- Bernard the Dane
Bernard the Dane (French - "Bernard le Danois"; c.880 - before 960), was a
Viking jarl (earl ) of Danish origins. He put himself in the service of another jarl installed at the mouth of theSeine , the NorwegianRollo (before 911). After the accords of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte that officially gave birth to theduchy of Normandy (911), Bernard converted to theChristianity atRouen the following year (912) and shortly afterwards received fromRollo , thecount y ofPont-Audemer in the Eure then, later, the city of Harcourt.Under Rollo's son and successor Duke William, Bernard was charged at the beginning of the 930s with putting down the serious uprising led by a certain
Riouf (a Norman from the west, who had besieged the Duke inRouen ), then in around 935 he put down a revolt inBessin andCotentin by Viking communities completely independent from the young and fragile power of the dukedom, unlike the east of the duchy of Normandy where its ducal power was affirmed a little later.Later, on William's premature death by assassination, Bernard became regent of the duchy of Normandy in December 942, beside
Anslech de Bricquebec ,Osmond de Conteville andRaoul Taisson .In 945-946, he appealed to
Harald Bluetooth and his Danes to defend the duchy when it was attacked by theCarolingian king Louis of Outremer andHugh the Great , duke of theFranks . Louis was attempting to retake the lands of the west in Normandy that had been granted to the Viking bands thirty years earlier.Bernard died a few years late (before 960). He was the ancestor of two great Anglo-Norman baronial families, the Beaumonts and the Harcourts.
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*"This page is a translation of its French counterpart."
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