Map of Normandy
Normandy ( ,
Norman:
Normaundie) is a
geographical region corresponding to the former
Duchy of Normandy.
It is situated along
the English
Channel
coast of Northern
France between Brittany (to the west)
and Picardy (to the east) and comprises
territory in northern France
and the
Channel Islands.
Normandy is divided between French and British sovereignty. The
continental territory under French sovereignty covers
30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and
roughly 5% of the territory of France.
It is divided for
administrative purposes into two régions: Basse-Normandie
and Haute-Normandie
. The Channel Islands (referred to as Îles
Anglo-Normandes in French)
covers 194 km² and comprise two bailiwicks: Guernsey
and Jersey
, which are
British Crown
dependencies.
Upper
Normandy (Haute-Normandie) consists of the French départements of Seine-Maritime
and Eure
, and Lower
Normandy (Basse-Normandie) of the départements of Orne
, Calvados
, and Manche
.
The former
province of Normandy comprised
present-day Upper and Lower Normandy, as well as small areas now
part of the départements of Eure-et-Loir
, Mayenne
, and
Sarthe.
The name of Normandy is derived from the settlement and conquest of
the territory by
Vikings ("
Northmen") from the 9th century, and confirmed by
treaty in the 10th century. For a century and a half following the
Norman Conquest of England in 1066,
Normandy and England were linked by Norman rulers, but following
1204 the continental territory was ultimately held by France.
During the
Battle of
Normandy
in World War II,
Normandy became the landing site for the invasion and liberation of
Europe from Nazi
Germany. This is recognised as a turning point for the
war in Western Europe.
The population of Normandy is around 3.45 million. The continental
population of 3.26 million accounts for 5.5% of the population of
France (in 2005).
Basse-Normandie is predominantly agricultural in character, with
cattle breeding the most important sector (although in decline from
the peak levels of the 1970s and 1980s). The
bocage is a patchwork of small fields with high
hedges, typical of western areas. Haute-Normandie contains a higher
concentration of
industry. Normandy is a
significant
cider-producing region, and also
produces
calvados, a distilled
cider or
apple brandy. Other activities
of economic importance are
dairy produce,
flax (60% of production in France),
horse breeding (including two French national
stud farms),
fishing,
seafood, and
tourism. The
region contains three French
nuclear power stations.
History
Archeological finds, such as
cave
paintings, prove that
humans were present
in the region in
prehistoric
times.
Belgian
Celts, known as Gauls, invaded
Normandy in successive waves from the 4th
century BC to the 3rd century
BC.
When
Julius Caesar invaded Gaul, there
were nine different
Gallic tribes in
Normandy.
The
Romanisation of Normandy was
achieved by the usual methods:
Roman
roads and a policy of
urbanisation.
Classicists have knowledge of many
Gallo-Roman villas
in Normandy.
In the late
3rd century,
barbarian raids devastated Normandy. Coastal
settlements were raided by
Saxon pirates.
Christianity
also began to enter the area during this period. In 406,
Germanic tribes began invading from the
east, while the Saxons subjugated the Norman coast. The Roman
Emperor withdrew from most of Normandy.
As early
as 486, the area between the River Somme
and the River Loire
came under the control of the Frankish lord Clovis.
The
fiefdom of Normandy was
created for the
Viking leader
Rollo (also known as Robert of Normandy).
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 which he and his Viking allies had
previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking
(i.e. "Northman") origins.
The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local
Gallo-Romantic language and
intermarried with the area’s original inhabitants.
They 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.
Norman expansion
Norman possessions in the 12th
century
Besides the
Norman conquest
of England and the subsequent conquests of
Wales and
Ireland, the Normans expanded into other
areas.
Tancred's sons
William Iron Arm,
Drogo of Hauteville,
Humphrey of Hauteville,
Robert Guiscard and
Roger the Great Count conquered the
Emirate of Sicily and additional
territories in
Southern Italy.
