The Norman people represent the union of the once-Duchy of Normandy and England, an Exploration Age civilization in Civilization VII.
The Normans' civilization ability is Normannitas, which grants extra Movement to embarked units and 
Combat Strength to 
Land Units on the Coast. Their associated 
Wonder is the White Tower, and their unique assets are as follows:
Intro[]
Restless conquerors, the Normans seek out new lands, and, with their mighty stone castles, they hold what they take. Norman society is made of courtly knights and chivalry, chevalers and keeps. It offers protection – under the sword. Stand and receive the fealty of your knights - the Norman yoke is upon the land.
Tips and hints[]
The Motte and Bailey both count as Fortifications, automatically making them defensible Districts. It also means they can be purchased in Fort Towns.
Strategy[]
A good Norman strategy should be centered around their unique unit, the Chevaler, which gains extra combat strength against units with less movement. While this is a decent bonus, the main gem of this unit comes in on the civic mastery of the Consuetudines et Justicie civic, which is available straight away. This gives the Chevaler a combat strength bonus for every tradition that is slotted in the government. To maximize the potential from this bonus, you want to prioritize getting more social policy slots, which are gained upon entering a celebration. Celebrations are earned from excess 
Happiness, towards which the Norman Motte will help. Completing the quarter with a Bailey will then create a Donjon unique quarter, granting a free Chevaler.
The Normans have a really strong synergy with Charlemagne, who gives extra Happiness on quarters and also grants you two free cavalry units every time that you enter a celebration. Charlemagne will also unlock the Norman civilization for free, regardless of your Civ or actions in the Age of Antiquity. Prioritizing The Wheel in the Age of Antiquity will make you likely start the age with four to five Chevalers already. With just two celebrations, you will already be at 4 and be able to slot in 4 traditions into your government, giving you 8 very fast and very strong cavalry units practically for free. You should not be surprised to find yourself with 20+ of these units at the end of the age.
With the amount of cavalry units that you can freely acquire, you can already very early in the age start your conquest, securing either your home continent, or sending your armies across the sea to conquer settlements in distant lands, setting you up for the Non Sufficit Orbis militaristic legacy as well as the Treasure Fleets economic legacy. The Normans are very well set up for this last play pattern with their unique ability that provides extra embarked movement and bonus combat strength to units that are adjacent to coastal tiles. The amount of combat bonuses that you can stack on the Chevaler will easily allow you to pull this off, even on deity difficulty.
Because you barely have to invest anything in building an army, the cities on your home continent will have plenty of idle time to focus on building infrastructure that will keep your civilization happy and on par with other civilizations, as well as making sure that you have enough income to support that massive army. For technologies, focus on getting Heraldry first, which unlocks the second tier of your unique unit. Then prioritize shipbuilding, allowing your units to cross deep oceans without taking damage or ending your movement. After that, your attention should go towards Metal Casting, for the final upgrade to your unique unit, and the Metal Casting mastery , providing you with even more combat strength on cavalry units. While these last two techs are good, you should definitely not wait for these technologies before you start conquering. Rather, see them as end of era bonuses that will keep your momentum going.
In the culture tree, most of your attention should go towards your Norman Unique civics for additional legacy cards. Outside of that, your civic choices should focus on the center part of the civics tree, where you can find extra policy slots, and on acquiring powerful wonders like the Notre Dame, Borobudur, El Escorial, or Brihadeeswarar Temple, that will provide you with extra Happiness and Celebrations. Your civilization associated Wonder, the White Tower should be acquired through your own civics tree, seeing as it is accessible earlier at the Domesday Book civic mastery, than at the Sovereignty civic. It is not sure if the Erdene Zuu wonder also activates upon the free cavalry units that you gain, but this wonder is unlocked very late in the age, so you will see limited use to it in this age anyway.
Civilopedia entry[]
When people think of medieval England, they often imagine the Normans. Norman kingship established codes of chivalry, Norman rule stitched England firmly into Western Europe, and Norman knights founded some of the crusader states in the Near East and the Kingdom of Sicily. However, to find the roots of the Normans, we must first turn to Scandinavia.
In 793 CE, Norse raiders discovered the riches of Christian Europe. Vikings set out from ports in Norway and Denmark and began plundering settlements along the rivers and coasts. But the Norse were good for more than burning monasteries: they were explorers, merchants, artisans, and farmers as well as warriors. In many places, especially late in the period, they settled down where they fought. Rollo (Hrólfr) was a perfect case in point. In 911, this Viking leader threatened West Francia. Charles the Simple (named for his honesty, not his intellect) gave Rollo land in exchange for the Norseman’s baptism and pledge of fealty, thus creating the Duchy of Normandy. In fact, the English word Norman comes from the French uptake of the Norse word “norrmaðr,” meaning “Northman.”
The Normans complicated an already complex ethnic mix in France. The “French” comprised a few disparate groups – the Gauls had largely assimilated to Roman norms, but Celtic Bretons remained in the north of France. The Franks were a Germanic group (though rapidly adapting to Gallo-Romanic norms). The Normans were not well-liked by their neighbors, seen as erudite but prone to flattery, boasting, and liable to fight at a moment’s provocation.
Which leads us to the next step.
A century past Rollo’s time, the Normans kept their tradition of seaborne raiding. Expanding out from northern France, they made conquests in Italy and fought against the Muslim emirates in Iberia and Tunisia. However, the Normans are best known for their invasion of England.
