[7] In the late 3rd century AD, Germanic raids devastated "Lugdunensis Secunda", as the modern area of Normandy was known at the time.

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.

[10] 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.

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.

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.

In 1204, during the reign of John, King of England, mainland Normandy was captured from the English by the forces of Philip II of France, ending some 293 years of relative Norman independence from the French crown.

Normandy ultimately saw its population decline by three quarters as a result of the various conflicts which took place in the region during the late Middle Ages.

When many Norman towns (Alençon, Rouen, Caen, Coutances, Bayeux) joined the Protestant Reformation, battles ensued throughout the province.

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.

During the Second World War, following the armistice of 22 June 1940, continental Normandy was part of the German occupied zone of France.

The Allies 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 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.

Much of Normandy is predominantly agricultural in character, with cattle breeding the most important sector (although in decline from the peak levels of the 1970s and 1980s).

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.

Many words and place names demonstrate the Old English and Norse (Anglo-Scandinavian) influence in this Oïl language; for example, words : mauve (seagull), fifotte (starfish), hâ (catshark), mucre (humid, wet), (é)griller (slide, slip), fale (throat), etc.

place-names : -bec (stream), -fleur (river), -hou (island), -tot (homestead), -dal / -dalle (valley), Hogue / Hougue (hill, mound), -lon / -londe (grove, wood), -vy / -vic (bay, cove), -mare (pond), -beuf (booth, cabin), etc.

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.

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.

Parts of Normandy consist of rolling countryside typified by pasture for dairy cattle and apple orchards.

Norman cheeses include Camembert, Livarot, Pont l'Évêque, Brillat-Savarin, Neufchâtel, Petit Suisse and Boursin.

Other regional specialities include tripes à la mode de Caen, andouilles and andouillettes, salade cauchoise, 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.

The Corneille brothers, Pierre and Thomas, born in Rouen, were great figures of French classical literature.

Théodore Géricault, a native of Rouen, was a notable figure in the Romantic movement, its famous Radeau de la Méduse being considered come the breakthrough of pictorial romanticism in France when it was officially presented at the Salon of 1819.

The landscape painter Eugène Boudin, born in Honfleur, was a determining influence on the impressionists and was highly considered by Monet.

Landscapes and scenes of daily life were also immortalised on canvas by artists that have included : William Turner, Gustave Courbet, the Honfleur born Eugène Boudin, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Auguste Renoir, Gustave Caillebotte, Eugène Chigot, Paul Gauguin, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.

The Société Normande de Peinture Moderne was founded in 1909 by Pierre Dumont, Robert Antoine Pinchon, Yvonne Barbier and Eugène Tirvert.

Among members were Raoul Dufy, a native of Le Havre, Albert Marquet, Francis Picabia and Maurice Utrillo.

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.