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 Norman explorer Jean de Béthencourt established a
kingdom on the Canary
Islands
. Béthencourt received the title King of the
Canary Islands but recognised as his overlord
Henry III of Castile, who had provided
aid during the conquest.
Norman families, such as that of
Tancred of Hauteville, played
important parts in the
Crusades.
13th century to 17th century
Animated map of the Hundred Years'
War
In 1204, during the reign of England's
King John, mainland Normandy was taken from
England by France under
Philip II of
France. Insular Normandy (the
Channel Islands) remained under English
control. In 1259,
Henry III of
England recognised the legality of French possession of
mainland Normandy under the
Treaty of Paris. His successors,
however, often fought to regain control of mainland French
Normandy.
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 occupied by English forces during the
Hundred Years' War in 1345–1360 and again
in 1415–1450. Afterward 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.
From the 1660s onwards, France engaged in a policy of expansion in
North America.
Normans continued the
exploration of the New World : René Robert Cavelier de La
Salle travelled in the area of the Great Lakes
of the United States
and Canada
, then on the
Mississippi River.
Territories located between Quebec
and the
Mississippi Delta were opened up
to establish French
Louisiana.
Honfleur
and Le
Havre
were two of the principal slave traders ports of France.
Colonists
from Normandy (in particular Basse-Normandie) in New France (Quebec) were among
the most active.
18th century and 19th century
Although agriculture remained important, industries such as
weaving, metallurgy, sugar refining, ceramics, 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 were instituted.
July 11, 1793,
Charlotte Corday
assassinated Marat.
The Normans reacted little to the many political upheavals which
characterised the 19
th century. Careful, they accepted
overall the changes of régime (
First
French Empire,
Bourbon
Restoration,
July Monarchy,
French Second Republic,
Second French Empire,
French Third Republic).
There was an economic revival (mechanisation of textile
manufacture, first trains...) after the
French Revolutionary Wars and the
Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815).
And a new activity stimulated the seaside: tourism. The
19
th century marks the birth of the first seaside
resorts.
World War II
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.
The town
of Dieppe
was the site of the unsuccessful Dieppe Raid by Canadian and British
armed forces.
During the
Second World War,
the Allies coordinated a massive
build-up of troops and supplies to support a large-scale invasion
of Normandy in the
D-Day landings
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 Montormel, then liberation of Le Havre.
This led to the restoration of the French Republic, and a
significant turning point in the war. The remainder of Normandy was
liberated only on 9 May, 1945 at the end of the war, when the
Occupation of the
Channel Islands ended.
Geography
A typical Norman village
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
.
The region is bordered along the northern coasts 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. There are
meanders
of the Seine as it approaches its estuary which form a notable
feature of the landscape.
The highest point is the Signal d'Écouves (417m) in the Massif
armoricain.
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 most cover (21%) while
Manche has least (4%), a characteristic shared with the
Islands.
Regions
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands, although British
Crown Dependencies, are considered
culturally and historically a part of Normandy.
Although the British surrendered claims to mainland Normandy 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
La Reine, notre Duc
("The Queen, our Duke"). The British monarch is understood to
not be the Duke of Normandy in regards of the French
region of 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
The Bresle
Rivers in Normandy include:
- the
Seine
and its
tributaries :
And many coastal rivers :
Towns
- See: :Category:Towns
in Normandy
The
principal cities (population at the 1999 census) are Rouen (518,316
inhabitants in the metropolitan area), the capital of Upper
Normandy and formerly of the whole province; Caen (370,852
inhabitants in the metropolitan area), the capital of Lower
Normandy; Le
Havre (296,773 inhabitants in the metropolitan area); and
Cherbourg (117,855 inhabitants in the metropolitan
area).
Population
In
January 2006 the population of Normandy (including the part of
Perche which lies inside the Orne département but excluding the
Channel Islands) was estimated at
3,260,000 with an average population density of 109 inhabitants per
km², just under the French national average, but rising to 147 for
Upper
Normandy.
Economy
| Year |
Area |
Labour force in agriculture |
Labour force in industry |
Labour force in services |
| 2003 |
Haute-Normandie
|
2.30 %
|
36.10 %
|
61.60 %
|
| 2003 |
Basse-Normandie
|
7.13 %
|
25.06 %
|
67.81 %
|
| 2006 |
France
|
2.20 %
|
20.60 %
|
77.20 %
|
| Area |
GDP (in million of Euros)(2006) |
Unemployment (% of the labour force)(2007) |
|
Haute-Normandie
|
46,853
|
6.80 %
|
|
Basse-Normandie
|
34,064
|
7.90 %
|
|
France
|
1,791,956
|
7.50 %
|
Food and drink
Parts of Normandy consist of rolling countryside typified by
pasture for dairy
cattle and
apple orchards. A wide range of dairy products are
produced and exported. Norman cheeses include
Camembert,
Livarot,
Pont l'Évêque,
Brillat-Savarin,
Neufchâtel,
Petit Suisse and
Boursin. Normandy butter and Normandy cream
are lavishly used in gastronomic specialties.
Fish and seafood are of superior quality in Normandy. Turbot and
oysters from the Cotentin Peninsula are major delicacies throughout
France. Normandy is the chief
oyster-cultivating, scallop-exporting, and
mussel-raising region in France.
Normandy is a major
cider-producing region
(very little wine is produced).
Perry is also
produced, but in less significant quantities. Apple brandy, of
which the most famous variety is
calvados, is also popular. The mealtime
trou normand, or Norman break, is a pause between meal
courses in which diners partake of a glassful of calvados, and is
still observed in many homes and restaurants.
Pommeau is an
apéritif produced by blending unfermented
cider and apple brandy. Another aperitif is the
kir normand, a measure of
crème de cassis topped up with cider.
Bénédictine is produced in
Fécamp
.
Apples are also used in cooking: for example,
moules à la
normande are
mussels cooked with apples
and cream,
bourdelots are apples baked in pastry,
partridges are flamed with reinette apples, and localities all over
the province have their own variation of apple tart. A classic
pastry dish from the region is
flan
Normand a
pastry-based variant of the
apple tart.
Other regional specialities include
tripes
à la mode de Caen,
andouilles and
andouillettes, salt
meadow (
pré salé) lamb, seafood (mussels,
scallops, lobsters, mackerel…), and
teurgoule (spiced rice pudding).
Normandy dishes include duckling
à la rouennaise, sautéed
chicken
yvetois, and goose
en daube. Rabbit is
cooked with
morels, or
à la havraise
(stuffed with truffled pigs' trotters). Other dishes are sheep's
trotters
à la rouennaise, casseroled veal, larded calf's
liver braised with carrots, and veal (or turkey) in cream and
mushrooms.
Normandy is also noted for its pastries.
It is the birthplace
of brioches (especially those from Évreux
and Gisors
) and also
turns out douillons (pears baked in pastry),
craquelins, roulettes in Rouen, fouaces
in Caen, fallues in Lisieux
, sablés in Lisieux. Confectionery of the
region includes Rouen apple sugar,
Isigny caramels, Bayeux mint chews,
Falaise berlingots, Le
Havre marzipans, Argentan
croquettes, and Rouen macaroons.
Normandy is the native land of
Taillevent, cook of the kings of France
Charles V and
Charles VI. He wrote the earliest
French cookery book named
Le Viandier.
Confiture de lait was also made in
Normandy around the 14th century.
Culture
Symbols
The traditional provincial
flag of
Normandy,
gules, two leopards passant or, is used in
both modern regions.
The historic three-leopard version (known in the Norman language as
les trois chats, "the three cats") is used by some
associations and individuals, especially those who support
reunification of the regions and cultural links with the Channel
Islands and England. Jersey and Guernsey use three leopards in
their national symbols. The three leopards represents the strength
and courage Normandy has towards the neighbouring provinces.
The unofficial anthem of the region is the song "
Ma Normandie".
File:Haute-Normandie flag.svg|
"Three-leopard" version
File:Normandy flag large.png|
Nordic Cross flag by
Le Mouvement
Normand
File:Flag
of Sark.svg|
"Two-leopard" flag of Sark
File:Blason duche fr Normandie.svg|
Coat of arms of the Duchy of
Normandy
File:Coat of arms of Guernsey.svg|
Coat of arms of
Guernsey
File:Jersey arms on Piquet House in St Helier.jpg|
Coat of arms of
Jersey
File:Norman flags on parade.jpg|Two-leopard and three-leopard flags
at a Norman language festival in Jersey.
Literature
The dukes of Normandy commissioned and inspired epic literature to
record and legitimise their rule.
Wace, Orderic Vitalis and Étienne of Rouen were among
those who wrote in the service of the dukes.
After the division of 1204, French literature provided the model
for the development of literature in Normandy.
Olivier Basselin wrote of the Vaux de Vire,
the origin of literary
vaudeville.
Among notable Norman writers in French are
Jean Marot,
Rémy
Belleau,
Guy de Maupassant,
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly,
Gustave Flaubert,
Octave Mirbeau and
Remy de Gourmont. The Corneille brothers,
Pierre and
Thomas, born in Rouen, were great figures
of French classical literature.
David Ferrand (1591-1660) in his
Muse Normande established
a landmark of Norman language literature.
In the 16th and 17th
centuries, the workers and merchants of Rouen established
a tradition of polemical and satirical literature in a form of
language called the parler purin. At the end of the
18th century and beginning of the
19th century a new movement arose in
the Channel Islands, led by writers such as
George Métivier, which sparked a
literary renaissance on the Norman mainland. In exile in Jersey and
then Guernsey,
Victor Hugo took an
interest in the vernacular literature.
Les Travailleurs de la mer
is a well-known novel by Hugo set in the Channel Islands. The boom
in insular literature in the early 19th century encouraged
production especially in La Hague and around Cherbourg, where
Alfred Rossel, Louis Beuve and
Côtis-Capel became active. The typical
medium for literary expression in Norman has traditionally been
newspaper columns and almanacs. The novel
Zabeth by André
Louis which appeared in 1969 was the first novel published in
Norman.
Painting
Romanticism drew painters to the Channel
coasts of Normandy.
Richard
Parkes Bonington and
J. M. W.
Turner crossed the Channel from
Great Britain, attracted by the light and landscapes.
Théodore Géricault, a native of
Rouen, was a notable figure in the Romantic movement. The competing
Realist tendency was represented by
Jean-François Millet, a native of
La Hague.
From the 1860s,
plein-air painters, who worked outside the
studio, were attracted to Normandy by the ease of railway access
from Paris and the development of a market among the growing number
of affluent tourists visiting the coasts of Calvados.
Eugène Boudin's paintings of fashionable
seaside scenes are typical of this period.
Claude Monet's waterlily garden at Giverny
is one of the most popular tourist attractions in
the region, and his series of views of Rouen Cathedral are major
works of Impressionism. It was
Impression, Sunrise, a painting by
Monet of Le Havre, that led to the movement being dubbed
"Impressionism".
The
Société normande de peinture moderne was founded in
1909. Among members were
Raoul Dufy, a
native of Le Havre,
Albert Marquet,
Francis Picabia and
Maurice Utrillo. Also in this movement were
the Duchamp brothers,
Jacques Villon
and
Marcel Duchamp.
Languages
French is the only
official
language in continental Normandy. English is also an official
language in the Channel Islands.
