William Long Sword. (905 - 942), Count of Rouen (927-942)

William Longsword, son of Rollo, broke off relations with the last of the Carolingians to the advantage of the clan of the Frankish dukes, the Marquis of Neustria and King Raoul (923-936), and received from the king the Cotentin and Avranchin (933) to the detriment of the Breton counts who were forced to submit. He beat off a revolt by the pagan Scandinavians established in the west of the Duchy (935). He pursued a policy of integration of Normandy into the Frankish kingdom by means of a marriage with the daughter of the Count of Vermandois and an alliance with the Duke of the Francs, Hugh the Great, against the Carolingian King Louis IV d'Outremer (939-942). Having been reconciled with the king (942) and tempted by monastic retreat, according to Dudo of St Quentin, William died in a traitorous assassination near Picquigny, in the Somme, at a meeting with his neighbour and enemy the Count of Flanders.

Bibliography :

- François Neveux. - La Normandie des ducs aux rois, Xe-XIIe s. - Rennes : Ouest-France, 1998
- Jean Favier. - Dictionnaire de la France médiévale. - Paris : Fayard, 1993