Norman and Anglo-Norman “nautical texts” from the 12th Century: a Source for the History of Navigation in the North of France in the Middle Ages

Abstract

The Old Norse vernacular texts, i.e. mostly Icelandic sagas, tell us in great detail about navigations during the Viking Age. Besides this literature, which is well-known to historians and archaeologists, there is a small corpus of Norman and Anglo-Norman “nautical texts”, dating from the 12th century, that seem equally informative about navigation techniques inherited from the Vikings. These texts offer us a particularly coherent vocabulary describing rigging and maneuvers on board. Using detailed lexical analysis highlighting the different linguistic heritages (Gaulish, Germanic, Latin, Scandinavian), it will be shown how words also give evidence of earlier technical legacies which were built upon over the centuries, and how much influence the Vikings actually had on navigation in Normandy. The influence of the Norsemen seems mainly to reside in the development of a running rigging using a more complex set of ropes and gears, which made sailing easier on the high seas. Apart from this technical aspect, these 12th-century “nautical writings” also provide the earliest evidence in Old French of a language specific to seamen.

Keywords: Old Norman, vocabulary, sailing, rigging, Viking