How the Normans changed the history of Europe - Mark Robinson

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Helen Chang

In the year 1066,

1066 年，七千名諾曼步兵與騎士

7000 Norman infantry and knights sailed in warships across the English Channel.

搭乘戰艦橫渡英吉利海峽。

Their target: England, home to more than a million people.

他們的目標：英格蘭， 超過一百萬人的家園。

Theirs was a short voyage with massive consequences.

這是一段很短的航程， 卻有著重大的後果。

And around the same period of time,

大約同時期，

other groups of Normans were setting forth all across Europe,

其他諾曼人正一群一群地 啟程至歐洲各地，

going on adventures that would reverberate throughout that continent’s history.

踏上冒險之旅，這些冒險將在 這塊大陸的歷史中不斷迴響。

So who were these warriors

這些戰士是誰？

and how did they leave their mark so far and wide?

他們又是如何把足跡 拓展到這麼廣的範圍？

Our story begins over 200 years earlier,

故事的開端要再向前推兩百年，

when Vikings began to settle on the shores of northern France

當時維京人開始 在法國北部沿岸定居，

as part of a great Scandinavian exodus across northern Europe.

這是橫跨北歐的斯堪的那維亞 大遷徙的一部分。

The French locals called these invaders Normans,

當地法國人稱這些 入侵者為諾曼人，

named for the direction they came from.

因為他們來自北方 （英文為 North）。

Eventually, Charles, the king of the Franks,

最後，法蘭克國王查理曼

negotiated peace with the Viking leader Rollo in 911,

在 911 年與維京人首領 羅洛進行和平談判，

granting him a stretch of land along France’s northern coast

授予他法國北部 沿岸的一大片領土，

that came to be known as Normandy.

即後來大家所知的諾曼第。

The Normans proved adaptable to their newly settled life.

諾曼人證明了他們能夠 適應新定居的生活。

They married Frankish women,

他們與法蘭克婦女通婚，

adopted the French language,

學習法語，

and soon started converting from Norse paganism to Christianity.

且很快就把信仰 從北方異教轉為基督教。

But though they adapted,

但，雖然他們適應了，

they maintained the warrior tradition

他們依然保有維京祖先的

and conquering spirit of their Viking forebears.

戰士傳統及征戰精神。

Before long, ambitious Norman knights were looking for new challenges.

不久後，野心勃勃的 諾曼騎士開始尋找新的挑戰。

The Normans’ best-known achievement was their conquest of England.

諾曼人最為人所知的 事蹟就是征服英格蘭。

In 1066, William, the Duke of Normandy,

1066 年，諾曼第公爵威廉

disputed the claim of the new English king, Harold Godwinson.

質疑英格蘭新國王哈洛德 戈德溫森的王位繼承權。

Soon after landing in England,

在登陸英格蘭不久後，

William and his knights met Harold’s army near the town of Hastings.

威廉和他的騎士在海斯廷斯鎮 附近與哈洛德的軍隊交手。

The climactic moment in the battle

這場戰役的高潮

is immortalized in the 70-meter-long Bayeux Tapestry,

被重現在一張七十公尺長的 貝葉掛毯上，永遠留傳。

where an arrow striking Harold in the eye seals the Norman victory.

圖中，哈洛德眼部中箭， 這一箭確立諾曼人的勝利。

William consolidated his gains with a huge castle-building campaign

為鞏固他所得到的一切，

威廉投入大量資源建設城堡 並重整英格蘭社會。

and a reorganization of English society.

He lived up to his nickname "William the Conqueror"

他的綽號「征服者威廉」 真的名符其實，

through a massive survey known as the Domesday Book,

因為他做了一場大規模調查， 叫做《末日審判書》，

which recorded the population and ownership

詳載當時英格蘭的人口

of every piece of land in England.

以及每一塊土地的所有權。

Norman French became the language of the new royal court,

諾曼法語變成了新朝廷的語言，

while commoners continued to speak Anglo-Saxon.

