In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple in 911. In 924 and again in 933, Normandy was expanded by royal grant. Rollo's male-line descendants continued to rule it until 1135, and cognatic descendants ruled it until 1204. In 1202 King Philip II of France declared Normandy a forfeited fief and by 1204 his army had conquered it (with the exception of the Channel Islands). It remained a French royal province thereafter, still called the Duchy of Normandy, but only occasionally granted to a duke of the royal house as an appanage.
Despite both the 13th century loss of mainland Normandy, the renunciation of the title by King Henry III of England in the Treaty of Paris (1259), and the extinction of the duchy itself in modern-day France, the monarch of the United Kingdom is regardless still often informally referred to by the title "duke of Normandy". This is the title used whether the monarch is a king or a queen.
History of the title There is no record of Rollo holding or using any title. His son and grandson, William Longsword and Richard I, used the titles "count" (Latin comes or consul) and "prince" (princeps).Marjorie Chibnall, The Normans (Blackwell, 2006), pp. 15–16. According to her, "it is even doubtful if Rollo had any title." Prior to 1066, the most common title of the ruler of Normandy was "count of Normandy" (comes Normanniae) or "Count of the Normans" (comes Normannorum).David Crouch, The Image of Aristocracy in Britain, 1000–1300 (Taylor and Francis, 1992), pp. 40–41. The title Count of Rouen (comes Rotomagensis) was never used in any official document, but it was used of William I and his son by the anonymous author of a lament (planctus) on his death. Defying Norman pretensions to the ducal title, Adhemar de Chabannes was still referring to the Norman ruler as "Count of Rouen" as late as the 1020s. In the 12th century, the Icelandic historian Ari Thorgilsson in his Landnámabók referred to Rollo as Ruðu jarl (earl of Rouen), the only attested form in Old Norse, although too late to be evidence for 10th-century practice.David C. Douglas, "The Earliest Norman Counts", The English Historical Review, 61, 240 (1946): 129–56. The late 11th-century Norman historian William of Poitiers used the title "Count of Rouen" for the Norman rulers down to Richard II. According to David C. Douglas, the title "Count of Rouen" (comes Rotomagensis) was never used in any official document. David C. Douglas, "The Earliest Norman Counts", The English Historical Review, 61, 240 (1946):130 Charters are usually a source of information about titles, but none exist for Normandy in the middle of the tenth century.Elizabeth van Houts (ed.), The Normans in Europe (Manchester University Press, 2000), p. 41, n. 58.
The first official recorded use of the title duke (dux) is in an act in favour of the Abbey of Fécamp in 1006 by Richard II. Earlier, the writer Richer of Reims had called Richard I a dux pyratorum, but which only means "leader of pirates" and was not a title. During the reign of Richard II, the French king's chancery began to call the Norman ruler "duke of the Normans" (dux Normannorum) for the first time. As late as the reign of William the Conqueror (1035–87), the ruler of Normandy could style himself "prince and duke, count of Normandy" as if unsure what his title should be. The literal Latin equivalent of "duke of Normandy", dux Normanniae, was in use by 1066,George Beech, "The Participation of Aquitanians in the Conquest of England 1066–1100", in R. Allen Brown, ed., Anglo-Norman Studies IX: Proceedings of the Battle Conference, 1986 (Boydell Press, 1987), p. 16. but it did not supplant dux Normannorum until the Angevin period (1144–1204), at a time when Norman identity was fading.Nick Webber, The Evolution of Norman Identity, 911–1154 (Boydell Press, 2005), p. 178.
Richard I experimented with the title "marquis" (marchio) as early as 966, when it was also used in a diploma of King Lothair.David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty (Hambledon Continuum, 2002), p. 19. Richard II occasionally used it, but he seems to have preferred the title duke. It is his preference for the ducal title in his own charters that has led historians to believe that it was the chosen title of the Norman rulers. Certainly it was not granted to them by the French king. In the twelfth century, the Abbey of Fécamp spread the legend that it had been granted to Richard II by Pope Benedict VIII (ruled 1012–24). The French chancery did not regularly employ it until after 1204, when the duchy had been seized by the crown and Normandy lost its autonomy and its native rulers.
The actual reason for the adoption of a higher title than that of count was that the rulers of Normandy began to grant the comital title to members of their own family. The creation of Norman counts subject to the ruler of Normandy necessitated the latter taking a higher title. The same process was at work in other principalities of France in the eleventh century, as the comital title came into wider use and thus depreciated. The Normans nevertheless kept the title of count for the ducal family and no non-family member was granted a county until Helias of Saint-Saëns was made count of Arques by Henry I in 1106.
From 1066, when William conquered England and became king, the ducal title was often held by the king of England. In 1087, William died and the title passed to his eldest son, Robert Curthose, while his second surviving son, William Rufus, inherited England. In 1096, Robert mortgaged Normandy to William, who was succeeded by another brother, Henry I, in 1100. In 1106, Henry conquered Normandy. It remained with the king of England down to 1144, when, during the civil war known as the Anarchy, it was conquered by Count Geoffrey V of Anjou. Geoffrey's son, Henry II, inherited Normandy (1150) and then England (1154), reuniting the two titles.
In 1202, King Philip II of France, as feudal suzerain, declared Normandy forfeit and by 1204 his armies had conquered it (with the exception of the Channel Islands). Henry III finally renounced the English claim in the Treaty of Paris (1259).
Thereafter, the continental part of the duchy formed an integral part of the French royal demesne. The kings of the House of Valois started a tradition of granting the title to their heirs apparent. The title was granted four times (1332, 1350, 1465, 1785) between the French conquest of Normandy and the dissolution of the French monarchy in 1792. The French Revolution brought an end to the Duchy of Normandy as a political entity, by then a province of France, and it was replaced by several départements.
