Editing Normandy (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Normandy}}

===Prehistory===
Archaeological finds, such as [[cave paintings]], prove that humans were present in the region in prehistoric times. Normandy also has many [[megalithic monument]]s.<ref>Jeannine Rouch, ''Mégalithes de Normandie: Pierres de légendes'', OREP Edition, Caen, 2012</ref>

===Celtic period===
[[Celts]] (also known as [[Belgae]] and [[Gauls]]) have populated Normandy since at least the [[Bronze Age]]. When [[Julius Caesar]] invaded Gaul (58–50 BC), there were nine different Celtic tribes living in this part of Gaul.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pagesperso-orange.fr/ridel/histnorm/Gaulois1.htm |title=César et les Gaulois |publisher=pagesperso-orange.fr |language=fr |access-date=13 April 2008 |archive-date=27 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227063130/http://pagesperso-orange.fr/ridel/histnorm/Gaulois1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Romanisation===
[[File:TheatreLillebonne.jpg|thumb|left|[[Roman theatre (structure)|Gallo-Roman theatre]] in [[Lillebonne]]]]
The [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanisation]] of this region partly included in the ''[[Gallia Celtica]]'' and in the ''[[Gallia Belgica]]'' (the Seine being more or less the limit between them) was achieved by the usual methods: [[Roman roads]] and a policy of urbanisation. [[Classicist]]s mention many [[Gallo-Roman]] [[villa]]s  and archeology found their traces in the past 30 years. In the [[Late Roman Empire]] a new province was created and called ''[[Gallia Lugdunensis|Lugdunensis Secunda]]'', it sketched the later [[Archbishopric of Rouen|ecclesiastical province of Rouen]], with the ''Metropolis civitas Rotomagensium''
([[Rouen]]), ''Civitas Baiocassium'' (''Augustodorum'', Bayeux), ''Civitas Abrincatum'' (''Ingena'', Avranches), ''Civitas Ebroicorum'' (''Mediolanum'', Évreux), ''Civitas Saiorum'' (Sées), ''Civitas Lexoviorum'' (''Noviomagus'', Lisieux / Lieuvin) and ''Civitas Constantia'' (Coutances).<ref>René Herval, "Les origines chrétiennes de la Seconde Lyonnaise (Normandie actuelle)" in ''Études Normandes'', 1963, n° 163,  p. 1–11 (online reading in French) [https://www.persee.fr/doc/etnor_0014-2158_1963_num_49_163_3197] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331220422/https://www.persee.fr/doc/etnor_0014-2158_1963_num_49_163_3197|date=31 March 2022}}</ref>

===Germanic invasions and settlements===
In the late 3rd century AD, Germanic raids devastated "Lugdunensis Secunda", as the modern area of Normandy was known at the time. The Romans built a system of coastal defences known as [[Saxon Shore]] on both sides of the English Channel. Coastal settlements were raided by [[Saxons|Saxon]] pirates that finally settled mainly in the [[Bessin]] region.<ref>Jean Soulat, La présence saxonne et anglo-saxonne sur le littoral de la Manche, in ''Quentovic'' : ''Environnement, archéologie, histoire'', 2010, p. 146 – 163.</ref> Modern archeology reveals their presence in different Merovingian cemeteries excavated east of Caen.<ref>Christian Pilet, ''Quelques témoignages de la présence Anglo-Saxonne dans le Calvados, Basse-Normandie (France)'', Band 13, edited by Karl Hauck, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2020, pp. 357–381.</ref> Christianity also began to enter the area during this period and Rouen already had a metropolitan bishop by the 4th century. 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. In 406, [[List of early Germanic peoples|Germanic tribes]] began invading from the east, followed by dispersed settlements mainly in the [[Pays de Bray]], [[Pays de Caux]] and [[Vexin]]. As early as 487, the area between the rivers [[Somme (river)|Somme]] and [[Loire]] came under the control of the [[Franks|Frankish]] lord [[Clovis I|Clovis]].

