Normandy

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, Le Havre 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, Coutances, Bayeux) joined the Protestant Reformation, battles ensued throughout the province. In the Channel Islands, a period of Calvinism following the Reformation was suppressed when Anglicanism was imposed following the English Civil War.

Samuel de Champlain left the port of Honfleur in 1604 and founded Acadia. Four years later, he founded the City of Québec. From then onwards, Normans engaged in a policy of expansion in North America. They continued the exploration of the New World: René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle travelled in the area of the Great Lakes, then on the Mississippi River. Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother Lemoyne de Bienville founded Louisiana, Biloxi, Mobile and New Orleans. Territories located between Québec and the Mississippi Delta were opened up to establish Canada and Louisiana. Colonists from Normandy were among the most active in New France, comprising Acadia, Canada, and Louisiana.

Honfleur and Le Havre were two of the principal slave trade ports of France.

Modern history

Although agriculture remained important, industries such as weaving, metallurgy, sugar refining, ceramics, and shipbuilding were introduced and developed.

In the 1780s, the economic crisis and the crisis of the '' Ancien Régime'' struck Normandy as well as other parts of the nation, leading to the French Revolution. Bad harvests, technical progress and the effects of the Eden Agreement signed in 1786 affected employment and the economy of the province. Normans laboured under a heavy fiscal burden.

In 1790 the five departments of Normandy replaced the former province.

13 July 1793, the Norman Charlotte Corday assassinated Marat.

The Normans reacted little to the many political upheavals which characterized the 19th century. Overall they warily accepted the changes of régime (First French Empire, Bourbon Restoration, July Monarchy, French Second Republic, Second French Empire, French Third Republic).

Following the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815) there was an economic revival that included the mechanization of textile manufacturing and the introduction of the first trains.

With seaside tourism in the 19th century came the advent of the first beach resorts.

During the Second World War, following the armistice of 22 June 1940, continental Normandy was part of the German occupied zone of France. The Channel Islands were occupied by German forces between 30 June 1940 and 9 May 1945. The town of Dieppe was the site of the unsuccessful Dieppe Raid by Canadian and British armed forces.

The Allies, in this case involving Britain, the United States, Canada and Free France, coordinated a massive build-up of troops and supplies to support a large-scale invasion of Normandy in the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944 under the code name Operation Overlord. The Germans were dug into fortified emplacements above the beaches. Caen, Cherbourg, Carentan, Falaise and other Norman towns endured many casualties in the Battle of Normandy, which continued until the closing of the so-called Falaise gap between Chambois and Mont Ormel. The liberation of Le Havre followed. This was a significant turning point in the war and led to the restoration of the French Republic.

The remainder of Normandy was liberated only on 9 May 1945 at the end of the war, when the Channel Island occupation effectively ended.

Geography

The historical Duchy of Normandy was a formerly independent duchy occupying the lower Seine area, the Pays de Caux and the region to the west through the Pays d'Auge as far as the Cotentin Peninsula and Channel Islands.

Western Normandy belongs to the Armorican Massif, while most of the region lies in the Paris Basin. France's oldest rocks are exposed in Jobourg, on the Cotentin peninsula. The region is bounded to the north and west by the English Channel. There are granite cliffs in the west and limestone cliffs in the east. There are also long stretches of beach in the centre of the region. The ''bocage'' typical of the western areas caused problems for the invading forces in the Battle of Normandy. A notable feature of the landscape is created by the meanders of the Seine as it approaches its estuary.

The highest point is the Signal d'Écouves (417 m), in the Armorican Massif.

Normandy is sparsely forested: 12.8% of the territory is wooded, compared to a French average of 23.6%, although the proportion varies between the departments. Eure has the most cover, at 21%, while Manche has the least, at 4%, a characteristic shared with the Channel Islands.

Sub-regions

Mainland Normandy

* Avranchin
* Bessin
* Bauptois
* Bocage virois
* Campagne d'Alençon
* Campagne d'Argentan
* Campagne de Caen
* Campagne de Falaise
* Campagne du Neubourg
* Campagne de Saint-André (or d’Évreux)
* Cotentin
* Perche
* Domfrontais or Passais
* Hiémois
* Lieuvin
* Mortainais
* Pays d'Auge, central Normandy, is characterized by excellent agricultural land.
* Pays de Bray
* Pays de Caux
* Pays d'Houlme
* Pays de Madrie, area between the Seine and the Eure.
* Pays d'Ouche
* Roumois et Marais-Vernier
* Suisse Normande ( Norman Switzerland), in the south, presents hillier terrain.
* Val de Saire
* Vexin normand

Insular Normandy (Channel Islands)

* The bailiwick of Jersey
* The bailiwick of Guernsey (Fr. ''Bailliage de Guernesey'')

The Channel Islands are considered culturally and historically a part of Normandy. However, they are British Crown Dependencies, and are not part of the modern French administrative region of Normandy,

Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy, France, and other French possessions in 1801, the monarch of the United Kingdom retains the title Duke of Normandy in respect to the Channel Islands. The Channel Islands (except for Chausey) remain Crown Dependencies of the British Crown in the present era. Thus the Loyal Toast in the Channel Islands is ''Le Roi, notre Duc'' ("The King, our Duke"). The British monarch is understood to ''not'' be the Duke with regards to mainland Normandy described herein, by virtue of the Treaty of Paris of 1259, the surrender of French possessions in 1801, and the belief that the rights of succession to that title are subject to Salic Law which excludes inheritance through female heirs.

Rivers

Rivers in Normandy include:
* the Seine and its tributaries:
** the Andelle
** the Epte
** the Eure

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