Background: The Cummins surname finds its roots in the lands of Normandy (Home of the Northmen), France. Our earliest ancestors were followers of Rollo the Viking, who signed a treaty with King Charles the Simple in 911 A.D. The treaty gave the Norseman a permenant home on French soil, and they soon began to intermarry with the local girls and even adopted the French language. Rollo's descendants became Dukes of Normandy, and his Viking Leaders became Knights who controlled their own local fiefs from wooden castles on earthen mounds. Soon the trans-planted Norsemen had absorbed the local culture so thoroughly that their sons had to be taught Norse as a second language.