The Anglo-Norman Territories

Dudo of Saint-Quentin (c. 1015 / 1026)

Historia Normannorum

Dudon, canon of Saint-Quentin, was the first historiographer of ducal Normandy. He was born towards the middle of the 10th century and was educated in the Vermandois region under the intellectual influence of the schools of Laon and Reims.

In c. 994 he was sent by the Count of Vermandois, Albert I on a mission to the Duke of Normandy, Richard I (942-996), who was entranced by the skill and talent of the young clerk. It was at his request that Dudon undertook the creation of a written record of the history of the Normans. He often resided at the Norman court while remaining Canon of Saint-Quentin. Under Richard II (996-1026) he fulfilled the functions of chaplain and chancellor for the Duke. He must have died shortly before 1043, when he is known to have had a successor as most senior member of the collegiality of Saint-Quentin.

In order to write the history of the Normans, Dudon had the invaluable help of the ducal family itself. According to his own statements, his sources were the duchess Gonnor, Count Raoul d’Ivry, half-brother of Duke Richard I and the archbishop of Rouen Robert, son of Richard and Gonnor. Although he consulted period sources, especially Flodoard, his work remains a tributary of the oral traditions that he was able to gather from informed sources.

The work itself, which he wrote around the period 996-1010, is entitled Historia Normannorum or De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum and tells of the exploits of the Viking chiefs who ravaged Francia in the 10th century and who established themselves in Neustria. The De moribus is divided into four books and consists of four biographies. The first book is devoted to Hasting, a Viking chief without scruples who was, according to Dudon, mainly responsible for the pillaging and devastation in Francia. The second book tells of the exploits of Rollo in England and in Neustria, the negotiations of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911 and the conversion of the Duke and his companions. In the third book the historian recalls the conflicts that the young Duke William Long Sword (927-942) had to undergo against his insurgent Vikings and against the neighbouring princes. The assassination of the Duke in 942, organised on the initiative of the marquis de Flandre, Arnould, enabled Dudon to present William as a martyr for peace and the Christian faith. The fourth book reports the essential facts of the reign of Duke Richard I (942-996): his captivity in Laon and his deliverance, the threats to the Duchy presented in turn by the King of France, the marquis de Flandre, the King of Germania and the count of Blois, and the major achievements of the Duke including in particular the detailed account of the construction of the abbey church of Fécamp, dedicated in 990.

Dudon inserted short verse poems into his biographies where there is further evidence in the course of the narrative of the intentions of the apologist and panegyrist. His intention is in fact to celebrate the lineage founded by the first Duke Rollo and to show that the establishment of the Vikings in Neustria formed part of some providential design. It is this lineage that, according to the historiographer, was chosen by God to re-establish peace in Francia and to restore monasteries, cathedrals and churches laid waste by the Nordic pirates. But this political ascension doubled as a spiritual ascension whose main stages are illustrated by each of the three Dukes: Rollo, through his conversion brings the lineage into the Christian faith, William Long Sword through his "martyrdom" sanctifies it, Richard I through his eminent virtues confers upon it the lustre of sanctity. Thus the De moribus, which is intended as a heroic history of the Vikings established in Neustria, frequently adopts a hagiographic tone.

Dudon provides a key witness to this period carnage of the beginning of the 11th century where Normandy finds its own consciousness, identity and an awareness of its historical importance. It is in fact the moment when Normandy integrates itself definitively into the Christian world of the Francs by putting some distance between the Nordic world. Dudon perfectly illustrates this historical and political assumption of consciousness by being the first to talk in terms of Normannia.

Modern critics have barely appreciated the true value of the Dudon's work. He is reproached for having given undue status to legends, rhetorical processes and oratory facility. However he is recognised as having a genuine literary talent, although his pompous and obscure style is often denounced. Dudon is however part of the great antique historiographic tradition which recommends the dramatisation of the narrative and the insertion in the narration of discourses, portraits and commentaries. He applies himself to following these antique models and is more or less successful in so doing.

But the intentions of apologia and literary pretensions of Dudon should not in any way bring any discredit on the historic value of De moribus. Dudon's work is in fact a key witness to the history of 10th century Normandy, if one applies a methodical and rigorous study to the work, it is a historic source of prime importance. It is in this respect that Dudon can expect genuine rehabilitation. The facts presented by Dudon and which have often been the subject of unjustified suspicion are consistently confirmed by archaeology and the discovery of new documents. De moribus has another historical value. The Canon of Saint-Quentin is the privileged witness of major political and literary preoccupations which are manifested in the ducal entourage of the early 10th century.

 De moribus rapidly experienced great success among all historians of the 11th and 12th centuries and served as a privileged source. Guillaume de Jumièges resumed it, Orderic Vital, Guillaume de Malmesbury, Robert de Torigni, Wace and Benoît all took their inspiration from it. It is thus unsurprising that we have a dozen manuscripts of it surviving from the 11th and 12th centuries.

 

Pierre Bouet
ouen - Office universitaire d'études normandes
Université de Caen

ÉDITIONS

- Lair Jules (éd.). - Dudonis Sancti Quentini De moribus et actisprimorum Normanniae ducum, dans Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, 3e série, 3e volume, vol. 23, 2nde partie, Caen, Le Blanc-Hardel, 1865, p. 115-314.
- Migne Jean-Paul (éd.). - De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum libri tres, dans Patrologie latine, t. 141, Paris, Gamier, 1880, col. 609-758.

 TRADUCTION

- Christiansen Eric. - Dudo of Saint-Quentin‘s Historia Normannorum, Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 1998.

 STUDIES

- Prentout Henri. - Etude critique sur Dudon de Saint-Quentin et son histoire des premiers ducs normands, Paris, Picard, 1916.
- Searle Eleanor. - "Fact and pattern in Heroic History: Dudo of Saint-Quentin", Viator, 15, 1984, p. 119-137.
- Shopkow Leah.- "The Carolingian World of Dudo of Saint-Quentin", Journal of Medieval History, 15, 1989, p. 19-38.
- Bouet Pierre.- "Dudon de Saint-Quentin et Virgile : L’Enéide au service de la cause normande", Mélanges Lucien Musset. Cahiers des Annales de Normandie, 23, 1990, p. 215-236.
- Hanawalt Emily Albu.- "Dudo of Saint-Quentin, The heroic Past imagined ", The Haskins Society Journal,6, 1994, p. 111-118.
- Bouet Pierre. - "Dudon de Saint-Quentin et le martyre de Guillaume Longue Epée", Les saints dans la Normandie médiévale, P. Bouet et F. Neveux (éds), Caen, Presses Universitaires de Caen, 2000, p. 237-258.

 

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