Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/776

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NORMANDY
749

another novel, Yes and No. Succeeding his father as earl of Mulgrave in 1831, he was sent out as governor of Jamaica, and was afterwards appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1835–1839). He was created marquess of Normandy in 1838, and held successively the offices of colonial secretary and home secretary in the last years of Lord Melbourne’s ministry. From 1846 to 1852 he was ambassador at Paris, and from 1854 to 1858 minister at Florence. The publication in 1857 of a journal kept in Paris during the stormy times of 1848 (A Year of Revolution), brought him into violent controversy with Louis Blanc, and he came into conflict with Lord Palmerston and Mr Gladstone, after his retirement from the public service, on questions of French and Italian policy. He died in London on the 28th of July 1863. He had married in 1818 the daughter of Lord Ravensworth, and was succeeded as 2nd marquess by his son George (1819–1890), a liberal politician, who became governor of Queensland (1871–1874), New Zealand (1874–1879), and Victoria (1879–1884).


NORMANDY, a province of old France, bounded on the N.E. by the river Bresle, which falls into the Channel at Treport and separates Normandy from Picardy, and then roughly by the Epte, which divides the Vexin into two parts. From the confluence of the Epte and Seine to Ivry, the boundary between Normandy and the Ile-de-France is artificial; it is afterwards practically determined by the course of the Eure and the Sarthe. But from there to the sea Normandy is separated by no natural boundary either from Maine or afterwards from Brittany; it lies fairly regularly in the direction from E. to W. The boundary between the coast of Normandy and that of Brittany is formed by the mouth of the Couesnon. Normandy is washed by the English Channel and lies opposite to England. The northern part of the coast consists of cliffs, which cease at the mouth of the Seine, the estuary of which is 12 km. wide from Havre to Trouville; the coast of Calvados consists of rocks and beaches; that of the peninsula of Cotentin is sandy on the eastern side and granite on the west; in the north it forms between the point of Barfleur and the cape of La Hague a kind of concave arc in which lies the harbour of Cherbourg.

Historical Geography.—In the time of Caesar the country which has since gone to form Normandy was inhabited by several tribes of the Gauls, the Caleti, who lived in the district of Caux, the Veliocassi, in the Vexin, the Lexovii, in the Lieuvin, the Unelli in Cotentin; these are the only ones whose names have been preserved for us by Caesar. At the beginning of the 5th century, when the Notitia provinciarum was drawn up, Normandy corresponded to the Provincia Lugdunensis Secunda, the chief town of which was Rouen (Civitas Rotomagensium); it included seven civitates with that of Rouen: those of Bayeux (C. Bajocassium), Lisieux (C. Lexoviorum), Coutances (C. Constantia), Avranches (C. Abrincatum), Séez (C. Sagiorum) and Evreux (C. Ebroicorum). For ecclesiastical purposes it formed the ecclesiastical province of Rouen, with six suffragan sees. For civil purposes, the province was divided into a number of pagi: the civitas of Rouen formed the pagus Rotomagensis (Roumois), the p. Caletus (pays de Caux), the p. Vilcassinus (Vexin), the p. Tellaus (Talou); that of Bayeux the pagus Bajocassinus (Bessin), and the Otlinga Saxonia; that of Lisieux the pagus Lexovinus (Lieuvin); that of Coutances the p. Corilensis and p. Constantinus (Cotentin); that of Avranches the p. Abrincatinus (Avranchin); that of Séez the p. Oximensis (Hiémois), the p. Sagensis and p. Corbonensis (Corbonnais); and that of Evreux the p. Ebroicinus (Evrecin) and p. Madriacensis (pays de Madrie). It is to the settlement of the Normans in the country that Normandy owes its name; from the 10th century onwards it formed a duchy, roughly coextensive with the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. Under the feudal regime, the energy of the Norman dukes prevented the formation of many powerful lordships, and there are few worthy of note, save the countships of Eu, Harcourt, Le Perche and Mortain.

