History of Normandy
Archeological finds, such as cave paintings, prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times, especially in Eure and Calvados.
The artifacts found at these sites indicate Gallic presence in Normandy as far back as the times of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures.
Caesar identified several different groups among the Belgae who occupied separate regions and lived in enclosed agrarian towns.
Even after their defeat at Alesia, the people of Normandy continued to fight until 51 BC, the year Caesar completed his conquest of Gaul.
Classicists have knowledge of many Gallo-Roman villas in Normandy, thanks in large part to finds made during construction of the A29 autoroute in Seine-Maritime.
Pliny also noted the presence of fana (small temples with a centered, usually square plan) in great numbers.
In antiquity the temples of Évreux made the town an important pilgrimage site, with a forum, Roman baths, a basilica, and a Gallic theatre.
The situation was so severe that an entire legion of Sueves[1] was garrisoned at Constantia (in the pagus Constantinus), the administrative center of the Unelli tribe.
Christianity began to enter the area during this period: Saint Mellonius was supposedly ordained Bishop of Rouen in the mid-3rd century.
Toponymy suggests that the various barbarian groups had installed themselves and formed alliances and federations already at the end of the 3rd century, well before the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476.
Frankish colonization did not occur on a massive scale, and is evidenced chiefly by cemeteries in Envermeu, Londinieres, Herouvillette, and Douvrend.
In the 7th century the Neustrian aristocrats founded several abbeys in the valley of the Seine: Fontenelle in 649, Jumièges about 654, Pavilly, Montivilliers.
Normandy takes its name from the Viking invaders who menaced large parts of Europe towards the end of the 1st millennium in two phases (790–930, then 980–1030).
This name provides the etymological basis for the modern words "Norman" and "Normandy", with -ia (Normandia, like Neustria, Francia, etc.).
The Viking attackers sought to capture the treasures stored at monasteries - easy prey considering monks were generally unable to put up much if any resistance.
The relics of Sainte Honorine were transported from Graville to Conflans, which became Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in the Paris region, safer by virtue of its southeasterly location.
[citation needed] The Carolingian kings in power at the time tended to have contradictory politics, which had severe consequences.
After being defeated by the Franks (led by Robert I of France)[2] at the Battle of Chartres in 911, the Viking leader Rollo and the Frankish King Charles the Simple signed the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, under which Charles gave Rouen and the area of present-day Upper Normandy to Rollo, establishing the Duchy of Normandy.
Between 1009 and 1020, the Normans continued their westward expansion, taking all the land between the rivers Sélune and Couesnon, including Mont Saint-Michel, and completing the conquest of Avranchin.
Logically, the Norman rulers (first counts of Rouen and then dukes of Normandy) tried to bring about the political unification of the two different Viking settlements of pays de Caux-lower Seine in the east and Cotentin in the west.
In fact, one can qualify the Nordic settlements in Normandy as Anglo-Scandinavian, because most of the colonists must have come after 911 as fishermen and farmers from the English Danelaw and a consequent Anglo-Saxon influence can be detected.
Toponymic and linguistic evidence survives in support of this theory: for instance Dénestanville (Dunestanvilla in 1142, PN Dunstān > Dunstan) or Vénestanville (Wenestanvillam 13th century, Wynstān > Winston).
Historians have few sources of information for this period of Norman history: Dudo of Saint-Quentin, William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, Flodoard of Reims, Richerus and Wace.
Their wealth thus enabled them to give large tracts of land to the abbeys and to ensure the loyalty of their vassals with gifts of fiefdoms.
The great lords made oaths of fidelity to the heir of the duchy, and were in return granted public and ecclesiastical authority.
The aristocracy was composed of a small group of Scandinavian men, while the majority of the Norman political leaders were of Frankish descent.
In 1315, faced with the constant encroachments of royal power on the liberties of Normandy, the barons and towns pressed on the king the Norman Charter.
Although agriculture remained important, industries such as weaving, metallurgy, sugar refining, ceramics, and shipbuilding were introduced and developed.
Bad harvests, technical progress and the effects of the Eden Agreement signed in 1786 affected employment and the economy of the province.
The Allies in this case involving Britain, the U.S., and Canada 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.
