This article will seek to explore the ethnic origins of Bernard the Dane, not by ascribing to him an exact parentage, but through discussion of the various racial groups that he was variously assigned to, and of the possible relationships between them. I would propose that a significant part of the early Norman aristocracy were not Danes, either in appearance, custom or manner. They were beardless, short of stature, and dark of skin. The Dane was large of frame, blond, and bearded.
I would further propose that the Norman aristocracy under discussion were a "Gothic" people, in the broadest sense of the term, as they were not members of a distinct racial group identifiable as "Goths"; they were of the Saxon nobility, who shared some common identity with what has been designated "Goth." The term masked a sneer, as all things "Gothic" were measured against "classical ideals", and were thus considered barbarous. The term "Gothique cold" signified "the cold blood of the Gothic race". The Irish term for the Norman invaders of their country was "dark haired Normans".
Bernard the Dane has been given a dual nationality within the larger Teutonic framework: being "Bernard of the blood-royal of Saxony" [1] and "Bernard the Dane, Prince in Denmark". [2] That a significant part of the early Norman aristocracy were of this "dark" Saxon genotype is not not precluded by Aryan "blondist" doctrine, Knopf's analysis of which states:
"But there are other "limitations." Virchow had made much of the doctrine dear to the heart of all "Blondists" from Gobineau to Madison Grant, that the aristocracy of Europe was everywhere of the tall fair-haired type. Chamberlain finds this doctrine out of harmony with the facts. He accused Virchow of being blinded by political prejudice in failing to note "the prevalence of dark color among the members of the most genuine old Germanic nobility". [3]
Knopf finds that poets frequently speak of dark hair as a characteristic of the nobility even in the north of Germany. Indeed, the inhabitants of the German Tyrol, who have been declared to "represent the true type of the primeval Teuton," have dark or black hair. In short, "the most genuine sons of this (Teutonic) race may be black-haired". [4]
The relationship between these Saxons and the "Goths" will now be considered: "Goth" is a term about which oceans of ink have flowed, claiming them to be a lost tribe of Israel, or an offshoot of the Trojans, claims reflecting the political or religious bias of the writer. Many such claims had for their base the flawed assumption that the Goths were synonomous with the Getae. Recent archeological evidence may offer reasonable evidence as to a more plausible origin of the "Goths".
"In an area between the Danube and Don ... it is now certain that a homogenous culture - the Cernjachov - abodes from the time of "Gothic" power, and an association of some kind between the two is irresistible". [5] The expansion of the Cernjachov culture can be seen in the advancement of the closely allied Wielbark culture into Pomerania and lands either side of the lower Vistula, then into northern Greater Poland. That the Cernjachov and Wielbark cultures were of common stock is shown by their brooches, pottery, and styles of female dress, being identical. These cultures were distinct and seperate via their burial customs from the groups surrounding them. Literary sources confirm that groups of people calling themselves "Goths" moved from Poland to the Black Sea at the same time as the Wielbark culture was established in Poland. [6] There were also "Gothic" groupings in Scandinavia, as evidenced by the place names Ostergotland and Vastergotland. The Cernjachov and Wielbarck cultures are sometimes seen as eminating from Scandinavia, with the Scandinavian "Goths" being "Goths" who never migrated. A contentious theory. It can be noted that Jutland had a "Gothic" community, which maintained a sense of distinctiveness throughout the Middle Ages.
The invaders of Normandy were referred to as Marchmen, describing an origin between the Elbe and Eyder, that is, of "the march", the boundary between Germany and Denmark. The letters the invaders brought with them were expressly called Marcomannic; and it was the Marcomanni who sacked Rouen. Another term for the invaders was Nordalbingian, which, as Marchman, meant a person from beyond the Elbe. These terms point to a Marcomanni settlement in "the march", in Saxon Holstein and Danish Sleswick. One authority states: "These Marcomannic Runes I shall hereafter show do resemble the Anglo-Saxon, and do not resemble the Norse Runes". [7] Another stating: "These Norsemen, now Normans, were Teutons, and spoke a Teutonic dialect; but, when they settled in France, they learned in course of time to speak French". [8] What is being stated here is that Anglo-Saxon runes were almost identical with the characters which, as we learn from Rabanus Maurus, were employed by the Marcomanni, called by some Nordmanni and Northalbingii, a name which he applied to the Saxons, then living beyond the Elbe.
