AHC: Germanic Ireland

Challenge: Have Ireland be overrun by Germanic tribes just as Albion was.

Different Normans, perhaps? As it may be, despite a rather common misconception, the Norman people as a whole, by and large, were mostly of Celto-Roman heritage, with some Germanic elements thrown in; by and large, only many of the lords were Norsemen, and it's not certain that William the Conqueror, the most well known of the Norman leaders, had any Viking heritage himself.
 
The problem with both Normans and Scandinavians was they really, really quickly blended in the Irish situation, culturally as structurally.

and it's not certain that William the Conqueror, the most well known of the Norman leaders, had any Viking heritage himself.
You mean, apart being the direct descendent of Rollo? That said, I agree with you, while the Celtic element in High Middle Ages France is the kind of element you can see with a microscope only. Normans themselves, at this point, used "Franci" as an ethnonym.

Now, how to get Barbarians in Ireland? Well, if how they get in Britain in first place is any indication, you'd need to have some need for manpower : both for economical and military purposes.
Problem, Gaels were more about raiding themselves, and were "protected" by Britain that served as an insular shield.

Eventually, you'd need Hibernia being conquered or hugely clientelized by Romans ITTL (maybe after Caledonia), and seeing the Saxon Shore being extended to southern Ireland, maybe briefly before seeing Ireland being evacuated by Romans.

I don't expect Anglo-Saxons being much interested on Ireland, to be perfectly honest : much of what made its wealth was due, among other reasons, being partially isolated from Romania and being able to raid (that said, Gael-Saxon raiding parties could still happen ITTL).

Eventually, you may have a situation where Ireland appears as the natural continuity of Britain, especially if a Dal Riata Gael-Saxon kingdom is established on Western Britain.

IOTL, Northumbrians made a raid against O'Neill in 684, mostly due to succession issues. So it's not technically unthinkable to see Anglo-Saxons acting against Gael-Saxons as well, at least against this Dal Riata equivalent, and possibly against Eastern Ireland, especially if they consider it as running on from western Britain.

Eventually Gael-Saxons would probably being much Gaels in many matters, but with enough geopolitical closeness from Anglo-Saxons to be more "Saxonised" up being Germanised.

It's a TL that would ask for a lot of refinement to work, but may be made more or less plausible enough for being believable.
 
Different Normans, perhaps? As it may be, despite a rather common misconception, the Norman people as a whole, by and large, were mostly of Celto-Roman heritage, with some Germanic elements thrown in; by and large, only many of the lords were Norsemen, and it's not certain that William the Conqueror, the most well known of the Norman leaders, had any Viking heritage himself.

The Normans were more French-Norse (a viking settlement in mainly Frankish lands), and William the Conqueror's family the de Normandie's, at least claimed to be directly descended from Rollo, founder of Normandy.
 
The Normans were more French-Norse (a viking settlement in mainly Frankish lands), and William the Conqueror's family the de Normandie's, at least claimed to be directly descended from Rollo, founder of Normandy.

By the mid XIth-century, the Norse element basically vanished away, safe in some techniques and specialized words.

Remember that most of Scandinavian settlers were actually Anglo-Scandinavians (meaning at least partially christianised, and not much Norses), and never represented more than a part (especially on coasts, they barely touched the hinterland) of the Neustrian population.

As said above, by the time of England conquest, they considered themselves as "Francii"
 
By the mid XIth-century, the Norse element basically vanished away, safe in some techniques and specialized words.

Remember that most of Scandinavian settlers were actually Anglo-Scandinavians (meaning at least partially christianised, and not much Norses), and never represented more than a part (especially on coasts, they barely touched the hinterland) of the Neustrian population.

As said above, by the time of England conquest, they considered themselves as "Francii"

Oh I know. I'm not saying that they thought they were Norse or anything. But it was a big part of what defined 'Norman' from 'French'. And they definitely didn't think of themselves as Romano-Celtic.
 
O But it was a big part of what defined 'Norman' from 'French'.
Not really : they didn't really distinguished themselves from French, calling themselves French to begin with.
What made the distinction, as usual, was more about dynasties (regional or even local) : most of Normans had no Norse ancestry, and remember that a good part of "Normans" of 1080's weren't from Normandy to begin with.
 
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