Ok, not quite yet, that phrase will be applicable in a few hours but that was the title of one of the podcast French lessons I listened to this week and I briefly thought about trying to write a short entry in French. I realized the next two weeks will be full of bumbling French so perhaps I should stick to English and preserve the illusion that the "Coffee break French" podcast lessons have all stuck in my brain.
Once the trip starts, there will be a lot of century jumping (a la Dr Who) so I thought I would start with a chronological list of the key dates and centuries that will be visited over the next two weeks:
911: Normandy becomes Normandy-
The French King turns over northern France to the Viking leaders with the name of Rollo (like the candy) and Normandy named for the Norse men who now hold it starts it's history.
1066 - The Norman Invasion:
One of the dates ingrained in our minds during our school days is 1066, the year William the Conqueror invaded England. That pretty much starts the British history timeline we are taught. I remember knowing that fact far before I realized that William the Conqueror was William, Duke of Normandy and that this was essentially a French invasion of England. We are also taught this was a good thing - as I guess it needs to be a good thing since every bit of British history that comes later is predicated on the event. A few years back I read more about Harold Godwinson the defeated king and realized the history was much more complex that we are taught at school. I am looking forward to visiting William's base of operations and seeing the Bayeux tapestry with a more critical eye.
1198 - Richard The Lionheart's Reconquest of Normandy
Again as learned in history class, the kingdoms of England and Normandy were linked together in the decades after 1066. While technically the Dukes of Normandy owed homage to the French Kings for the dukedom, in actual fact, English history is filled with both men and women who were much better leaders than what France was producing during this time. Henry II and Richard the Lionhearted are the most well known of these leaders. Richard the Lionhearted went on Crusade in 1190 and was captured by the Germans upon his return. During this time, his brother John lost Normandy to the French King. By 1198 Richard has defeated both men and built Castle Gailliard to protect Normandy from the south. Richard had the castle completed in just one year - unheard of at a time when most castles took a decade to build and famously said that he could hold the ground if the walls "were made of butter."
1431 - The Death of Joan of Arc
Most of us don't really know this date - it's someplace in the middle of all the years of the Hundred Years War which I remember from school as the English and the French fighting for 100 years - someplace in the middle of that was Joan of Arc and Agincourt. Most of the French fighting took place further south in France but Joan was tried and burned in Rouen. I also remember that the French won this one.
1944 - D Day
Normandy doesn't have a big role in history again until WWII where as everyone knows it is the landing site of the Allied invasion to free Europe occupied by the Nazis.
Wonder how many more dates I will be able to add to this over the next few weeks.
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