'Normanitas' revisited : reconsidering Norman ethnicity, 996-1159
This thesis investigates the extent to which the Norman gens was understood by contemporaries to share agreed features of ethnic identity. The term Normanitas, associated with significant Latin descriptive traits, including ferox, ferus, bellicosus, audax, strennus, astutus and callidus, has been in use since the 1980s, when scholars identified a shared Norman ethnic identity dispersed across eleventh- and twelfth-century Europe. However, work on Normanitas fails to take into account insights from more recent research, led by Walter Pohl, on the construction of early medieval ethnic identity. This thesis explores whether Normanitas is the same across various boundaries of time and geographical space and to what extent it was a unique phenomenon or subject to outside influences. Is it distinctive from male elite military behaviour and traditional models from earlier non-Norman texts or a response to the contextual circumstances surrounding specific authors? I argue that a shared understanding of Norman identity is less consistent within these texts than previously suggested nor is it unique, being based on traditional classical, biblical and early medieval models concerning identity and ideal male military
Chadwick, Thomas Harry
'Normanitas' revisited : reconsidering Norman ethnicity, 996-1159. This thesis investigates the extent to which the Norman gens was understood by contemporaries to share agreed features of ethnic identity. The term Normanitas, associated with significant Latin descriptive traits, including ferox, ferus, bellicosus, audax, strennus, astutus and callidus, has been in use since the 1980s, when scholars identified a shared Norman ethnic identity dispersed across eleventh- and twelfth-century Europe. However, work on Normanitas fails to take into account insights from more recent research, led by Walter Pohl, on the construction of early medieval ethnic identity. This thesis explores whether Normanitas is the same across various boundaries of time and geographical space and to what extent it was a unique phenomenon or subject to outside influences. Is it distinctive from male elite military behaviour and traditional models from earlier non-Norman texts or a response to the contextual circumstances surrounding specific authors? I argue that a shared understanding of Norman identity is less consistent within these texts than previously suggested nor is it unique, being based on traditional classical, biblical and early medieval models concerning identity and ideal male military
revisit reconsider norman ethnicity investigates_extent norman understood contemporary share agree feature ethnic_identity term associate significant latin descriptive trait include use since scholar identify share norman ethnic_identity disperse across eleventh twelfth_century europe however work fails take_account insight recent lead construction early_medieval ethnic_identity explores whether across various boundary time geographical space extent unique phenomenon subject outside influence distinctive male elite military behaviour traditional_model earlier non norman texts response contextual circumstance surround specific author argue share norman identity less consistent within text previously_suggest unique base traditional classical biblical early_medieval model concern identity ideal male military