The
Norman language, a regional
language, is spoken by a minority of the population on the
continent and the islands, with a concentration in the Cotentin
Peninsula in the far West (the Cotentinais dialect), and in the Pays de Caux in the East (the Cauchois
dialect). Many place names demonstrate the
Norse influence in this
Oïl language; for example
-bec
(stream),
-fleur (river),
-hou (island),
-tot (homestead).
Architecture
Chateau d'Etelan (1494)
Architecturally, Norman cathedrals, abbeys (such as the
Abbey of Bec) and castles characterise the
former Duchy in a way that mirrors the similar pattern of
Norman architecture in England following
the
Norman Conquest of 1066.
Domestic architecture in upper Normandy is typified by
half-timbered buildings that also
recall vernacular English architecture, although the farm
enclosures of the more harshly landscaped Pays de Caux are a more
idiosyncratic response to socio-economic and climatic imperatives.
Much urban architectural heritage was destroyed during the Battle
of Normandy in 1944 - post-war urban reconstruction, such as in Le
Havre and Saint-Lô, could be said to demonstrate both the virtues
and vices of
modernist and
brutalist trends of the 1950s and 1960s. Le Havre,
the city rebuilt by
Auguste Perret,
was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List in 2005.
Vernacular architecture in
lower Normandy takes its form from
granite,
the predominant local building material.
The Channel Islands
also share this influence - Chausey was for many years a source of quarried granite,
including that used for the construction of Mont
Saint-Michel
.
The south
part of Bagnoles-de-l'Orne
is filled with bourgeois villas in Belle Époque style with polychrome
façades, bow windows and unique roofing. This area, built
between 1886 and 1914, has an authentic “Bagnolese” style and is
typical of high-society country vacation of the time.
Religion
Sées
Cathedral
and the adjoining Museum of Religious Art and
Vestments attract pilgrims and tourists alike. The
"Musilumières" (a sound and light show inside the cathedral) take
place every night in summer.
The
Chapel of Saint Germanus (Chapelle Saint-Germain) at
Querqueville
with its trefoil floorplan
incorporates elements of one of the earliest surviving places of
Christian worship in the Cotentin -
perhaps second only to the Gallo-Roman baptistry at Port-Bail
. It is dedicated to
Germanus of Normandy.
Christian missionaries implanted monastic communities in the
territory in the 5th and 6th centuries.
Some of these
missionaries came from across the Channel. The
influence of
Celtic Christianity
can still be found in the Cotentin.
By the terms of the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, Rollo, a Viking
pagan, accepted Christianity and was baptised. The Duchy of
Normandy was therefore formally a Christian state from its
foundation.
The
cathedrals of Normandy have exerted
influence down the centuries in matters of both faith and politics.
King Henry II of England, did penance at the cathedral of Avranches
on 21 May, 1172 and was absolved from the censures
incurred by the assassination of Thomas
Becket. Mont Saint-Michel is a historic pilgrimage
site.
Prominent Protestant ministers include
Pierre Allix,
Jacques Basnages and
Samuel Bochart.
Since the
1905
French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State
there is no established church in mainland Normandy. In the Channel
Islands, the
Church of England is
the
established church.
Saints
Normandy does not have one generally-agreed
patron saint, although this title has been
ascribed to Saint
Michael, and
to
Saint Ouen.
Many
saints have been revered in Normandy down
the centuries, including:
People from Normandy
- See :Category:People from
Normandy
Gallery
File:William Bayeux.jpg|William the Conqueror, the Bayeux TapestryFile:MSM sunset
02.JPG|Mont
Saint-Michel in Normandy (Manche), France, at
night.File:RouenCathedral Monet 1894.jpg|Rouen
Cathedral
by
Claude
MonetFile:NormandyCourcelles2JM.jpg|150mm World War II
German gun emplacement in Normandy.File:Pegasus_Bridge_1944.jpg| Pegasus
Bridge
See also
References
External links
.jpg/180px-Abbaye_de_Valasse_en_2004_(2).jpg)
, which traditionally marks the boundary between the
Duchy of Brittany and the Duchy of Normandy
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