William Longsword

William Longsword was born "overseas" to the Viking Rollo (while he was still a pagan) and his wife more danico (a kind of non-Christian marriage), Poppa of Bayeux. Poppa's parentage is uncertain. Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes her as the daughter of a Count Berengar, the dominant prince of that region. In the 11th-century Annales Rotomagenses (Annals of Rouen), she is called the daughter of Guy, Count of Senlis, otherwise unknown to history. According to the Longsword's planctus, William was baptized a Christian probably at the same time as his father, which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912, by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen. ==Life==

William succeeded Rollo (who continued to live about five more years) in 927 and, early in his reign, in 933, faced a rebellion from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised. According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader of the rebellion was Riouf of Evreux, who besieged William in Rouen. Sallying forth, William won a decisive battle, proving his authority to be duke. In 933, William recognized King Raoul, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France, as King of Western Francia. In turn, Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches, the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands. The Bretons resisted these changes, led by Alan II, Duke of Brittany, and Count Berengar of Rennes, but this ended shortly with great slaughter and Breton castles being razed to the ground; Alan fled to England and Berengar sought reconciliation. In 935, William married Luitgarde, In addition to supporting King Raoul, William was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father had opposed. In January 936, Raoul died and the 16-year-old Louis IV, who was living in exile in England, was persuaded by a promise of loyalty by William to return and became king. The Bretons returned from exile seeking to recover the lands taken by the Normans, resulting in fighting in the expanded Norman lands. William was excommunicated for his actions in destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf. William pledged his loyalty to King Louis IV when they met in 940 and, in return, he was confirmed in lands that had been given to his father. ==Assassination==

In 941, a peace treaty, brokered in Rouen by King Louis IV, was signed between the Bretons and Normans, which limited Norman expansion into Breton lands. The following year, on 17 December 942 at Picquigny on an island on the Somme, William was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf while at a peace conference to settle their differences. ==Family==

William had no children with his Christian wife, Luitgarde. He fathered a son, Richard, with Sprota, his wife more danico. Richard, then aged 10, succeeded as ruler of Normandy upon William's death in December, 942. ==Notes==