The Planctus on the Death of William Longsword (943) as a Source for Tenth-Century Culture in Normandy and Aquitaine (The R. Allen Brown Memorial Lecture, 2013)

Summary

The Planctus, or lament, is a contemporary Latin poem on the murder of William Longsword, count of Rouen, on 17 December 942. It belongs to the Carolingian genre of lament (planctus) poems, which bewail the death of a beloved person. Laments were written for rulers, bishops or other prominent people, originally in Latin but also in the vernacular, of which the Occitan planh are amongst the most common. Early composition after the death of the person lamented was the norm and, as I will argue, William’s was written in 943. The Planctus on William is an exceptionally important text for various reasons. It is the oldest literary Latin text on the history of early Normandy, the only Scandinavian settlement in France to last beyond one generation. The poem’s survival, in two non-Norman manuscripts, illustrates the precariousness of the process whereby memorial Latin poetry was preserved. The poem throws exceptional light on the Christianity of the second generation of Scandinavian immigrants, embedded into the highest Frankish aristocracy, who viewed them with suspicion. It also illustrates the important role of aristocratic women in mourning rituals, the commemoration of their menfolk, and the cultural links these practices fostered.

Our story is set in western France where the Viking leader Rollo established himself in Rouen (Normandy) around 911. William, the protagonist of the Planctus, was his son and he ruled from c. 928 to his death in December 942. He had at least one sister, called Gerloc, in Normandy. Rollo’s dynasty flourished and survived partly due to the intense political rivalry between two competing royal families in France, the Carolingians, descendants of Charlemagne, and the Robertians, better known as the Capetians. At a slightly lower social level we find the princely dynasties who ruled the more or less autonomous provinces such as Flanders, Vermandois, Poitiers, Aquitaine, and after 911 Normandy. Although initially sceptical about Rollo’s viability as neighbour, the Frankish kings and princes quickly realized that they had to accept the Scandinavian prince and, by the time his son William Longsword took over, they were more than happy to establish closer relationships. Around 936 William I count of Poitou, who was also William III duke of Aquitaine (934–63), married Rollo’s daughter Gerloc, who took the Christian name Adela.