The Lord's Prayer in "Gothic" alphabet:
Atta unsar þu in himinan weihnai namo þein
qimai þiudinassus þeins wairþai wilja þeins
swe in himina jah ana airþai
hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan uns himma daga
jah weis afletam þai skulam unsaraim jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai
ak lausai uns of þamma ubilin
unte þeina ist þiudangardi
jah mahts jah wulþus in aiwins.
Amen.
The following analysis suggests an assimilation of Marcomanni and Danish cultures: "As to Rollo himself, the whole of his biography is uncertain. Whoever allows himself to criticize, not only the Norse accounts in general, but the minute details of the narrative of our earliest Norman authority, Dudo de St. Quentin, at the same time laying due stress upon the notices of these Northern Goths or Jutes, along with the Gothic character of all the names of the dukes of Normandy, can scarcely fail in having doubts as to his having been a Dane at all. Word for word, Rollo, or Rou, is Rudolf, a Gothic, and not a Scandinavian name — not, at least, either an early or a common one. What, then, was the bold and successful chief who bore it? It is hard to say. Apparently, he was a representative of some powerful Gothic family (perhaps the royal one), who, availing himself of the assistance of the Northern invaders, assimilated himself to their manners and identified himself with their nationality". [9]
These "Goths", however, should not be seen as pure, tribal identity for a people migrating intact across Europe, but as a more fluid identity which could be adopted by people of various origins who joined the core of this tribe and its various sub-branches at various stages of its movements and development.
In this exact context, another tribe allied to the "Goths" were the Teutones or Teutons, whose residence was on the south of the Baltic. These were the ancestors of the Marcomanni Saxons under discussion. Where does Bernard the Dane fit into this picture? As said, he has been variously described as "Bernard of the blood-royal of Saxony", and "Bernard the Dane, Prince in Denmark". Perhaps a reasonable explanation of this apparent conflict is that he was the son of a Danish father and a Saxon mother. This would appear to be the case in the family of Hrolf Turstain, whose family were closely associated through marriages to Bernard's descendants; suggesting a common origin. Hrolf Turstain was known by the appelation of "Brico" or "Bigo[t]d", which is a term rather more Germanic than Norse. It has been suggested that this was an ethnic slur; an alternative of "Goth". This would seem to be highly plausible, given that a branch of his descendants (through Ansfrid "the Dane"] were also titled "le Goz", a clear reference to "Goth". [10]
The family of Saxons that controlled "the march" were of the lineage of Duke Wittikind: Wittikindus, par Collins, first Duke of Saxony, died 807. He had two wives, first, Geva, daughter of Eystein Halfdansson, Jarl of Vestfold, Ringerike, Hadeland, and the Opplands; evidence of the early alliance between Saxon and Danish nobility in the face of Frankish encroachment, second, Suatana, daughter of a [Marcomanni] Prince of Bohemia. By the first he had, first, Wigebert, his successor. By the second he had Wittikind II. Count of Wettin, who died 825 ; whose son, Wittikind III. went to France, and was ancestor of the Capetian Kings. Wigbert succeeded as second Duke of Saxony: he died 825. By Sindacilla, daughter of Rathodus, King of Friesland, he left issue, first, Bruno; second, Wolpert, Count of Ringelheim. Bruno I. Duke of Saxony, died 813. By Susana, Countess of Montfort, he had Ludolph the Grand, who died 859. He married Oda Billung , a Princess of East France. By her he had, first, Bruno II.; second, Eckbert, Margrave of Hartzburg, lived to 881; third, Taneward, built the castle of Brunswic, and died 880; fourth, Otto the Great; fifth, Ludgarda, wife of Lewis, junior, King of Franconia; sixth, Hadmodis, died 874 ; seventh, Gerberga, died 865; eighth, Christina, died 904. These three were all put into the abbey of Gandersheira. Bruno II. was Grand Duke of Saxony 859. He built the city of Brunswic, so called from him, 861, and died 880. His brother, Otto the Great, succeeded him. He married Edwige de la Marche. He had the offer of the imperial crown from the Princes of Germany, upon the death of the Emperor Lewis IV. but declined it because of his old age. He was succeeded by his son Henry I. sumamed the Fowler, born 876, Duke of Saxony 916, and elected Emperor in 919. His second wife was Mathildis, daughter of Dietricus, or Theodoric, Count of Ringleheim, direct descendant of Wittikind. Mathildis was the grandaughter of Godfried de Guines, son of Harald Klak, and Gisela of Lotharingia: Their daughter, Reginhilde de Friesland, a.k.a. Rheinghildin de Frise, was wife of Count Theoderic of Ringelheim. Henry the Fowler strengthened his position on "the march" in 919 by adding to its colony of Saxons.
