Normandy

(Fr. Norman die ). Formerly a province in the north of France, bordering on the English Channel; now divided into the departments of Seine-Inférieure, Eure, Orne, Calvados, and Manche. In the time of the Romans, the country bore the name of Gallia Lugdunensis II. Under the Frankish monarchs it formed a part of Neustria. From the beginning of the 9th century it was continually devastated by the Scand in avians, termed North men, or Normans, from whose irruptions Charles the Simple of France purchased immunity by ceding the duchy to their leader, Rollo, 905. Rollo, the first duke, and several of his succe ors held it as a fief of the crown of France, until William, the seventh duke, acquired England in 1066; it was reunited to France in 1204; was reconquered by Henry V. 1418, and held by England partially till 1450.