How is it possible for Normandy, in france, to remain part of the Scandanavian world, culturally and politically, to the present day?
How is it possible for Normandy, in france, to remain part of the Scandanavian world, culturally and politically, to the present day?
It is not.
So could you get it to the point where in the alt-nationalist age, they would have a distinct, germanic, language and culture?I don't know about it having been that "Scandinavian" to begin with, but I don't see why Normandy COULDN'T have been Nordified to the same extent as England's Danelaw, where there was large-scale resettlement instead of merely introducing a new aristocracy (unless one means to claim that pre-Viking Normandy was somehow more populated than the larger and more prosperous Northumbrian part of England). Granted you'd need to work at it in terms of a timeline, but it doesn't seem far-fetched to me at all.
I don't know about it having been that "Scandinavian" to begin with, but I don't see why Normandy COULDN'T have been Nordified to the same extent as England's Danelaw, where there was large-scale resettlement instead of merely introducing a new aristocracy (unless one means to claim that pre-Viking Normandy was somehow more populated than the larger and more prosperous Northumbrian part of England). Granted you'd need to work at it in terms of a timeline, but it doesn't seem far-fetched to me at all.
Because Norse and AngloSaxon language and culture were so close?
Seriously, look at Normandy, look at Russia. Both places the Norse disappeared with barely a slash, absorbed into the Christian culture surrounding them.
Besides. What replacement in the British Isles? The Danelaw has left England and English with a strong influence, but the place and language were clearly AngloSaxon. Even the Scottish isles, Gaelic took over, so 'Torfin' is a Gaelic name today. I lol('d when i read that in ?Buchan?.
So, youd need some really, really big pods for this to happen.
I wont call it asb, but i sure understand those who do.
So you are saying that if more vikings settled normandy, and displaced the french, that Normandy could be norse-majority?Yes, but IOTL neither Normandy nor Russia was RESETTLED by the Norse, merely ruled over by a small elite. Meanwhile, much of Britain and the Baltic were resettled by Anglo-Saxons and Germans (respectively) in opposition to speakers of rather alien languages, and what do folks in those places speak now? I never bought into the idea that the local language will always absorb that of the invaders; it's a strong possibility, but nowhere near a given.
What I suggest is a wholesale resettlement of Normandy by Norse families, with the locals either subsumed into the population (a la the Britons into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms) or somehow displaced/killed off (which would be much, much harder to do than the former options, but it's hardly an unprecedented tactic).
I'm aware that you'd need a good POD or two to make this work, but I don't see the ASB-ness of it at all.
So you are saying that if more vikings settled normandy, and displaced the french, that Normandy could be norse-majority?