6 - Lonely at the Top: The Duke and his Executive Authority

Summary

PAUL's letter to the Romans provided one foundation for medieval theories about secular power. God had established the terrestrial powers that ruled on earth. He had delegated a part of his power to kings and other secular rulers so that they might guide His people to do right, and punish them for their transgressions. Dudo of Saint Quentin developed this idea of divinely delegated authority further with the intention of legitimizing the rule of the dukes of the Normans. He had Rollo chosen by God to establish a dynasty to rule over Normandy. His foundation of a principality based on Rouen was the fulfilment of a divine plan. If God's will were to continue to be done, then the rule of members of Rollo's line had to be maintained. Nonetheless, even when there was a clear heir, Dudo of Saint-Quentin suggested that an assembly might take the lead in demanding the designation of a successor, even if the right to nominate belonged to the duke, and even if the principes always accepted that nomination, and that might have kept the idea of an elective principle alive in the duchy until at least the end of the tenth century.

For the reasons discussed above, William of Jumièges amended Dudo's story in a way that allowed him to dispense with much of Dudo's myth-making, while joining with him in emphasizing the right of Rollo's heirs to rule the duchy. The Christian God is largely absent from his account. Instead, he had Rollo chosen by lot (sorte eligentes) after the arrival of the Viking army at Rouen. According to Rimbert's Life of St Anskar, Danes and Swedes used lots to seek the opinion of the gods on particular matters, but it does not seem to be the case that Jumièges intended his readers to understand that the Norse gods had selected a leader from among the Viking chiefs. Rather, he stated explicitly that this was how those chiefs themselves had chosen or elected Rollo as their leader, adding later that he had been ‘appointed’ as such. The manner of Rollo's election as leader is important, not just because it removed any sense that Rollo and his successors ruled as the result of divine appointment and emphasized the sense of community and cooperation that bound the Normans together.