They did not show up unannounced. The English ruler Æthelred the Unready had married a Norman princess; their son, future king Edward the Confessor, spent formative years in Normandy. When Edward died without an heir in 1066, his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson was elected king by the Witan, the royal council. But two others were eyeing the crown. The first was Duke William of Normandy, who claimed that Edward had promised him the throne. The second was King Haraldr Sigurðarson of Norway (best known today by his epithet “harðráði,” “hard ruler”), who took over his deceased nephew’s claim from 1038; this was further backed by Godwinson’s estranged brother. Harold Godwinson’s rule had just begun and was still precarious; the time was ripe for a conquest. Both William and Haraldr attacked in the same year.
Godwinson had to be in three places at once (the third threat was his brother, who was raiding the coast). Desperate, he rushed north to meet Haraldr’s forces and dispersed them, killing the Norwegian king with an arrow to the neck. However, Godwinson had spent too long in the field. By the time he moved south to meet the Normans, it was too late – the Normans had already built a temporary castle at Hastings. It remains unclear how Godwinson was slain. The famous account has him taking an arrow to the eye, but others claim William slew him in combat. Regardless, England was now in Norman hands.
The Normans set about pacifying and unifying the land. This meant cracking down on the Anglo-Saxons, many of whom fled to mainland Europe or joined the Varangian Guard, an elite mercenary unit in Byzantium. Old Saxon nobility were also ousted in favor of Norman aristocrats.
We've given a snapshot of the ethnic makeup of Norman France, but let’s pause and offer the same for England. England was originally Celtic (to be specific, Brythonic, meaning Breton, Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, etc.), but invasions from the east changed this composition drastically during the early Middle Ages. Germanic tribes – the Angles and the Saxons – and Norse settlers divided the country, adding their own cultural heritages to the mix. The Normans were only a century out from their Vikings ancestors, but they had largely assimilated to French modes of warfare and technologies. Indeed, even the Norman language is far closer to French than to Norse.
The Normans re-oriented and re-trained English society through continental systems. The shield wall and the huscarls were gone, and the noble Norman knight and the anti-cavalry Saxon foot soldier emerged on the scene. The legal system was overhauled; Romanesque architecture and stone castles became the norm; and local tales, including the Celtic legends of King Arthur and his knights, were adapted for new audiences in the forms we remember them today.
After the conquest, William needed to catalog his people, so he commissioned the Domesday Book, a massive census of the land. This record put value on property through the amount they owed in taxes, and allowed the state to assess privately-held land (i.e. non-feudal land) that could be appropriated for William himself.
The Normans altered England, disrupting the Germanic/Celtic conflict while tying England to the continent. Norman technology and language became defining features of English life. While Anglo-French rivalries persisted, the English today are considered more culturally aligned with Western Europe than with Scandinavia.
The Normans did not “fall,” they blended. From 1066 until the Hundred Years’ War (1337), England's Anglo-Saxon population and the ruling French-speaking Normans remained bifurcated. Following its losses in that war, England retrenched, and the country evolved once more. Other concerns (e.g. the War of the Roses) became more pressing, and internal ethnic divisions largely gave way to class separators.
Cities[]
Age Transition Quotes[]
When age progress reaches 100% or player gets eliminated/retires, one of these quotes will be read depending on the last legacy path completed:
- Culture: "Filling their vaulted halls with jeweled reliquaries, the Normans made the treasures of others their own."
- Economic: "The merchants' vigor saw Norman cities draped in silk, their streets paved with gold."
- Military: "The thunder of hooves, the pounding of drums, the clash of steel - the heralds of Norman dominion over the earth."
- Science: "By the fire's glow, the Normans plundered life's secrets. By the sun's rays, they built a new world upon them."
- Defeat: "Where is the mailed warrior? Where, the revels in the hall? The Normans have passed into night - but their deeds heralded the dawn."
Trivia[]
- The Norman civilization's symbol is a lion passant-guardant or "leopard," as depicted on the Norman flag and coat of arms and the coat of arms of the Plantagenet dynasty and its descendants.
- The Norman civilization ability is a term used by historians to describe the ethnic, cultural and historical identity of the Normans.
- The Norman background art depicts the White Tower and Privy Wardrobe in the Tower of London.
Soundtrack[]
| Original Track | № | Based on | Credits | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Normans (Exploration Age)" | 28 | Le Roi Anglois Branle de Champaigne Suite Renascentista |
Composed by Claude Gervaise, Adrian Willaert, & Roland Rizzo Performed by Ensemble I Fedeli, with Brandon Acker |
4:09 |
Gallery[]
.jpg "Norman city in-game (Civ7).jpg (3.98 MB)")
.png "Chevaler in-game (Civ7).png (889 KB)")
.png "Sokeman in-game (Civ7).png (941 KB)")
.png "Donjon in-game (Civ7).png (1.26 MB)")
.jpg "White Tower in-game (Civ7).jpg (497 KB)")
.png "Norman Background (Civ7).png (1.37 MB)")
Videos[]
See also[]
- Norman in other games
External links[]
| Civilization VII Civilizations [edit] | |
|---|---|
| Antiquity | |
| Exploration | |
| Modern | |
| 1 Requires DLC | |