Svend/Svein was a Viking, which were referred to in Latin as the"Northmanni".
"Norman" (latin: Northmannus) is simply the medieval Latin word forViking; Frankish writers told of Northmanni not only in what becameNormandy, but also elsewhere in the Frankish realms and in Scandinavia aswell. To the Franks, there was no distinction between the inhabitants ofRouen on the one hand, and the guys in the long-boats who sailed fromNorway to pillage the Frankish countryside; they were all equallyNorthmanni (or, in the somewhat harsher word of Richer of Reims, alate-tenth-century historian, they were all equally "Pirates," even afterthe Northmanni had been settled at Rouen for a century and were becomingan accepted part of the Frankish political landscape). Thus, to write ofNormans and Vikings is to create an artificial distinction that would nothave been recognized by contemporaries, and instead I will always use"Northmen." Likewise, the word "Normandy" has very strict connotationsfor us -- it is the territory associated with the 11th- and 12th-centuryduchy, extending from Eu in the east to Mont-Saint-Michel in the west,with a clearly defined southern frontier. But in the tenth century,Normandy (lat. Northmannia) mean Viking-land, or Northmanland. As lateas the 1030s, Adémar of Chabannes, a clerical writer in Aquitaine, usedNorthmannia equally to refer to the future Normandy, other Northmansettlements in the Frankish realm, and the Northmannic homelands ofDenmark and Norway. Northmannia was simply a place where Northmen lived,and was not in any way associated exclusively with what we considerNormandy (in fact, the one time Adémar uses Northmannia to mean Normandyis also the one time he feels the need to explain what he means -- "Inthat Northmannia that previously was known as Neustria"). During thetenth century, the territory that would eventually become Normandy wasnever united under the control of any one man or dynasty, and it would bethe task of the eleventh century to establish finally those boundaries.
The foundation of Normandy over the course of the tenth century coincideswith a period of dramatic change in the Frankish kingdoms, and it is onlywithin the context of these changes that early Norman history can beunderstood. After most of Europe had been more or less united underCharlemagne and his sole surviving son, Louis the Pious, the return ofmultiple heirs led to a series of divisions of the regnum Francorum asLouis' sons (and, eventually, their sons as well) came to variousunderstandings as to who should rule what, and as at times some of themconspired against others to expand their holdings at their brothers' andcousins' expense. At the same time, external threats to the Frankishrealm were increasing; throughout the ninth century, ever greater numbersof Scandinavian raiders were attacking the Continent and England, andeventually they even began to turn from raids to attempts at conquest.As early as the reign of Louis the Pious, Frankish kings tried to combatthe Northmannic threat not only through purely military means, but bysettling "friendly" (or at least potentially friendly) groups of Northmenon Frankish soil, in hope that their new Northmannic allies would helpprotect them from other Scandinavian bands.
1 MISC Wheelwright (Hjulmager)
1 MISC Vallensgård grund, Propr. Åker, Bornholm
1 MISC Klippegård, 21 Vdg. Ibsker, Bornholm
From the 1771 census of Ibsker parish:
Niels Christensen, Fisker, 58, 1' gift, hans hustrus alder: 58, 1' gift.Side 452. Nr. 18. 1787. Tirsdag, 5. Juni.
Kirsten Hansdatter. Listed.
Niels Christensen. Arvinger: 1 søn.
A: Hans Nielsen, død. Arvinger: 2 sønner. 1: Ole Hansen, f. 1774.Værge: Faders søsk.barn, Mads Nielsen. 2: Christen Hansen, f. 1779.Værge: Morbror, Peder Jensen, Listed.From the 1787 census of Ibsker parish:
Fiske Leyet Lidsted, 36' Familie: Niels Christensen, Mand, 74, enkemandefter 1 ægteskab, Lever af undentag; Giertrud Nielsdatter, Tjenestepige,32, ugift.From the 1801 census of Ibsker parish:
Fiskerlejet Listed, 22' Familie: Niels Christensen, mand, 87, 2' gift,Undentagsmand; Giertrud Nielsdatter, hans kone, 44, 1' gift; KirstineNielsdatter, deres datter, 13, ugift; Elsebeth Nielsdatter, deres datter,12, ugift.
Johan Christopher Davidsen Grabe
1 MISC Childless (Barnløs)