NORMANS 



4248 



NORRISTOWN 



came king of England in 1066, thus politically 

 uniting his two domains. II;- -"ii Robert, how- 

 ever, wrested from him his French province in 

 1077, and it v, tin united with England 



until 1106. Reconquered for France in 1202- 

 1204 by Philip Augustus. Normandy was twiiv 

 won by the English during the Hundred Years' 

 War. but it was finally recovered by the French 

 in 1449, becoming then a permanent possession 

 of France. The Channel Islands, once a part 

 of Normandy, belong now to Great Britain. 



Consult Home's Normandy; Mansfield's Rum- 

 bles in Nor)nandy. 



NORMANS, nawr'manz, the name applied in 

 history to the Northmen, or Norsemen, from 

 the Scandinavian peninsula, who established 

 themselves permanently in France. From Nor- 

 man, which itself is a softened form of North- 

 mi n, comes the word Normandy, the name 

 given the old French province founded by those 

 people. The Norsemen began to make raids 

 upon the coasts of France during the reign of 

 Charlemagne, and in 845, thirty years after his 

 death, they plundered Paris. After several 

 years of invasions and forays, which the later 

 kings of the Carolingian dynasty were unable 

 to prevent, Charles the Simple granted to 

 Rollo, the leader of the Northmen who had 

 established a colony at Rouen, a tract of land 

 in the northern part of Gaul. In return, Rollo 

 pledged himself to render Charles homage and 

 to adopt Christianity. This was in the year 

 912. For the next hundred years the North- 

 men, or Normans, prospered in their adopted 

 country, taking on the refinements of civiliza- 

 tion and becoming the most cultured people of 

 Europe. 



Then, early in the eleventh century, the 

 spirit of adventure revived, and the Normans 

 made their way for purposes of conquest into 

 Southern Italy and Sicily, establishing there a 

 state which is known historically as the King- 

 dom of Naples and Sicily. Famous among the 

 Norman leaders of this period is Robert Guis- 

 card. His renown, however, was soon to be 

 eclipsed by that of Duke William of Normandy, 

 who led an army into England in 1066 and de- 

 feated the English king, Harold, at the Battle 

 of Hastings. As a result, William gained the 

 throne and a Norman dynasty ruled in England 

 until 1154. 



Related Subjects. The following articles will 

 be of interest in this connection : 

 England, subtitle Normandy 



History Northmen 



Hastings, Battle of William I (England) 



Norman Architecture 



NORNS, nawrnz, the throe fates of Norse or 

 Scandinavian mythology, whose decrees were 

 beyond recall. They were represented as three 

 H>ters of different ages, whose names were I'rd. 

 \Yrdandi and Skuld. meaning the past, prcxi nt 

 and jut arc. Urd, as the personification of for- 

 mer days, was represented as old and feeble, 

 ever looking backward; Verdandi, typifying the 

 present, appeared as a courageous, energetic- 

 young woman, who looked always straight 

 ahead; Skuld, emblematic of the future, was 

 closely veiled and appeared with head turned 

 in the opposite direction from that toward 

 which Urd looked, and in her hand was an 

 unopened book or a scroll not yet unrolled. 

 Asgard, the home of the heroes slain in battle, 

 was their dwelling place, and they were sup- 

 posed to sit under the world tree, Yggdrasil, by 

 the well of Urdar, and there determine the 

 destinies of both gods and men. There were 

 many lesser norns, each individual having a 

 personal one who decided his fate. The in- 

 ferior norns also included women who possessed 

 the power of magic or prediction. 



NORRIS, TOBIAS CRAWFORD (1861- ), a 

 Canadian statesman, who succeeded Sir Rod- 

 mond Roblin in 1915 as premier of Manitoba. 

 Norris was bora at Brampton, Ont., but while 

 still a young man he removed to Manitoba, 

 where he engaged in farming, and later became 

 an auctioneer of live stock. After some j'ears 

 he began to take an active part in politics, first 

 in municipal campaigns and later in provincial 

 elections. He was elected as a Liberal to the 

 Manitoba legislature, and after service of over 

 fifteen years, on the downfall of the Roblin 

 government in May, 1915, he formed a new 

 ministry. 



NOR'RISTOWN, PA., a borough in Mont- 

 gomery County, of which it is the county seat, 

 is situated in the southeastern section of the 

 state on the Schuylkill River and canal. 

 Philadelphia is eighteen miles southeast, and 

 Reading is forty-one miles northwest. Bridge- 

 port, across the river, is connected with Norris- 

 town by a bridge. Transportation is provided 

 by the Pennsylvania, the Stony Creek and the 

 Philadelphia & Reading railways, and electric 

 lines extend south from the city. The town- 

 ship in which Norristown is now located, known 

 then as the Manor of Williamstadt, was given 

 by William Penn to his son, William Penn, Jr., 

 in 1704. It was sold to Isaac Norris and Wil- 

 liam Trent, and later became the sole posses- 

 sion of Norris, for whom the borough is named. 

 It was incorporated as a borough in 1812. In 