===Viking raids and foundation of the Norman state===
[[Vikings]] started to raid along the river Seine during the middle of the 9th century. As early as 841, a Viking fleet appeared at the mouth of the Seine, the principal route by which they entered the kingdom.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Neveux|first1=Francois|title=The Normans: The conquests that changed the face of Europe|date=3 June 2008|isbn=978-0-7624-3371-1|pages=48|publisher=Running Press }}</ref> 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. The [[Duchy of Normandy|fiefdom of Normandy]] was created for the Viking leader ''Hrólfr'', known in [[Medieval Latin]] as ''Rollo''. Rollo had [[Siege of Paris (885–886)|besieged Paris]] but in 911 entered [[vassal]]age to the king of the [[Western Francia|West Franks]], [[Charles the Simple]], through the [[Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte]]. In exchange for his [[Homage (feudal)|homage]] and [[fealty]], Rollo legally gained the territory that he and his Viking allies had previously conquered. The name "Normandy" reflects Rollo's Viking ("[[Norsemen|Norseman]]") origins.

The descendants of ''Rollo'' and his followers created an aristocracy that step by step adopted the local [[Gallo-Romance languages|Gallo-Romance language]], intermarried with the area's native Gallo-Frankish inhabitants, and adopted Christianity. Nevertheless, the first generations of Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian settlers brought slaves, mainly from the [[British Isles]], and often turned the women into ''[[Concubine|frilla]]'', a Scandinavian tradition which became known as ''[[More danico|more Danico]]'', medieval Latin meaning "Danish marriage". The first counts of Rouen and the dukes of Normandy had concubines too. While very little archeological excavations about the Vikings were done in Normandy, the [[Norman toponymy]] retains a large Scandinavian and Anglo-Scandinavian heritage, due to a constant use of [[Old Norse]] during four or five generations in certain parts of Normandy.

They then became the [[Normans]] – a [[Norman language|Norman French]]-speaking mixture of Norsemen and indigenous Gallo-Franks.

[[File:Bayeux Tapestry scene23 Harold sacramentum fecit Willelmo duci.jpg|thumb|[[Bayeux Tapestry]] (Scene 23): [[Harold Godwinson|Harold II]] swearing oath on holy relics to [[William the Conqueror]]]]
Rollo's descendant [[William the Conqueror|William]] became king of England in 1066 after defeating [[Harold Godwinson]], the last of the [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon kings]], at the [[Battle of Hastings]], while retaining the [[fiefdom]] of Normandy for himself and his descendants.

===Norman expansion===
[[File:Norman Conquests copy (1).jpg|thumb|A chronological map of the Norman Conquests, including England (1066–1485, not always in personal union with Normandy), Normandy (911–1204), [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|southern Italy and Sicily]] (1030–1263), [[Kingdom of Africa|parts of Africa around Tripoli]] (1146–1158), and the [[Crusader state]] of the [[Principality of Antioch]] along with associated vassals, the Principality of Ancyra (1073–1075),   the [[Principality of Tarragona]] (1129–1173), and the [[Kingdom of the Canary Islands]].]]
Aside from the conquest of England and the subsequent invasions of Wales and Ireland, the Normans expanded into other areas. Norman families, such as that of [[Tancred of Hauteville]], [[Rainulf Drengot]] and [[Guimond de Moulins]] played important parts in the [[Norman conquest of southern Italy|conquest of southern Italy]] and the [[Crusades]].

The [[Drengot family|Drengot]] lineage, de Hauteville's sons [[William Iron Arm]], [[Drogo of Hauteville|Drogo]], and [[Humphrey of Hauteville|Humphrey]], [[Robert Guiscard]] and [[Roger I of Sicily|Roger the Great Count]] progressively claimed territories in southern Italy until founding the [[Kingdom of Sicily]] in 1130. 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 explorer [[Jean de Béthencourt]] established a [[Kingdom of the Canary Islands|kingdom]] in the [[Canary Islands]] in 1404. He received the title King of the Canary Islands from Pope [[Pope Innocent VII|Innocent VII]] but recognized [[Henry III of Castile]] as his overlord, who had provided him with military and financial aid during the conquest.

