. Mediæval and modern history . years when these searovers ascended the Seine and sackedParis. At last the Carolingian king,Charles the Simple, did something verylike what Alfred the Great had doneacross the Channel only a short timebefore. He granted to Rollo, the leaderof the Northmen who had settled atRouen, a considerable section of coun-try in the north of Gaul, upon con-dition of homage and conversion (911). In a short time the new-comers had adopted the language, the manners, and the religionof the French, and had caught much of their vivacity and impul-siveness of spirit, without, howe
. Mediæval and modern history . years when these searovers ascended the Seine and sackedParis. At last the Carolingian king,Charles the Simple, did something verylike what Alfred the Great had doneacross the Channel only a short timebefore. He granted to Rollo, the leaderof the Northmen who had settled atRouen, a considerable section of coun-try in the north of Gaul, upon con-dition of homage and conversion (911). In a short time the new-comers had adopted the language, the manners, and the religionof the French, and had caught much of their vivacity and impul-siveness of spirit, without, however, any loss of their own nativevirtues. This transformation in their manners and life we mayconceive as being recorded in their transformed name,—North-men becoming softened into Norman. 86. Normandy in French History. The establishment of aScandinavian settlement in Gaul proved a most momentous mat-ter, not only for the history of the French people but for thehistory of European civilization as well. This Norse factor was. Fig. II. Rollo. (From themonument at Rouen) 74 THE NORTHMEN [§ 86 destined to be one of the most important of all those variousracial elements which on the soil of the old Gaul blended tocreate the richly dowered French nation. For many of the mostromantic passages of her history France is indebted to the adven-turous spirit of the descendants of these wild rovers of the knights of Normandy lent an added splendor to Frenchknighthood, and helped greatly to make France the hearth ofchivalry and the center of the crusading movement of theeleventh and twelfth centuries. Nor was the influence of the incoming of this Scandinavianrace felt upon French history alone. Normandy became thepoint of departure of enterprises that had deep and lasting con-sequences for Europe at large. These undertakings had for theirarena England and the Mediterranean lands. Their results wereso important and far-reaching that we shall devote to the nar-ration of them a subs
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