Anslech or Anslec de Bricquebec (active in the 930s and 940s) played a major political role in the first days of the

duchy of Normandy The Duchy of Normandy grew out of the 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte between King Charles III of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo. The duchy was named for its inhabitants, the Normans. From 1066 until 1204, as a result of the Norman c ...

, though the sources on him are rather opaque.

In the Anglo-Norman chronicles

Around 1000,

Dudo of Saint-Quentin Dudo, or Dudon, was a Picard historian, and dean of Saint-Quentin, where he was born about 965. Sent in 986 by Albert I, Count of Vermandois, on an errand to Richard I, Duke of Normandy, he succeeded in his mission, and, having made a very favor ...

evoked Anslech as one of the three ''secretarii'' to the jarl of the Normans,

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...

(v.927-942). A later source, ''le Roman de Rou'', explains that Anslech supported William when Rioulf began an important rebellion against him. We see the same figure again in the writings of

William of Jumièges William of Jumièges (born c. 1000 - died after 1070) (french: Guillaume de Jumièges) was a contemporary of the events of 1066, and one of the earliest writers on the subject of the Norman conquest of England. He is himself a shadowy figure, only ...

. After the assassination of William I, Anslech, Raoul Taisson ''l'Ancien'' and Bernard the Dane formed what William of Jumièges called "guardians of the whole duchy of Normandy", awaiting the majority of the new duke

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

. In 943, they welcomed the king of the Franks, Louis IV to

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, who came as

overlord An overlord in the English feudal system was a lord of a manor who had subinfeudated a particular manor, estate or fee, to a tenant. The tenant thenceforth owed to the overlord one of a variety of services, usually military service or serje ...

to receive the homage of the inhabitants of Rouen.

Rise and fall

The

saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

s from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and the islands make Anslech a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

noble, Danish or Norwegian in origin but always from the old

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

nobility. Later Norman traditions made him son of a supposed nephew of the Norman founder,

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

, William I's father. All the same, his descendants continue to be discussed. A tradition - held since the 17th century, though with no evidence - considers him as the ancestor of the families of Montfort and Bertran via his son Tursten of Bastembourg. Christophe Maneuvrier, ''Paysages et sociétés rurales au Moyen Âge. Le Pays d’Auge jusqu’à la fin du XIIIe siècle'', doctoral thesis, University of Caen, 2000, vol. 1, (dactyl.), p.98. L'asendance douteuse d'Anslech est notamment reprise de Charles de Gerville, « Mémoires sur les anciens châteaux du département de la Manche », ''Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie'', tome 1, 1825, p.247 Finally, he is traditionally presented as the founder of the castle of

Bricquebec Bricquebec () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in northwestern France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Bricquebec-en-Cotentin.Cotentin The Cotentin Peninsula (, ; nrf, Cotentîn ), also known as the Cherbourg Peninsula, is a peninsula in Normandy that forms part of the northwest coast of France. It extends north-westward into the English Channel, towards Great Britain. To its w ...

(perhaps at the beginning of the 10th century), from which comes his nickname Anslech of Bricquebec, though this too is an assumption.

Notes and references

Sources

, ''De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum'', Ed.

Jules Lair Jules–Auguste Lair (25 May 1836 – 16 May 1907) was a French lawyer, businessman and scholar. At the École des Chartes he studied palaeography, and was offered a position with the Archives, but he decided instead to become a lawyer. At the ag ...

, Caen, F. Le Blanc-Hardel, 1865 *

, ''History of the Normans'', ed. Guizot, Brière, 1826, Livre IV, p. 79 (French translation of ''Gesta Normannorum ducum'' written c.1172) {{DEFAULTSORT:Anslech De Bricquebec 10th-century Normans Norman warriors