The duchy of Normandy, which was confiscated in 1204 by King Philip Augustus of France, formed in the 16th century the gouvernement of Normandy; the extent of this gouvernement did not, as a matter of fact, correspond exactly to that of the duchy, for Le Perche, which had been part of the duchy, was annexed to the gouvernement of Maine, while the Thimerais, which had belonged to the countship of Blois, was joined to the gouvernement of Normandy. In the 17th century this gouvernement was divided into three généralités or intendances: those of Rouen, Caen and Alençon. For judicial purposes Normandy was under the jurisdiction of the parlement of Rouen, created in 1499. Since 1791 the territory of the old duchy has composed, roughly speaking, the departments of Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Calvados, Manche and Orne.

History.—The prosperity of Normandy in Roman times is proved by the number and importance of the towns which existed there at that time. The most important was Lillebonne (Juliobona), chief town of the Caletes, the Roman antiquities of which are famous. The evangelization of Normandy did not take place before the 3rd century: the first bishop of Rouen, about 260, seems to have been St Mallonus; it is possible, however, that before this date there were a few Christian communities in Normandy, as seems to be proved by the existence of St Nicasius, who was martyred in the Vexin.

The province of Lugdunensis Secunda, which at the end of the 5th century formed part of the kingdom of Syagrius, was conquered by Clovis before 506, and during the Merovingian times followed the fortunes of Neustria. In the 9th century this country was ravaged by the Northmen, who were constantly going up and down the Seine, and later on it was formally ceded to them. During these incursions Rouen was occupied several times, notably in 876 and 885.

The definitive establishment of the Normans, to whom the country owes its name, took place in 911, when by the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, concluded between King Charles the Simple of France and Rolf or Rollo, chief of the Normans, the territory comprising the town of Rouen and a few pagi situated on the sea-coast was ceded to the latter; but the terms of the treaty are ill-defined, and it is consequently almost impossible to find out the exact extent of this territory or to know whether Brittany was at this time made a feudal dependency of Normandy. But the chronicler Dudo of Saint-Quentin’s statement that Rollo married Gisela, daughter of Charles the Simple, must be considered to be legendary. In 924 Rollo received from the king of France Bessin and Maine. Although baptized, he seems to have preserved certain pagan customs. The history of Normandy under Rollo and his immediate successors is very obscure, for the legendary work of Dudo of Saint-Quentin is practically our only authority.

Rollo died in 927, and was succeeded by his son William “Long Sword,” born of his union more danico with Poppa, daughter of count Bérenger; he showed some attachment to the Scandinavian language, for he sent his son William to Bayeux to learn Norse. The first two dukes also displayed a certain fidelity to the Carolingian dynasty of France, and in 936 William “Long-Sword” did homage to Louis IV. d’Outremer. He died on the 17th of December 942, assassinated by the count of Flanders.

During the minority of his successor, Duke Richard, King Louis IV., who was making an expedition into Normandy, was captured by the inhabitants of Rouen and handed over to Hugh the Great. From this time onwards the dukes of Normandy began to enter into relations with the dukes of France; and in 958 Duke Richard married Hugh the Great’s daughter. He died in 996. At the beginning of the reign of his son, Richard II. (996–1026), there was a rising of the peasants, who formed assemblies with a view to establishing fresh laws for the management of the forests. This attempt at insurrection, described by William of Jumièges, and treated by many historians, on the authority of the poet Wace, as a sort of democratic movement, was put down with a firm hand. Richard III. reigned from 1026–1027; he seems to have been poisoned by his brother, Robert the Magnificent, or the Devil (1027–1035), who succeeded him. In 1031 Robert supported King Henry I. of France against his brother Robert, who was laying claim to the throne, and in return for his services received the French Vexin. The duke died on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, leaving as his heir an illegitimate son, William, born of his union with the daughter of a tanner of Falaise.

William was very young when his father started for the Holy Land, leaving him under the protection of the king of France. In 1047 Henry I. had to defend the young duke against an army of rebellious nobles, whom he succeeded in beating at Val-ès-dunes. In the following year the king of France was in his turn supported by the duke of Normandy in his struggle against Geoffrey Martel, count of Anjou; the two allies besieged