For almost a century and a half, scholars have questioned the historical accuracy of De Moribus et Actis primorum Normanniae ducum written by Dudo of St Quentin early in the eleventh century. This work, which is sometimes referred to by scholars as Gesta Normannorum, is now widely recognized to be littered throughout with unreliable details in regard to political matters and this is the case especially in regard to the early history of the Norman ducal family. Whether Dudo's general failure to get the facts right, as many scholars believe, was intentional or whether his inaccuracies resulted from trying to compensate for his ignorace by filling in ‘gaps’ with fiction today still remains controversial. It is clear, nevertheless, that the contemporary ruling family in Normandy, Dudo's patrons, commissioned him to write a story in praise of their ancestors that would be plausible to its intended audience at the ducal court.

In the context of plausibility, it is likely to be of some importance that Dudo was writing within a rhetorical tradition that flourished in the northern parts of Francia Occidentalis during the latter part of the tenth century and especially at Liège where he was educated. Indeed Dudo himself opines, from time to time, on the importance of rhetoric. Thus, fundamental questions must be asked: how did Dudo maintain or perhaps more accurately try to maintain what scholars call ‘rhetorical plausibility’ with his audience?