但平民還是持續使用 安格魯薩克遜語。

Over time, the two merged to give us the English we know today,

隨時間過去，這兩種語言交融 成為現今我們所知道的英語，

though the divide between lords and peasants can still be felt

不過，我們依然能從同義詞 分辨出貴族與農民的差異，

in synonym pairs such as cow and beef.

例如 cow（源自古英語的牛） 和 beef（源自法語的牛）。

By the end of the 12th century,

在二十世紀末，

the Normans had further expanded into Wales,

諾曼人進一步更拓展到威爾斯、

Scotland,

蘇格蘭，和愛爾蘭。

and Ireland.

Meanwhile, independent groups of Norman knights

同時，獨立的諾曼騎士團

traveled to the Mediterranean,

受到從耶路撒冷歸來的 朝聖者所說的故事鼓舞，

inspired by tales of pilgrims returning from Jerusalem.

也前往地中海區域。

There, they threw themselves into a tangled mass of conflicts

在那裡，他們捲入了該地區各地

among the established powers all over that region.

權力衝突的一片混亂當中。

They became highly prized mercenaries,

他們變成高價的傭兵，

and during one of these battles,

在其中一場戰役中，

they made the first recorded heavy cavalry charge with couched lances,

他們採用端著長矛的重騎兵，

這是歷史上最早的相關記錄，

a devastating tactic that soon became standard in medieval warfare.

這種毀滅性的戰術很快 變成了中世紀戰爭的標準。

The Normans were also central to the First Crusade of 1095-99,

諾曼人也是 1095~1099 年間 第一次十字軍東征的中心，

a bloody conflict that re-established Christian control

那是場浴血之戰，

讓基督教再次控制了 中東的部分區域。

in certain parts of the Middle East.

But the Normans did more than just fight.

但是諾曼人所做的不只是打仗。

As a result of their victories,

因為他們的勝利，

leaders like William Iron-Arm and Robert the Crafty

鐵臂威廉和狡猾羅伯特等領導者

secured lands throughout Southern Italy,

取得了整個義大利南方的土地，

eventually merging them to form the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130.

最終，在 1130 年將這些土地 合併成為西西里王國。

Under Roger II,

在羅傑二世統治下，

the kingdom became a beacon of multicultural tolerance

在這個被宗教戰爭 和內戰分裂的世界中，

in a world torn apart by religious and civil wars.

該王國成了包容多元文化的燈塔。

Muslim Arab poets and scholars served in the royal court

阿拉伯穆斯林詩人 和學者在宮廷裡任職，

alongside Byzantine Greek sailors and architects.

另外還有拜占庭 希臘航海家和建築師。

Arabic remained an official language along with Latin, Greek, and Norman French.

連同拉丁語、希臘語、諾曼法語， 阿拉伯語持續是官方的語言。

The world’s geographical knowledge was compiled in The Book of Roger,

全世界的地理知識 都被編彙在《羅傑之書》中，

whose maps of the known world

該書中的已知世界地圖

would remain the most accurate available for 300 years.

在之後的三百年 都仍然是當時最精確的。

And the churches built in Palermo combined Latin-style architecture,

在巴勒莫搭所建立的教堂 結合了拉丁風格建築、

Arab ceilings,

阿拉伯式屋頂，

and Byzantine domes,

以及拜占庭式穹頂，

all decorated with exquisite golden mosaics.

全都用華麗的黃金鑲嵌來裝飾。

So if the Normans were so successful, why aren’t they still around?

若諾曼人如此成功， 為何他們現在已經不在了？

In fact, this was a key part of their success:

事實上，這就是他們成功的關鍵：

not just ruling the societies they conquered,

不只是統治他們征服的社會，

but becoming part of them.

也成為該社會的一部分。

Although the Normans eventually disappeared as a distinct group,

雖然最終諾曼人 這個明確的族群消失了，

their contributions remained.

他們的貢獻依然留存。

And today, from the castles and cathedrals that dot Europe’s landscape

現今，從散佈在歐洲地景 各處的城堡和大教堂，

to wherever the English language is spoken,

到所有說英語的地方，

the Norman legacy lives on.

諾曼人的遺產還繼續存在著。