History & Civilisation
Normandy has been populated as early as prehistoric times. Its history is mostly about battle, starting with the subjugation of the Gauls by the Roman Empire and continuing with the barbarian raids, the Viking settlement in the region, the conquest of England, the Hundred Years War and of course World War II, in which Normandy played a crucial role in the victory of the Allied forces.
- Archeological finds, such as cave paintings prove that humans were present in the region as far back as prehistoric times.
- Belgian Celts, known as Gauls, invaded Normandy in successive waves from the 4th century BC to the 3rd century BC. When Caesar invaded Gaul there were nine different Gallic tribes in Normandy.
- The Romanization of Normandy was achieved by the usual methods: Roman roads and a policy of urbanization. Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy.
- In the late 3rd century, barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Christianity began to enter the area during this period. In 406, Germanic tribes began invading from the West, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast. The Roman Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy.
- The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo. He 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 he and his Viking allies had previously conquered.
- The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romantic language and intermarried with the area’s previous inhabitants and became the Normans – a Norman French-speaking mixture of Scandinavians, Hiberno-Norse, Orcadians, Anglo-Danish, and indigenous Franks and Gauls.
- Rollo’s descendant William, Duke of Normandy became king of England in 1066 in the Norman Conquest culminating at the Battle of Hastings while retaining the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants.
- In 1204, during the reign of King John of England, mainland Normandy was taken from England by France under Philip II of France while insular Normandy (the Channel Islands) remained under English control.
- French Normandy was occupied by English forces during the Hundred Years’ War in 1345-1360 and again in 1415-1450. Afterwards, prosperity returned to Normandy until the Wars of Religion when many Norman towns joined the Protestant Reformation and 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.
- In the 1780s, the economic crisis and the crisis of the Ancien Regime struck Normandy and led 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.
- The Normans reacted little to the many political upheavals which characterized the 19th century. Careful, they accepted the successive changes in the regime (First French Empire, Bourbon Restoration, July Monarchy , French Second Republic, Second French Empire, French Third Republic).
- During World War II, 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. On D-Day, June 6th 1944, the Allied forces invaded Normandy.