Normandy (region)

Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.

Normandy comprises mainland Normandy (a part of France) and the Channel Islands (mostly the British Crown Dependencies). It covers . Its population is 3,499,280. The inhabitants of Normandy are known as Normans, and the region is the historic homeland of the Norman language. Large settlements include Rouen, Caen and Cherbourg.

The cultural region of Normandy is roughly similar to the historical Duchy of Normandy, which includes small areas now part of the departments of Mayenne and Sarthe. The Channel Islands (French: ''Îles Anglo-Normandes'') are also historically part of Normandy; they cover and comprise two bailiwicks: Guernsey and Jersey, which are British Crown Dependencies.

Normandy's name comes from the settlement of the territory by Vikings (" Northmen") starting in the 9th century, and confirmed by treaty in the 10th century between King Charles III of France and the Viking ''jarl'' Rollo. For almost 150 years following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, Normandy and England were linked by having the same person reign as both Duke of Normandy and King of England.

History

Prehistory

Archaeological finds, such as cave paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Normandy has also many megalithic monuments.

Celtic period

Celts (also known as Belgae and Gauls) have populated Normandy since at least the Bronze Age. When Julius Caesar invaded Gaul (58–50 BC), there were nine different Celtic tribes living in this part of Gaul.

Romanisation

The Romanisation of this region partly included in the ''Gallia Celtica'' and in the '' Gallia Belgica'' (the Seine being more or less the limit between them) was achieved by the usual methods: Roman roads and a policy of urbanisation. Classicists mention many Gallo-Roman villas and archeology found their traces in the past 30 years. In the Late Roman Empire a new province was created and called ''Lugdunensis Secunda'', it sketched the later ecclesiastical province of Rouen, with the ''Metropolis civitas Rotomagensium''
(Rouen), ''Civitas Baiocassium'' (''Augustodorum'', Bayeux), ''Civitas Abrincatum'' (''Ingena'', Avranches), ''Civitas Ebroicorum'' (''Mediolanum'', Évreux), ''Civitas Saiorum'' (Sées), ''Civitas Lexoviorum'' (''Noviomagus'', Lisieux / Lieuvin) and ''Civitas Constantia'' (Coutances).

Germanic invasions and settlements

In the late 3rd century AD, Germanic raids devastated ″Lugdunensis Secunda″ as the modern area of Normandy was known as at the time. The Romans built a system of coastal defences known as Saxon Shore on both sides of the English channel. Coastal settlements were raided by Saxon pirates, that finally settled mainly in the Bessin region. Modern archeology reveals their presence in different Merovingian cemeteries excavated east of Caen. Christianity also began to enter the area during this period and Rouen already had a metropolitan bishop by the 4th century. The ecclesiastical province of Rouen was based on the frame of the Roman ''Lugdunensis Secunda'', whose limits corresponded almost exactly to the future duchy of Normandy. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the east, followed by dispersed settlements mainly in pays de Bray, pays de Caux and Vexin. As early as 487, the area between the River Somme and the River Loire came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis.

Viking raids and foundation of the Norman state

Vikings started to raid along the river Seine during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, the principal route by which they entered the kingdom. After attacking and destroying monasteries, including one at Jumièges, they took advantage of the power vacuum created by the disintegration of Charlemagne's empire to take northern France. The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader ''Hrólfr'', known in Medieval Latin as ''Rollo''. Rollo had besieged Paris but in 911 entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks, Charles the Simple, through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory that he and his Viking allies had previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking (i.e. "Norseman") origins.

The descendants of ''Rollo'' and his followers created an aristocracy that step by step adopted the local Gallo-Romance language, intermarried with the area's native Gallo-Frankish inhabitants, and adopted Christianity. Nevertheless, the first generations of Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian settlers brought slaves, mainly from the British Isles, and often turned the women into '' frilla'', a Scandinavian tradition which became known as ''more Danico'', medieval Latin meaning "Danish marriage". The first counts of Rouen and the dukes of Normandy had concubines too. While very little archeological excavations about the Vikings were done in Normandy, the Norman toponymy retains a large Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian heritage, due to a constant use of Old Norse during four or five generations in certain parts of Normandy.

They then became the Normans – a Norman French-speaking mixture of Norsemen and indigenous Gallo-Franks.

Rollo's descendant William became king of England in 1066 after defeating Harold Godwinson, the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, at the Battle of Hastings, while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants.

Norman expansion

Aside from the conquest of England and the subsequent invasions of Wales and Ireland, the Normans expanded into other areas. Norman families, such as that of Tancred of Hauteville, Rainulf Drengot and Guimond de Moulins played important parts in the conquest of southern Italy and the Crusades.

The Drengot lineage, de Hauteville's sons William Iron Arm, Drogo, and Humphrey, Robert Guiscard and Roger the Great Count progressively claimed territories in southern Italy until founding the Kingdom of Sicily in 1130. They also carved out a place for themselves and their descendants in the Crusader states of Asia Minor and the Holy Land.

The 14th-century explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a kingdom in the Canary Islands in 1404. He received the title King of the Canary Islands from Pope Innocent VII but recognized Henry III of Castile as his overlord, who had provided him with military and financial aid during the conquest.

13th to 17th centuries

In 1204, during the reign of John of England, mainland Normandy was taken from the English kingdom by the King of France Philip II, that ended with this conquest some 293 years of relative Norman independence from the French crown. Insular Normandy (the Channel Islands) remained, however, under control of the king of England and still attached to the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. In 1259, Henry III of England recognized the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under the Treaty of Paris. His successors, however, often fought to regain control of their ancient fiefdom.

The ''Charte aux Normands'' granted by Louis X of France in 1315 (and later re-confirmed in 1339) – like the analogous Magna Carta granted in England in the aftermath of 1204 – guaranteed the liberties and privileges of the province of Normandy.

French Normandy was devastated by the civil wars and conflicts against the English power during the Hundred Years' War. Between 1419 and 1450 strong English forces occupied Normandy, except the Mont-Saint-Michel, and made of Rouen, the seat of their power in France. It explains why Joan of Arc was burnt in Rouen, but not in Paris. Normandy lost three-quarters of its population during the war. Afterwards, prosperity returned to Normandy until the Wars of Religion. When many Norman towns (Alençon, Rouen, Caen