Norman Window, St. John's, Devizes, c. 1100.
ticed; at an early period the aisles of churches were vaulted with plain groining without bosses or diagonal ribs, but the main parts had flat ceilings, or were cov- ered with cylindrical vaults, as at the chapel in the White Tower of London. The Norman arch was round, either semicircular or horse-shoe, and sometimes the impost moulding or capital was considerably below the level of the springing, and the mouldings of the arch were prolonged vertically down to it ; this arrangement was common in the arches round the semicircular apses of churches, as at St. Bartholomew's, in West Smith- field, London; it was not till the latter part of the r2th century, when the Norman style was in a state of tran- sition into Early English, that the pointed arch wa3 commonly introduced, but some buildings erected at this period retained the Norman characteristics in con- siderable purity. The best example in the British realm of an early ecclesiastical structure in this style is the chapel in the White Tower of London ; later specimens are to be found in very many English cathedrals and parish churches ; the churches of Iffley, Oxford, and Barfreston, Kent, are striking examples of late date; the latter of these shows considerable signs of the near approach of the Early English style.
The Norman st3'le of architecture prevailed from about the beginning of the 10th century till the death of William the Conqueror, near the end of the 11th cen- tur}'. In Normandy there are many examples, the churches at Caen being well-known buildings of the date of William. This style of architecture was taken into England by the Normans at the Conquest, 10G6. They there extended the scale of the buildings, as they had done in Normandj', preserving, however, many lo- cal peculiarities of the Saxon style which they found in the country. The chapel in the White Tower of the Tower of London is, as we have said, the earliest exam- ple of pure Norman work in England. There are, how- ever, it may be added, many buildings, both in England and Scotland, which date from before the end of the 12th century, when the pointed style began to be used. Durham, Lindisfarne, Canterbur\% Dunfermline, are par- tially Norman, besides many other churches and castles. There are some buildings of this style dating back even to the time of Edward the Confessor, or earlier still, but the style is so very rude that it can hardlj' claim the name of Norman. The Anglo-Norman is heavier than the French-Norman, the cylindrical nave piers of the above buildings being much more massive than those of French works. To relieve this heaviness, the chev- ron, spiral, and other groovings were cut in the piers. The mouldings and forms of doors, windows, etc., are the same as those of Normandy. There is one remark- able difference in the plans of the Early Norman churches in the two countries: in France the apse at the east end is alwaj's semicircular; in England this form was gradually given up ; and towards the end of the style the square east end was universally adopted. See Milman, Ilisf. of Latin C/msticmitt/, viii, 436, 437; Parker, Glossary of Architecture, s. v. ; Milner, Eccles. Arch, of England during the Middle Ages (Lond. 1811, 8vo), ch. iii ; Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.
Norman, Georg. See Sweden.
Normans (i. e. Northmen, or Norse-men), a name generally limited in its application to those sea-rovers who established themselves in that part of France call- ed after them Normandy, is sometimes applied also to the early inhabitants of Norway, and is often extended to embrace in its meaning, as it did in the Middle Ages, those numerous Saxon tribes who inhabited the pen- insula of Jutland, and in the 9th and 10th centuries invaded Russia, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, and even landed in England, and possibly, too, were the first Europeans who set foot on the American shore. The Germans and French called the piratical hordes who ravaged their shores Normans or Northmen ; the Saxous, usually
NORMANS
IVG
NORMANS
Danes or Eastmcn. They were also distinguished by the latter as Mar!:- or ilarch-nien (from Den-mafk), as A sk- men (i. e. men of the rt«/(fH-ships), and as the Heathen. The primary cause of the plundering expeditions south- ward and westward across the seas, undertaken by the Norse vikings (vikingar meaning either "warriors," or more probably dwellers on the vies, i. e. bays or fiords), as they called themselves, under leaders who took the name of " sea-kings," was doubtless the over-population and consequent scarcity of food in their native homes; besides, the relish for a life of warlike adventure, con- joined with the hope of rich booty, strongly attracted them ; while — at least as long as the old Scandinavian religion lasted (i. e. till about the end of the 10th cen- tury)— death in battle was not a thing to be dreaded, for the slain hero passed into a region of eternal triumph in the Walhalla of Odin. Finally, discontent with the ever-increasing power of the greater chiefs, or kings, induced many of the nobles with their followers to seek new homes.
The invasions of these heathen warriors into France were most numerous from the death of Charlemagne to the beginning of the 10th century. The invaders remain- ed mostlj^ heathen. Occasionally some chieftain with his followers consented to be baptized, and to acknowledge the king of France for his sovereign, on which condi- tion they received a portion of land. The most im- portant of these invasions was that of 912, under tlie guidance of the Norwegian chief Hrolf, better known as Eollo, first duke of Normandy, and direct ancestor in the sixth generation of William the Conqueror. King Charles III, it is said, offered Eollo a considerable ter- ritory on the north of France, and his daughter Gisla for wife, on the condition of his advancing no farther into the country, and defending the kingdom against further invasions from his countrj-men. Eollo accept- ed, the treaty was concluded at St. Clair, on the Epte (A.D. 912), and the Normans took possession of the northern portion of France, from the Andelle to the sea, which ^vas from them called Normandy. Eollo was soon after baptized by archbishop Franco of Eouen, together with his followers. A certain archbishop Arvseus, of Eheims, is said to have been very active in the conver- sion of these Normans. Still the mass of the people re- mained heathen ; the occasional conversions were mostly the result of temporal considerations, and the converts not unfrequently returned to idolatrj'. It is even related of Eollo that after his baptism he continued to worship his former deities along with the true God. Under the reign of his son the Normans had already become fully identified with the French, having even adopted the language of the country. This contributed naturally to attach them more to the religion of the French ; and it is said that their count, William, went so far in his enthusiasm for Christianity as to contemplate retire- ment into a convent. Fresh arrivals of heathen Nor- mans would occasionally, however, stop for a moment all progress. At the same time with Eollo's invasion, another armj- of the Normans had landed upon the western coasts of France, and established itself strongly near the mouth of the Loire. A part of them settled, in 921, in Brittany and around Nantes. See France.