop of Rouen from 1067 to 1079. He was a Norman churchman, son of Rodulf of Ivry, and brother of Hugh of Bayeux. He appears in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, and may have been one of the sources William used.
Ives I de Creil was regis balistarius to the King of France, in the 10th century.
Mauger was born around 1019 near Dieppe. He was the younger son of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, and his second wife, Papia of Envermeu.
Sprota was the name of a Breton captive who William I, Duke of Normandy took as a wife in the Viking fashion and by her had a son, Richard I, Duke of Normandy. After the death of her husband William, she became the wife of Esperleng and mother of Rodulf of Ivry.
Hagrold, also known as Hagroldus, Harold, and Harald, was a powerful tenth-century Viking chieftain who ruled Bayeux. He was apparently a pagan from Scandinavia, and seems to have seized power in Normandy at about the time of the death of William, Count of Rouen. His career can be interpreted in the context of aiding the Normans against the intrusion of Frankish authority, or conversely in the context of taking advantage of the Normans.
Lagmann mac Gofraid may have been an early eleventh-century ruler of the Kingdom of the Isles. He seems to have been a son of Gofraid mac Arailt, King of the Isles, and was likely a member of the Uí Ímair kindred. According to mediaeval sources, Lagmann was closely associated with Óláfr Haraldsson, a future King of Norway. According one source, both men lent assistance to Knútr, son of Sveinn Haraldsson, King of Denmark, although it is possible that this account actually refers to Óláfr's campaigning in England several years beforehand. Lagmann and Óláfr are also recorded to have assisted Richard II, Duke of Normandy. The two are specified to have not only ravaged lands in Brittany on behalf of Richard, but were tasked to counter Richard's opponent Odo II, Count of Chartres. Lagmann's activities on the Continent may have arisen as a result of being forced from the Isles following the death of his possible brother Ragnall mac Gofraid, King of the Isles in 1004 or 1005. Lagmann's son, Amlaíb, is recorded to have perished at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. If Lagmann died at about this time as well, it could account for the record of Hákon Eiríksson assuming control of the Isles.
Jules–Auguste Lair was a French lawyer, businessman and scholar. At the École des Chartes he studied palaeography, and was offered a position with the Archives, but he decided instead to become a lawyer. At the age of 25 he became director of a warehousing company, and over the next forty years was involved in various major enterprises including the first telephone network in France. At the same time, he always set aside time for historical work, and published many articles and books on aspects of French history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution.