History
- Regions relating to Lower Normandy: Gallia Lugdunensis, Neustria, and Normandy.
The traditional province of Normandy, with an integral history reaching back to the 10th century, was divided in 1957 into two regions: Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy.
During the Roman era, the region was divided into several different city-states. That of Vieux was excavated in the 17th century, revealing numerous structures and vestiges bearing testimony to the prosperity of the Caen region.
The region was conquered by the Franks in the 5th century.
In the 9th century, the Norman conquests devastated the region. Much of the territory of Lower Normandy was added to the Duchy of Normandy in the 10th century.
In 1066, Duke William I of Normandy conquered England. He was buried in Caen. After his death, Normandy went to his eldest son and England went to his second son, separating the two possessions.
The victory of Tinchebray in 1106 gave Normandy to the kings of England again. Nearly one hundred years later, in 1204, King Philip II Augustus of France conquered the region, apart from the Channel Islands. Then, during the Hundred Years' War, it was regained by the Plantagenets. However, the French recovered the mainland part of the region between 1436 and 1450. By 1453, the French monarchy controlled much of modern France apart from Calais, which remained in English hands.
During the Second World War, the main thrust of Operation Overlord was focussed on Lower Normandy. The beaches of Calvados were the site of the D-Day landings in June 1944. Lower Normandy suffered badly during the War, with many of its towns and villages being destroyed or badly damaged during the Battle of Normandy.
Read more about this topic: Lower Normandy
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We know only a single science, the science of history. One can look at history from two sides and divide it into the history of nature and the history of men. However, the two sides are not to be divided off; as long as men exist the history of nature and the history of men are mutually conditioned.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The greatest honor history can bestow is that of peacemaker.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)
“We are told that men protect us; that they are generous, even chivalric in their protection. Gentlemen, if your protectors were women, and they took all your property and your children, and paid you half as much for your work, though as well or better done than your own, would you think much of the chivalry which permitted you to sit in street-cars and picked up your pocket- handkerchief?”
—Mary B. Clay, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 3, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)