The Danish side of "the march" was controlled by the family of Gorm the Old, a king in southern Denmark , that is, Jutland, who also had "holdings in Norway." He was the son of someone identified by Adam of Bremen as "Hardegon filius Suein", that is, Harthaknutr, son of Svein, who was a son of the half-fabulous Ragnar Lodbrok, the son of Sigurd Ring. The name Huncdeus in the old Norse vocabulary of Erik Jónsson has exactly the same meaning as Knutr. According to the Norwegian historian, Steenstrup [11] the name Huncdeus was also synonomous with Hulc, or Hule. Thus, by combination of reasoning, a case can be made for Harthaknutr being synonomous with Malahule/Malahulc of Moer. However that may be, Gorm the Old can reasonably be presumed to have been born circa 870-880. Before proceeding, it may be of interest to note that Professor Steenstrup also believed that Gorm the Old was the same person as Gorm-hin-rige, Gorm the Mighty, the Gormund, Godrinus, Guthrun or Guthrun-Athelstan, of our English historians, who in King Alfred's time conquered East Anglia, and settled the Danelaghe, with him not dying in 891, as reported, but, instead, returning to Denmark. His son, Harald I Bluetooth (Danish Harald Blåtand) was the King of Denmark between 940 and 985. The name "Blåtand" was probably taken from two old Danish words, 'blå' meaning dark skinned and "tan" meaning great man, which might support the idea of Marcomanni associations. Gorm married Thyri, by some accounts a daughter of a "jarl of Jutland". In the 850's, Rorik, likely brother of Harald Klak, established himself in South Jutland, "between the Eider and the sea". Thyri could have been of this family, as it was a name common to it. The interconnectiveness of powerful families at this time is shown by Harald Bluetooth's sister, Gunhilde, marrying Eric Bloodaxe of Norway, and Harald himself marrying a daughter of Prince Mistivoi of the Obodrites, of the Sukow-Szelegi culture that had inhabited Poland. Udo, the son of Mistevoi had a son called Gottschalk, who married a daughter of Canute the Great, Harald's grandson. Two of Eric Bloodaxe's daughters married great-grandsons of Ragnvald the Wise, Jarl of Moer, proposed in the Sagas as brother of Malahule. This connectiveness is the confusion, for in these times people would have seen themselves as part of a kinship group, not as a distinct family entity within it; such distinctivity being the device of later historians who sought to justify the rule of their masters by linking them to specific and assumed bloodlines.
Bernard the Dane was of Gorm's generation, being of considerable age in the latter part of his regency, being described as "cunning old Bernard the Dane." It may also be significant that when the fledgling Norman state was under threat of Frankish attack "King Harald Bluetooth came at the first summons; and the Normans, under the leadership of Bernard of Harcourt, hastened to join him". It is not unreasonable to assume that Harald was responding to the summons of a close kinsman.
However that may be, it would seem fair to say that Bernard the Dane was of Gorm's generation, and that Gorm's father was of the generation of the daughters of Ludolph the Grand.
That Bernard was described as "of the blood-royal of Saxony" and as "a Prince in Denmark" may have everything to do such associations, an alliance of powerful families each side of "the march", a reafirmation of such alliances forged in the time of Wittikind. Bernard may have been given the appelation of "Dane" to signify his mixed parentage; one distinct in this partial way from the Marcomanni aristocracy of Rouen.
