The Normans (in French: Normands; in Latin Nortmanni) are the people who give their name to Normandy, a region in northern France.

They are descended from Viking conquerors of the territory and the native Merovingian culture formed from Germanic Franks and Romanized Gauls.Their identity emerges initially in the first half of the 10th century, and gradually evolves over succeeding centuries.The Normans play a major political, military, and cultural role in medieval Europe and even the Near East.

They are famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Christian piety.

They quickly adopt the Romance language of the land they settle, their dialect becoming known as Norman, Normand or Norman French, an important literary language.

The Duchy of Normandy, which they form by treaty with the French crown, is one of the great fiefs of medieval France.

The Normans are famed both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture, and their musical traditions, as well as for their military accomplishments and innovations.

Norman adventurers establish a kingdom in Sicily and southern Italy by conquest, and a Norman expedition on behalf of their duke, William the Conqueror, leads to the Norman conquest of England.

Norman influence spreads from these new centers to the crusader states in the Near East when Bohemond I establishes the Principality of Antioch in the First Crusade, to Scotland, England and Wales in Great Britain and to Ireland.