Richard I of Normandy

Richard became count of Rouen in 942 at age ten, inheriting a duchy still half-Viking in custom. He commissioned Dudo of Saint-Quentin to write the first history of Normandy's rulers, a chronicle that called him "dux" — possibly for his war leadership rather than a formal title. Over five decades he either introduced or massively expanded feudalism across Norman lands, binding the region's most important holders to him through feudal tenure. By his death in 996, he had transformed a coastal settlement of Scandinavian raiders into a structured realm whose descendants would reshape medieval Euro…