List of dukes of Normandy (911–1204)
House of Normandy (911–1135) PortraitNameReignMarriage(s)Relation to predecessor(s)Other titlesRollo (Rollon)
– 928/933911–928(1) Poppa of Bayeux
one son and one daughter
(2) Gisela of FranceGranted by the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-EpteNo official title(s).Marjorie Chibnall, The Normans (Blackwell, 2006), pp. 15–16. According to her, "it is even doubtful if Rollo had any title."William I
(Gllâome I)
893 – 17 December 942927–17 December 942(1) Sprota
one son
(2) Luitgarde of Vermandois
no issue
(m. before 940)Son of RolloRichard I
(R'chard Sans-Peur)
28 August 932 – 20 November 99617 December 942 – 20 November 996(1) Emma of Paris no issue
(m.960; died 968)
(2) Gunnor
seven children
(m. )Son of William ICalled Count of Normandy in primary sourcesDavid C. Douglas, "The Earliest Norman Counts", The English Historical Review, 61, 240 (1946):130Richard II
(R'chard le Bouon)
978 – 28 August 1026996–1026(1) Judith of Brittany six children
(m.1000; died 1017)
(2) Popia of Envermeu
two children
(m.1017)Son of Richard IRichard III (R'chard III)
997/1001 – 6 August 102728 August 1026 – 6 August 1027never marriedSon of Richard IIRobert I
(Robèrt le Magnifique)
22 June 1000 – 1–3 July 10351027–1035never married Had extramarital relationship to Herleva
one son and one daughterBrother of Richard IIIWilliam II
(Gllâome le Contchérant)
– 9 September 1087 – 9 September 1087Matilda of Flanders ten children
(m.1051/2; died 1083)Son of Robert IKing of EnglandRobert II
(Robèrt Courtheuse)
– 3 February 11349 September 1087 – 1106Sybilla of Conversano one son
(m.1100; died 18 March 1103)Oldest son of William IIHenry I
(Henri I Beauclerc)
– 1 December 11351106 – 1 December 1135(1) Matilda of Scotland one son and one daughter
(m.1100; died 1118)
(2) Adeliza of Louvain
no issue
(m. 1121)Brother of Robert II Son of William IIKing of EnglandWilliam (III)
(Gllâome Cliton)
25 October 1102 – 28 July 11281106–1128(1) Sibylla of Anjou no issue
(m. 1123; annulled 1124)
(2) Joanna of Montferrat
no issue
(m. 1127; died 1128)Eldest son of Robert CurthoseCount of Flanders
House of Blois (1135–1144) PortraitNameReignMarriage(s)Relationship with predecessor(s)Other titlesStephen
(Étienne)
1092/1096 – 25 October 11541135–1144Matilda I, Countess of Boulognefive children (m. 1136; died 1152)Grandson of William II through Adela of Normandy Nephew of Henry IKing of England
House of Plantagenet (1144–1204) PortraitNameReignMarriage(s)Relationship with predecessor(s)Other titlesOther DetailsGeoffreythe Handsome(Geffrai le Biau) 24 August 1113 – 7 September 11511144–1150Matilda of Englandthree children (m. 1128)Son-in-law of Henry ICount of AnjouConquered Normandy from Stephen I.Henry II(Henri Court-manté) 5 March 1133 – 6 July 11891150 – 6 July 1189Eleanor of Aquitaineeight children (m. 1152)Son of Geoffrey First cousin, once removed of StephenKing of EnglandHenry II named his son, Henry the Young King (1155–1183), as co-ruler with him but this was a Norman custom of designating an heir, and the younger Henry did not outlive his father and rule in his own right, so he is not counted as a duke on lists of dukes.Richard IV(R'chard le Quor de Lion) 8 September 1157 – 6 April 11993 September 1189 – 6 April 1199Berengaria of Navarreno issue (m. 1191)Son of Henry IIKing of EnglandJohn(Jean sans Terre) 24 December 1166 – 12041199 – 1204(1) Isabella, Countess of Gloucester no issue
(m. 1189; annulled 1199)
(2) Isabella, Countess of Angoulême
five children
(m. 1200)Brother of Richard IV Son of Henry IIKing of EnglandLord of IrelandLost mainland Normandy in 1204
French province (1204–1792) In 1204, the King of France confiscated the continental part of the Duchy of Normandy (the Channel Islands remaining under English control) and subsumed it into the crown lands of France. Thereafter, the ducal title was held by several French princes.
In 1332, King Philip VI gave the Duchy in appanage to his son John, who became king John II of France in 1350. He in turn gave the Duchy in appanage to his son Charles, who became king Charles V of France in 1364. In 1465, Louis XI, under constraint, gave the Duchy to his brother Charles de Valois, Duke of Berry. Charles was unable to hold the Duchy and in 1466 it was again subsumed into the crown lands and remained a permanent part of them. The title was conferred on a few junior members of the French royal family before the abolition of the French monarchy in 1792.
John (son of King Philip VI, later King John II of France), 1332–1350. Charles (son of John II of France, later King Charles V of France), 1350–1364 Charles (brother of Louis XI of France, also Duke of Berry), 1465–1466 James, Duke of York, later King James II of England. On 31 December 1660, a few months after the restoration of Charles II to the thrones of England and Scotland, King Louis XIV proclaimed Charles's younger brother, James, Duke of York, "Duke of Normandy". This was probably done as a political gesture of support.Weir, Alison (1996). 258. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. Revised Edition. Random House, London. .