29 Facts About Normandy

The inhabitants of Normandy are known as Normans, and the region is the historic homeland of the Norman language.

The Channel Islands are historically part of Normandy; they cover 194 square kilometres and comprise two bailiwicks: Guernsey and Jersey, which are British Crown Dependencies.

Normandy's name comes from the settlement of the territory by Vikings starting in the 9th century, and confirmed by treaty in the 10th century between King Charles III of France and the Viking jarl Rollo.

The fiefdom of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Hrolfr, known in Medieval Latin as Rollo.

In 1204, during the reign of John of England, mainland Normandy was taken from the English kingdom by the King of France Philip II, that ended with this conquest some 293 years of relative Norman independence from the French crown.

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Insular Normandy remained under control of the king of England and still attached to the ecclesiastical province of Rouen.

French Normandy was devastated by the civil wars and conflicts against the English power during the Hundred Years' War.

Colonists from Normandy were among the most active in New France, comprising Acadia, Canada, and Louisiana.

Caen, Cherbourg, Carentan, Falaise and other Norman towns endured many casualties in the Battle of Normandy, which continued until the closing of the so-called Falaise gap between Chambois and Mont Ormel.

Remainder of Normandy was liberated only on 9 May 1945 at the end of the war, when the Channel Island occupation effectively ended.

Normandy'storical Duchy of Normandy was a formerly independent duchy occupying the lower Seine area, the Pays de Caux and the region to the west through the Pays d'Auge as far as the Cotentin Peninsula and Channel Islands.

Western Normandy belongs to the Armorican Massif, while most of the region lies in the Paris Basin.

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 .

Normandy is a significant cider-producing region, and produces calvados, a distilled cider or apple brandy.

French is the only official language in continental Normandy and English is an official language in the Channel Islands.

Domestic architecture in upper Normandy is typified by half-timbered buildings that recall vernacular English architecture, although the farm enclosures of the more harshly landscaped Pays de Caux are a more idiosyncratic response to socio-economic and climatic imperatives.

Vernacular architecture in lower Normandy takes its form from granite, the predominant local building material.

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

Normandy is the chief oyster-cultivating, scallop-exporting, and mussel-raising region in France.

Normandy dishes include duckling a la rouennaise, sauteed chicken yvetois, and goose en daube.

Normandy turns out douillons, craquelins, roulettes in Rouen, fouaces in Caen, fallues in Lisieux, sables in Lisieux.

Normandy is the native land of Taillevent, cook of the kings of France Charles V and Charles VI.

Normandy wrote the earliest French cookery book named Le Viandier.

Dukes of Normandy commissioned and inspired epic literature to record and legitimise their rule.

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Normandy has a rich tradition of painting and gave to France some of its most important artists.

Normandy was at the heart of his creation, from the paintings of Rouen's cathedral to the famous depictions of the cliffs at Etretat, the beach and port at Fecamp and the sunrise at Le Havre.

The Duchy of Normandy was therefore formally a Christian state from its foundation.

The cathedrals of Normandy have exerted influence down the centuries in matters of both faith and politics.