Harold the Dane de Avenel

• Preferred Name: Harold the Dane de Avenel^{[1] [2]}
  
• Gender: M
  
• FSID: L1NF-8R2
  
• Nickname:
  
• Birth: 840 in France
  
• Death: 880
  
• Notes:

  === Original Scandinavian ===
  The original Scandinavian ancestor in Normandy France:
  
  According to Dominican friar, and historian Vincent de Beauvais (writing in the 13th century) Harold Avenel , a.k.a. Harold the Dane, a kinsman of Rollo landed with him in France in 910 and 911. When Rollo became the 1st Duke of Normandy, Harold Avenel acquired the Lordship of Biarz (Avenel de Biarz) in 913, another lived by the sea and became "Avenel de Saye". The forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, included "Avenel", "Avenel des Biarz" and "Picot de Saye". [1]
  
  During the reign of William the Conqueror the lords of Baird bore something that was quite rare: a surname known as, "Avenel". Of course, now it is known that the surname traces all the way back to their ancestor, Harold the Dane, Avenel. These people seem to have eventually settled down to the more quiet life of agriculturists with oats being their principal crop. They soon gained such a reputation for the wonderful crops of this valuable grain that their area came to be known by a name derived from the Latin name of oats, which are called "avena" in that language; so the vicinity came to be known as Avenelle, and their forefathers as Avenel. The surname, Avenel, may also be taken metaphorically to mean that the family patriarchs were "sowing new generations" into a new land in the same way that one sows oats into a field.
  
  This was one of the great houses of Normandy, the Avenels being the hereditary seneschals of the counts of Mortain. The barony of Biards is directly related to the beginnings of ducal Normandy. (See the first paragraph, above.) The castle of Les Biards in ancient times was a very powerful one, commanding the country round Mortain, but its importance lessened gradually as time wore on. Harold Avenel was a companion, and kinsman of Duke Rollo, and his was the first of the family to settle in Normandy. Harold's descendant was Hervé Avenel, baron of Biards, c. 1035. [Falaise Roll, p.5]
  
  To discuss Harold the Dane one must first consider his relationship with Rollo; sources say that the two were "kinsmen". The origin of Rollo is controversial. There are several medieval sources which claim to have information about the origin of Rollo. The Norwegian Orkney Sagas, from the 13th century, gives Rollo a Norwegian origin. The most widely repeated sources would make him a supposed son of Rognvaldr, jarl of Møre by Ragnhildr or Hildr, yet there is no conclusive evidence to back this theory. Dudo of Saint-Quentin (writing early 11th century), author of the earliest history of the Normans called, Historia Normannorum, recounts that the founder of Normandy, Rollo, was son of "a very old and very rich king in the land of the Dacians that had an incredible number of warriors gathered around him." After the death of Rollo's father he and his brother support the nobles in rebelling against a man who had set himself up as the new king in Dacia. [2] Rollo's brother, Gurim was killed in the struggle. Dudo wrote his Historia Normannorum on the basis of first-hand oral accounts of a grandchild of Rollo’s, and was commissioned in the year 996 by Duke Richard I (943 - 996) , and his son Richard II (996 - 1026) [3]
  
  (View a map of ancient Dacia, modern day Denmark, in the "Media" tab.)
  
  In the year 911 King Charles III, nicknamed "the simple", gave the coastal country around the Seine estuary to Rollo as a fief, on the condition that he undertook to defend the country against other vikings. His small band were soon joined by other Scandinavians, and in the following twenty years the Duchy of Normandy grew to the west and doubled in size.
  
  The descendants of Rollo and his men married women from the area's original inhabitants and assumed quickly the local Gallo-Roman language. They became the Normans - a mix of Scandinavians and native Franks and Gauls. The Danish language lasted little more than a generation in Normandy. Only 30 years after that Rollo had been endowed with Normandy, his grandson had to be sent to Bayux to learn Danish. Dudo wrote: "Duke Wilhelm decided to send his son Rikard to Bayeux so that he could learn Danish: "Since the town of Rouen is using Roman language more than Danish, and in Bayeux Danish is spoken more than Roman, I want him now as soon as possible to be brought to the town of Bayeux, furthermore both that he now will live there under your supervision, reared and brought up with great care, using Danish in everyday language and learn it thoroughly, so that in the future he can speak it fluently with the Dacians."
  
  Soon it became needed to talk to the Danes. Only a few years later the Normans came into serious trouble: King Louis took the young heir to the throne as a hostage and occupied the entire Normandy with the support of his other major vassals.
  
