Regarding historical files, there are three kinds: 1. those with good/adequate source citations; 2. those with worthless/substandard source citations; 3. those with none at all. We have been reminded again and again that curatorial work is all voluntary, implying that is why so many MP profiles lack good (or any) source citations and organized development.
Time really is valuable. It is much faster to plead "lack of evidence" and be done with it and then move on to the next 10,000 managed profiles, than to invest in research and add proper sources. Many far less famous 'historical' MPs than this one are stubbornly defended with 'sources' far less substantial than seen here. Some 'sources' apparently exist only as vague ideas, with zero concrete text or actual references cited. So to understand them one would need to be a mind-reader. Judgments must be made and quickly decided. Nevertheless, "authority" is no source.
It is reasonable to ask why Rodney Piper refutes this historical profile's unquestioned existence since 2007. Unquestioned because seasoned history buffs and genealogists are familiar with it, as it is *common knowledge*. There will always be unread / undereducated skeptics and doubters, who can't be bothered to study the subject they don't understand. So an explanation of the basis behind your complaint against this profile might be more persuasive.
You seem to strongly favor Rodney's position, Sharon. I hope that doesn't mean you have taken sides, or that you have already reached an agreement with him aside from this post. Because if so, the "discussion" would be over before it even began.
Why isn't Bernard the Dane real to you? Are there scholarly papers that have been published that argue against it on good authority (i.e. by professional historians and/or early medieval genealogists)? If so, they have gone unmentioned. Yet if this ancient legend was truly problematic, I'd think some respectable historian might have questioned or refuted it before now.
As we've seen time after time, adding obscure primary sources in archaic languages utterly incomprehensible to the average amateur genealogist is rarely effective and often just a waste of time and energy. Nevertheless, I feel that it is my duty at least to try.
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References
1. Dudon de Saint-Quentin , "De gestis Normanniae ducum seu de moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum", J. Lair (ed.),
Memoir of the Société des Antiquaires de Normandie, volume XXIII, 1865, p. 189-190. The list of Rollo's companions is controversial, but Dudo's citation lends some credibility to Bernard's inclusion in this list.
2. François Neveux, La Normandie dukes kings: x e the xii th century, Rennes, Ouest France,1998, 611 p., 21 cm (online presentation [archive]), 1- Rise of the duchy and Norman expansion (911-1066), chap. 1 (“The Foundation”), p. 35.
3. Ernest d'Hauterive, "Intermediary of researchers and curious about Normandy", Catholic review of history, archeology and literature of Normandy, Caen; Evreux, sl, vol. 35,1926, p. 166 (ISSN 1245-6241).
4. Jean Dubuc, Chronological history of Normandy and the Normans: from the origins to 1204, Marigny, Eurocibles, coll. "Unpublished and untraceable" (no 15), 2003, 576 p., 22 cm (ISBN 978-2-914541-30-5), p. 156.
5. Guillaume de Jumièges, History of the Normans, ed. Guizot, Brière, 1826, Book IV, p. 79 (French translation of Gesta Normannorum ducum written around 1172).
6. Guillaume de Jumièges, Ibid., p. 88. Flodoard presents him rather as a Norman chief from the Bayeux region.
7. Gilles-André de La Roque, Genealogical History of the House of Harcourt, 1662, t. I, t. III and t. IV.
8. Louis XIV, Lettres patent for the erection of the marquisate of Harcourt as a hereditary duchy, 1700:
“his house originates from Bernard the Dane, one of the lords of Denmark, who came to Normandy with Rollo, who was its first duke, in the year 876, from which Bernard the Danish had the seigneury of Harcourt and several other lands; He was also governor of Normandy and guardian of Richard Ist, grand-son of the Duke Rollo, and the descendants of this Bernard were coated first loads and strong alliances illustrious."
...In P. Anselme, Genealogical and chronological history of the royal house of France, of the peers, great officers of the Crown, of the Maison du Roy and of the former barons of the kingdom…, 1726-1733.
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