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Chronology of the Duchy It was formed from Rouen county, the Pays de Caux and Talou (Dieppe county) which the Vikings had colonised. The capital was established at Rouen in 912, and a western capital was later established at Caen as the Duchy expanded. In 928 Evreux county, Hiémois county and the Bessin were added. In 931-934, William Longsword, Rollo's son, added the Cotentin Peninsula and the Avranchin. The Channel Islands were added in 933. Sometime around 950-956, Normandy or its frontier part got the position as a marchio, according to Werner. Richard II was the first to be styled duke of Normandy (the ducal title became established between 987-1006). In 1066, Duke William defeated Harold II of England at the Battle of Hastings and was subsequently crowned King of England, through the so-called Norman Conquest of England, which started the consequential Normanisation. Anglo-Norman and French political relations became complicated after the Norman Conquest, as the Norman rulers retained control of their holdings in Normandy as vassals owing fealty to the King of France, but were his equals as King of England. In the 1150s with the creation of the Angevin Empire the Normans controlled half of France and all of England, dwarfing the power of France. Yet the Normans were still technically vassals to France. One interpretation of the Conquest maintains that England became a cultural and economic backwater for almost 150 years after as kings of England preferred to rule from cities in Normandy such as Rouen and concentrate on their more lucrative continental holdings'. Another interpretation has it that the Norman Duke-Kings neglected their continental territories, where they in theory owed fealty to the Kings of France, in favour of consolidating their power in their new sovereign realm of England. The resources poured into the construction of cathedrals, castles and the administration of the new realm arguably diverted energy and concentration away from the need to defend Normandy, alienating the local nobility and weakening Norman control over the borders of the territory, while at the same time the power of the Kings of France grew. The Duchy was ruled as part of the Anglo-Norman realm until 1204, when Philip II of France conquered the continental lands of the Duchy. The eventual loss of control of continental Normandy divided landed families as members chose loyalty over land or vice-versa. During the Hundred Years War Anglo-Norman kings of England tried to regain their dynastic holdings in France. The Treaty of Paris (1259) settled the mainland territory on France; but the Channel Islands were retained by the English Crown (with the exception of Chausey). In 1789 the French Revolution brought an end to the historic rights and privileges of the Duchy, and in 1790 the territory of Normandy was divided into five départements. The Duchy today The Baliwicks of Jersey and Guernsey form the modern Duchy of Normandy, but are rarely recognised as such. See also | ||||||||||
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