Bernard was said to have married Sprote de Bourgoyne, probable daughter of Herbert I de Vermandois, great-great grandson of Charlmagne. Bernard and Sprote have been claimed as the parents of Torf the Rich de Harcourt, Galeran I. de Meulan [par Gilles-André de La Roque, Histoire généalogique de la maison de Harcourt, 1662], and Mathildis de Pont-Audemer; her name being common to the descendants of Wittikind, who married Jean d' Ache, their son being Richard d'Ache, who married Perrette de Ferrières. Their son was Robert d'Ache, who married Havoise de l' Aigle. Their son was Dreux, seigneur de Boves [Somme], father of Enguerrand, seigneur de Boves , Coucy, la Fève-en-Tardenois et Marle. Endgerrand became "sieur de Coucy" and Count of Amiens by marriage to Adele de Coucy, daughter of Alberic de Coucy and Adele d'Amiens; daughter of Count Dreux of the Vexin and Princess Goda of England. Goda was the daughter of Ethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy; daughter of Duke Richard and Gunnor de Crepon, whose sister, Duvelina, married Tourode de Pont-Audemer, eldest son of Torf the Rich, and nephew of Mathildis. Gunnor and her siblings are in some accounts given as the children of Harald "Bluetooth". Tourode and Duvelina were the parents of Humphrey de Vieilles, married to Auberée de la Haye/Haie, progenitors of the Beaumont Counts of Meulan, Earls of Warwick and Leicester; Josseline of Pont-Audemer, married to Hugh de Montgomery, parents of Earl Roger; and Emma de Harcourt. She married Rudolf de Varennes, who held considerable lands on the Seine above Rouen, and in the Pays de Caux, who took is name from Varenne, a hamlet on the River Varenne, near Dieppe. Emma de Harcourt and Rudolf de Varennes were the parents of Rudolf II. de Varennes, and William de Varennes, a.k.a. William de Warren, Earl of Surrey
The famille d'Ache/Asche/Ash, cousins of the above, were postulated to have originated in Evreux [Saint-Denis] by the genealogist Charles Bernau, in which case they may have been of the family of Fresnaye/Fraxineto of Saint-Andre, Evreux, whose name also signifies "dweller by the ash-tree". It can be noted that Asche is a particularly Saxon form of the name, with a town in Vogtland being so called.
Long before the ethnicity of the Norman elite came into question, the traveller and commentator on pre-Industrial Normandy, Jacob Venedy, wrote in 1841:
"The ancient Normans were of German extraction, and much German blood still flows in the veins of the Normans of the present day. But the land is pure German. In the towns every step reminds you of Germany; while, in the country, every tree and every hedge smile on the native of Germany as old acquaintances, and greet him with welcome in his mother-tongue. You might place Niirnberg or Cologne on the spot where Rouen stands, or Niirnberg close to Rouen, and turn out of the last street of Nurnberg into the first of Rouen without observing that you had just quitted a German and entered a French city".
As the Norman is nearly related to the German, so is Normandy to Germany. The towns are distinguished, like most of the old German, by their gothic churches and town-halls, narrow streets, and large, lofty, dark houses, with small, narrow, windows".
[1] Patronymica Britannica, Mark Antony Lower, p. 147, 1860.
[2] Memorials of the Chaunceys, William Chauncey Fowler, p. 312, 1858.
[3] The Racial Basis of Civilization: A critique of the Nordic doctrine, Alfred A. Knopf, 1931.
[4] ibid.
[5] The Goths, Peter J. Heather, p. 18, 1991.
[6] Germania, Tacitus, 43-4.
[7] A Short History of England's Literature, Eva March Tappan, p. 25, 1906.
[8] The English Language, John Miller Dow Meiklejohn, p. 466, 1920.
[9] The Channel Islands, David Thomas Ansted, p. 351, 1862.
[10] Family Names and Their Story, Sabine Baring-Gould, p. 179, 1910.
[11] Normannerne, Steenstrup, op. cit., t. ii., p. 282, 1876.
