In the footsteps of King Harold
Caen
Normandy
Located 140 miles from Paris and 9 miles from the sea and situated between the rivers Orne and Odon.
William the Conqueror's ducal stronghold
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Many of Caen's historic buildings and monuments have been carefully restored after the city was virtually flattened in World War II. As a result, much of what is seen today is actually quite new.
William of Normandy was responsible for the birth of Caen when, in about 1050, he ordered that work on a great castle should begin. Some of the ramparts of his ducal château, known as the 'Vieux Palais' (The Old Palace), remain today, together with the chapel and great hall and parts of the keep built later.
The foundation of two abbeys confirmed the new importance that the duke wished to give the town. They were also intended to pacify the pope who had forbidden the marriage between William and his distant cousin Matilda of Flanders.
The Abbaye aux Dames, the convent founded by Matilda, was built between 1060 and 1080. On 18 June 1066, the Romanesque Trinity abbey-church was dedicated. Present were all the leaders of the expedition to invade England, carrying out the last solemn act that, they thought, would place the enterprise under divine protection. Seventeen years later, Matilda was buried in the same church. In 1791, during the Revolution, the nuns were driven out, and the abbey was subsequently turned into a military building. It now houses the regional council of Lower Normandy. The abbey buildings have been thoroughly restored and surrounded with a formal garden; there are free guided visits.
The Abbaye aux Hommes was begun by William in 1064. The buildings – including a beautiful cloister and a Gothic hall, the Salle des Gardes – were rebuilt in the 18th century. In 1790, the monks were driven away, and Napoleon later turned the abbey into an imperial lycée (secondary school). It is now Caen's town hall. There are free visits to the Saint-Etienne abbey-church where William (died 1087) is buried, and guided tours of the entire complex.
The ducal castle and the two abbeys were the kernels around which Caen developed. A palace complex was erected in the castle to receive Duke William and his itinerant court. The political and administrative functions, extended by his successors, sustained the development of the town, which was well located at the crossroads of the duchy and whose port was to benefit from the conquest of England.
Caen et sa région
www.caen.maville.com
Everything you could possibly want to know about modern-day Caen - in French!
History of the Norman World
www.mondes-normands.caen.fr/angleterre/
histoires/historique.htm
Excellent English-language French site, covering all of Norman
history, including William the Conqueror.
