Duke William LONGSWORD

Abt 893 - 942  (~ 49 years)

• Name	William LONGSWORD
  Prefix	Duke
  Born	Abt 893
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	2nd Duke of Normandy
  Cause of Death	Assassination - slain by Arnulf of Flanders with whom he had in good faith gone to confer
  Died	18 Dec 942	Somme, Picardie, France
  Person ID	I44363	Main
  Last Modified	17 Dec 2023

  
  

  Father	Rollo OF NORMANDY,   b. Abt 860, Scandanavia ,   d. Abt 932, Normandy, France  (Age ~ 72 years)
  Mother	Poppa VAN BAYEUX,   b. Abt 870, Normandy, France ,   d. Abt 910, Rouen, Seine Inferieure, Normandy, France  (Age ~ 40 years)
  Family ID	F31172	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Sprota MNU,   d. Abt 935
  Married	Abt 932
  Children	+ 1. Richard DE NORMANDY,   b. 28 Aug 933, Fecamp, Normandy, France ,   d. 20 Nov 996, Fecamp, Normandy, France  (Age 63 years)
  Last Modified	19 Dec 2023
  Family ID	F31169	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Longsword was the second Duke of Normandy from his father's death until his own assassination. The title dux (duke) was not in use at the time and has been applied to early Norman rulers retroactively; William actually used the title comes (count). Little is known about his early years. He was born in Bayeux or Rouen to Rollo and his wife Poppa. All that is known of Poppa is that she was a Christian, and the daughter to Berengar of Rennes, the previous lord of Brittania Nova, which eventually became western Normandy. According to the William's planctus, he was baptised a Christian. Between 935 and 939, William was married to Leutgarde, daughter of Herbert of Vermandois. He had no legitimate children and his successor, Richard was the s/o Sprota who he had apparently married in 930 ‘more danico’. William succeeded Rollo sometime around 927. It appears that he faced a rebellion early in his reign, from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. Subsequent years are obscure. In 939 William became involved in a war with Arnulf I of Flanders, which soon became intertwined with the other conflicts troubling the reign of Louis IV. He was killed by followers of Arnulf while at a meeting to settle their conflict. His son Richard the Fearless, child of his first wife, Sprota, succeeded him. William also left a widow, Liègard (Liutgard), who died in 985. Assassination of William Longsword In 939, Herbert supported by Arnulf of Flanders besieged Montreuil and its capture gave him all of Ponthieu and Vimeu between the rivers Somme and Bresle. Herluin II sought the support of Hugh the Great to regain his lands but Hugh refused because he already had an alliance with Arnulf. Herluin then turned to William Longsword for help. Troops from the Cotentin attacked and recaptured Montreuil, slaughtering most of Arnulf’s garrison. But at a price. Herluin had placed his lands under the protection of the Normans and performed homage to William for his help. The Normans were now assured of a buffer between their borders and those of Flanders. For Arnulf, Hugh the Great and other Carolingian lords the Normans remained undesirable intruders in France and they decided to eliminate William who was becoming too powerful and was increasingly playing a role in the politics of the French monarchy. It was at this moment that Arnulf sent messengers to William Longsword, saying that he wanted to settle their conflict over Montreuil. William went to the meeting on an island in the river Somme at Picquigny, where he was murdered by Arnulf’s men on 18th December 942.