The problem of forming the image of the "Norman" in Western European society of the 9th-12th centuries is considered. The process of formation and development of the historiographic tradition from the first references to the "Normans" in Western European sources to the formation of the official version of the early history of the Norman principality is characterized. An analysis is given of the historical works of Carolingian and Norman authors, as well as various annals, on the basis of which a new view of the nature of the relationship between the Frankish world and the "Normans" is reconstructed.