  At this critical moment, around the year 945, a big relief army from Scandinavia arrived. Dudo reports that an immense number of pagans had arrived to Normandy's coasts led by a king Haigrold of Dacia, which likely means a "Danish king named Harald". The Danish rescue corps changed the situation completely to the better for the beleaguered Normans. There is no intelligence that King Haigrold and his men ever went home to Scandinavia again.
  
  Who is Harold the Dane?
  
  Not much is currently known about the man that is referred to by early sources, such as Vincent de Beauvais, as "Harold the Dane". According to Dudo of St. Quentin (writing early 11th century) Rollo had a younger brother named Gurim presumed to be the familiar name "Gorm". Dudo states that Rollo and Gurim were sons of a king who held many lands in "Dacia" (Dudo's word for Denmark, following other authors), and that after the death of the father of Rollo and Gurim, the man who had set himself up as the new king of Dacia fought against the sons, killing Gurim and driving Rollo out [Dudo ii, 2-4 (pp. 26-7)]. Dudo later refers to duke Richard I as being related to a "king of Dacia" named Haigrold (i.e. Harold) [Dudo iv, 84-88 (pp. 114-20 passim)], who must have been the Viking raider of France of that name [Flodoard's Annals, s.a. 945, see PL 135: 463-4, van Houts 51], and not king Harald "Bluetooth" of Denmark. Note that Gurim cannot be the famous Gorm "the Old" of Denmark, who survived Rollo by many years.
  
  Notes:
  
  1. Read, H. P., & Reid, F. N. (1908). Rossiana: Papers and documents relating to the history and genealogy of the ancient and noble house of Ross, of Ross-shire, Scotland, and its descent from the ancient earls of Ross, together with the descent of the ancient and historic family of Read, from Rede of Troughend, Reade of Barton Court, Berks, and Read of Delaware. Also some account of the related families ... Albany, NY: Press of the Argus. page 349.
  
  2. Dobat, A. S. (2015). Viking stranger-kings: The foreign as a source of power in Viking Age Scandinavia, or, why there was a peacock in the Gokstad ship burial? Early Medieval Europe, 23(2), 161-201. doi:10.1111/emed.12096 page 172.
  
  3. Gerritsen, W. P., A. G. Van Melle, and Tanis M. Guest. A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes: Characters in Medieval Narrative Traditions and Their Afterlife in Literature, Theatre, and the Visual Arts. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell, 1998. Print. page 238 (see documents in the "Media" tab, a document called, "Rollo source for Harold the Dane's profile".
  
  Dudo, and Eric Christiansen. History of the Normans. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell, 1998. Print.
  
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  More:
  
  Note: When Frankish writers referred to someone as being a "Dane" it was a generalization term then used for the inhabitants of Scandinavia in general.
  
  See: Exploring Rollo's Roots: DNA Leads the Way: [http://originsdna.blogspot.com/2014/04/exploring-rollos-roots-dna-leads-way.html]
  
  Rollo descendants having DNA tested:
  
  [https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abcnyheter.no%2Flivet%2F2016%2F03%2F02%2F195202973%2Fdna-jegere-apnet-vikinggrav-i-normandie&edit-text=] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  
  Note: Dudo mentioned a "Haigrold" king of "Dacia" (i.e., Harald king of the Danes) who is called a kinsman of Richard I of Normandy, and it is apparent that other historians such as Guillaume has misidentified this Haigrold with Harald Bluetooth, when he inserted this information. (Haigrold, or, Aigrold ~ in Latin: Haigroldus ~ is identified by Frankish chroniclers as a local Viking chieftain, or "Norman King", in France.)

1. Title: "The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III.," by The Duchess of Cleveland
   Author: The Battle Abbey Roll. Vol. III. by The Duchess of Cleveland., http://1066.co.nz/Mosaic%20DVD/library/Battle%20Roll/Avenele.htmlopen_in_new
   Publication: Name: http://1066.co.nz/Mosaic%20DVD/library/Battle%20Roll/Avenele.html;
   
2. Title: Ancestry.com: Harold "the Dane" de Avenel
   Author: Ancestry
   Publication: Name: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/83758770/person/180085288062/facts;
   Note: Harold "the Dane" de Avenel Harold "the Dane" de Avenel 840–880 BIRTH 0840 • Scandinavia DEATH ABT 0880 • Isigny, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France LifeStory Facts Gallery Navigation Research Tabs Skip to SourcesShow Facts Name and gender Birth 0840 • Scandinavia 840 (AGE) Death Abt 0880 • Isigny, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France 880 40 Skip to Family Sources No sources Skip to Facts Family Parents Unknown Father Unknown Mother Spouse & Children Unknown Spouse Hugh Avenel de Biarz 865–925 Support CenterAncestry BlogSite MapGift MembershipsCareers