Why did the Normans invade England ?

The Normans were Danish Vikings. The Danes did invade all of Western Europe, as far as the Maghreb. One group managed to obtain land from the King of France and became known as the Normans. They adopted French language and customs and combined their own Norse technology to the French one.

I suppose that they became more powerful because they had enough land to support their future conquests. They didn't have to go back to Denmark to make new weapons or bring more men, but could just recruit local Frenchmen, and get all the food and weapons they needed in Normandy.

The nearest place to conquer outside France from their new "base" was England, just across the Channel. Furthermore the kingdom of England was already weakened from the war between another group of Danish Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons. The Normans came with a big army combining Danish and French troops when England was already on its knees. The timing was perfect.

Another reason they didn't venture more inland (like Switzerland) is that Vikings were primarily sailors. Their ships could go up rivers, but not upstream in mountainous areas.


Brought to mind are Danish, Flemish and Breton fighters fighting under the Normans, but never heard of any grounds hinting at 'French' fighters before (?)
 
I agree with this statement made by Maciamo back in 2009: "Another reason they didn't venture more inland (like Switzerland) is that Vikings were primarily sailors".

Normans also conquered Albania through sea and this proves that they were better as sailors(taken from Wikipedia):
After allying himself (Robert Guiscard) with Croatia and the Catholic cities of Dalmatia, in the year 1081 an army of 30,000 men in 300 ships landed in the southern shores of Albania, capturing Valona, Kanina, Jericho (Orikumi), reaching Butrint after numerous pillages. They joined the fleet that had previously conquered Corfu. The Normans attacked Dyrrachium from land and sea, devastating everything along the way......

I started to do research on Normans after I did my DNA test with 23andme and my mtDNA (according to 23andme) was of Viking descent! That was a shock for me for quite a while until I found out about Norman conquerors in Albanian territories, and they were around for 300 years. Quite amazing!
 
Brought to mind are Danish, Flemish and Breton fighters fighting under the Normans, but never heard of any grounds hinting at 'French' fighters before (?)

Geography lesson No 1 : Brittany and Normandy are in France, and have been since the Kingdom of France was founded in the 9th century. Flanders is historically part of the Kingdom of France as well.
 
I agree with this statement made by Maciamo back in 2009: "Another reason they didn't venture more inland (like Switzerland) is that Vikings were primarily sailors".

Normans also conquered Albania through sea and this proves that they were better as sailors(taken from Wikipedia):
After allying himself (Robert Guiscard) with Croatia and the Catholic cities of Dalmatia, in the year 1081 an army of 30,000 men in 300 ships landed in the southern shores of Albania, capturing Valona, Kanina, Jericho (Orikumi), reaching Butrint after numerous pillages. They joined the fleet that had previously conquered Corfu. The Normans attacked Dyrrachium from land and sea, devastating everything along the way......

I started to do research on Normans after I did my DNA test with 23andme and my mtDNA (according to 23andme) was of Viking descent! That was a shock for me for quite a while until I found out about Norman conquerors in Albanian territories, and they were around for 300 years. Quite amazing!

they ( normans) where there for only 4 years, the byzantines on land and the venetians by sea put an end to the norman conquest of the balkans. What Dna could they leave behind?
 
Geography lesson No 1 : Brittany and Normandy are in France, and have been since the Kingdom of France was founded in the 9th century. Flanders is historically part of the Kingdom of France as well.

Maciamo your answer is so far-out there it's almost worthless and smacks more of an unfriendly warning off then any meaningful stab at an answer. Thanks mate.
 
The Normans themselves can be considered partially French

history channel series, the normans , did state that the Vanelli in the cotentin peninsula where norse people from Roman times and this was known to norman people prior to their conquest of Normandy. The normans did take up everything french except the architecture, which was norman
 
Maciamo your answer is so far-out there it's almost worthless and smacks more of an unfriendly warning off then any meaningful stab at an answer. Thanks mate.
The guy only told you that Brittany, Normandy, and - in a historical context - Flanders are all part of what we now know as France. Why the apparent anger?
 
they ( normans) where there for only 4 years, the byzantines on land and the venetians by sea put an end to the norman conquest of the balkans. What Dna could they leave behind?

This should probably be posted on a thread about Albanians, but since I brought it up I would only give you links where you could read about the Norman rule in Albania, we also had a prince who had a Norman mother (Karl/Charles Thopia, if I remember correctly):
http://books.google.com/books?id=IJ...&ots=YJGRMhePIK&sig=1luVU8RlOHVVNk-9UdiHXwvc5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Albania

So there are chances that some traces of Norman mtDNA is left behind, even though I would suspect more to be Y-DNA.
 
This should probably be posted on a thread about Albanians, but since I brought it up I would only give you links where you could read about the Norman rule in Albania, we also had a prince who had a Norman mother (Karl/Charles Thopia, if I remember correctly):
http://books.google.com/books?id=IJ...&ots=YJGRMhePIK&sig=1luVU8RlOHVVNk-9UdiHXwvc5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Albania

So there are chances that some traces of Norman mtDNA is left behind, even though I would suspect more to be Y-DNA.

your links reflect nothing in our conversation, below is the scenario

Robert Guiscard ultimately drove out the Byzantines from southern Italy. Having obtained pope Gregory VII's consent and acting as his vassal, Robert continued his campaign in conquering the Balkan peninsula as a foothold for western feudal lords and the Catholic Church. After allying himself with Croatia and the Catholic cities of Dalmatia, in the year 1081 an army of 30,000 men in 300 ships landed in the southern shores of Albania, capturing Valona, Kanina, Jericho (Orikumi), reaching Butrint after numerous pillages. They joined the fleet that had previously conquered Corfu. The Normans attacked Dyrrachium from land and sea, devastating everything along the way. Under these harsh circumstances, the locals accepted emperor Alexius I Comnenus' call to join forces with the Byzantines against the Normans who besieged Dyrrachium. The Albanian forces could not take part in the ensuing battle, because it had started too early, before their arrival. Immediately before the battle the Venetian fleet had secured a victory in the coast surrounding the city. Forced to retreat, Alexius ceded the command to a high Albanian official named Comiscortes[10] in the service of Byzantium. The city's garrison resisted until February 1082, when Dyrrachium was betrayed to the Normans by the Venetian and Amalfitan merchants who had settled in the city. The Normans were now free to penetrate in the hinterland; they took Ioannina, some minor cities in Southwestern Macedonia, Thessaly and appeared before the gates of Thessalonica. Dissension among the high ranks coerced the Normans to retreat in Italy; they lost Dyrrachium, Valona and Butrint in 1085 after the death of Robert.
 

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