History of Normandy
Once in the power of the Capetians, Normandy became an important strategical point in the struggle against the English, masters of Poitou and Guyenne in the south of France. Norman sailors were enrolled by Philip VI of France for a naval campaign against England in 1340 which resulted in the defeat of Ecluse. Under John II the Good, the States of Normandy, angered by the ravages committed by Edward III of England on his landing in the province voted (1348-50) subsidies for the conquest of England. The Valois dynasty was in great danger when Charles the Bad, King of Navarre, who possessed important lands in Normandy, succeeded in 1356 in detaching from John II of France a number of Norman barons. John II appraising the danger came suddenly to Rouen, put several barons to death, and took Charles the Bad prisoner. Shortly afterwards Normandy was one of the provinces of France most faithful to the Dauphin Charles, the future Charles V, and the hope the English entertained in 1359 of seeing Normandy ceded to them by the Preliminaries of London was not ratified by the treaty of Brétigny (1360); Normandy remained French. The victories of Charles V consolidated the prestige of the Valois in this province. In 1386 Normandy furnished 1387 vessels for an expedition against England never executed. In 1418 the campaign of Henry V in Normandy was for a long time paralyzed by the resistance of Rouen, which finally capitulated in 1419, and in 1420 all Normandy became again almost English.
The Duke of Clarence, brother of Henry V of England, was made lieutenant-general in the province. Henry VI and the Duke of Bedford founded a university at Caen which had faculties of canon and civil law, to which Charles VII in 1432 added those of theology, medicine, and arts. This last attempt at English domination in Normandy was marked by the execution at Rouen of Blessed Joan of Arc. English rule, however, was undermined by incessant conspiracies, especially on the part of the people of Rouen, and by revolts in 1435-36. The revolt of Val de Vire is famous and was the origin of an entire ballad literature, called "Vaux de Vire", in which the poet Oliver Basselin excelled. These songs, which later became bacchic or amorous in character, and which subsequently developed into the popular drama known as "Vaudeville", were in the beginning chiefly of an historical nature recounting the invasion of Normandy by the English. Profiting by the public opinion of which the "Vaux de Vire" gave evidence, the
Constable de Richemont opposed the English on Norman territory. His long and arduous efforts in 1436 made Normandy once more an autonomous and independant ducal province.
Currently, the independant state is ruled by the
Duke Jean de Clermont-Ferrand, who succeeded Edward II of Normandy in a peaceful coup d'etat supported by Constable de Richemont and several notable noble families of Rouen. The de Clermonts now occupy rulership over most every aspect of Norman life, with the exception of religion, wherein the Cardinal of the Diocese of Gallia, situated in Rouen, commands. The Normans are almost entirely Catholic and are highly intollerant of other religious practices.
Ducal Court of Normandy