===13th to 17th centuries===
[[File:Joan of arc burning at stake.jpg|thumb|[[Joan of Arc]] about to be burned at the stake in the city of [[Rouen]], painting by [[Jules Eugène Lenepveu]]]]
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. Insular Normandy (the Channel Islands) remained under control of the English, though still attached to the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. In the 1259 [[Treaty of Paris (1259)|Treaty of Paris]], [[Henry III of England]] recognized the legitimacy of the French possession of mainland Normandy. His successors, however, often fought to regain control of their ancient fiefdom.

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.

Normandy was devastated by various civil wars and the [[Hundred Years' War]]. Between 1419 and 1450, the English controlled all of Normandy apart from [[Mont-Saint-Michel]], and made Rouen the seat of their power in France. 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.<ref>{{cite book| author = Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie| title = The French Peasantry: 1450–1660| url = https://archive.org/details/frenchpeasantry10000lero| url-access = registration| year = 1987| publisher = University of California Press| isbn = 978-0-520-05523-0| page = [https://archive.org/details/frenchpeasantry10000lero/page/32 32] }}</ref> Afterwards, prosperity returned to Normandy until the [[French Wars of Religion|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 [[Stuart Restoration]].

[[Samuel de Champlain]] left the port of [[Honfleur]] in 1604 and founded [[Acadia]]. Four years later, he founded the City of Québec. From then onwards, Normans engaged in a policy of expansion in North America. 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]]. [[Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville]] and his brother [[Lemoyne de Bienville]] founded [[Louisiana]], [[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]], Mobile and New Orleans. Territories located between Québec and the [[Mississippi Delta]] were opened up to establish [[Canada (New France)|Canada]] and [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]]. Colonists from Normandy were among the most active in [[New France]], comprising [[Acadia]], Canada, and Louisiana.

Honfleur and [[Le Havre]] were two of the principal [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trade]] ports of France.

===18th century to present===
Although agriculture remained important, industries such as weaving, metallurgy, sugar refining, ceramics, and 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 replaced the former province.

On 13 July 1793, the Norman [[Charlotte Corday]] assassinated [[Jean-Paul Marat]].

The Normans reacted little to the many political upheavals which characterized the 19th century. Overall, they warily accepted the changes of régime ([[First French Empire]], [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]], [[July Monarchy]], [[French Second Republic]], [[Second French Empire]], [[French Third Republic]]).

Following the [[French Revolutionary Wars]] and the [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1792–1815), there was an economic revival that included the mechanization of textile manufacturing and the introduction of the first trains.

Also, with seaside tourism in the 19th century came the advent of the first beach resorts.

[[File:NormandySupply edit.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|[[Omaha Beach]] during the Allied invasion of Normandy, mid-June 1944]]
During the Second World War, following the [[Second Armistice at Compiègne|armistice of 22 June 1940]], continental Normandy was part of the [[Military Administration in France (Nazi Germany)|German occupied zone of France]]. The Channel Islands were [[German occupation of the Channel Islands|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 [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces.

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]]. German forces dug into fortified emplacements above the beaches. [[Caen]], [[Cherbourg]], [[Carentan]], [[Falaise, Calvados|Falaise]] and other Norman towns endured many casualties in the [[Invasion of Normandy|Battle of Normandy]], which continued until the closing of the so-called [[Falaise pocket|Falaise gap]] between [[Chambois, Orne|Chambois]] and [[Mont Ormel]]. The liberation of [[Le Havre]] followed. This was a significant turning point in the war in western Europe and led to the restoration of the French Republic.

The remainder of Normandy was liberated by Allied forces only on 9 May 1945 at the end of the war, when the [[Liberation of the German-occupied Channel Islands|Channel Island occupation]] effectively ended.

Despite the renunciation of the Duke of Normandy title by [[Henry III of England]] in the 1259 [[Treaty of Paris (1259)|Treaty of Paris]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/normans/history.html |title=The historical background and the 'Lands of the Normans' |website=The Digital Humanities Institute |publisher=University of Sheffield}}</ref> and the extinction of the duchy itself in modern-day, republican France, in the [[Channel Islands]] the [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|monarch of the United Kingdom]] (whether a king or queen) is regardless still sometimes informally referred to by the title "Duke of Normandy".