History of Normandy – Renaissance & The Ancien Régime
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First published: December 2025
As the medieval dust settles and the dukes exit stage left, Normandy steps into a new era — not cautiously, not meekly, but with that classic Manche energy: stubborn optimism, practical brilliance, and full-on cultural glow-ups powered by Calva. 🍏🔥
The duchy may have dissolved, but La Manche didn’t suddenly become French in heart or habit. People still farmed the bocage, still watched tides as if reading tea leaves, still distrusted anyone who arrived clutching paperwork. Yet something was shifting. The world was changing. And Normandy — especially our corner — was about to reshape itself in ways that would echo straight into the modern age.
So welcome to the centuries after the dukes: the Renaissance, the Ancien Régime, the early rumblings of revolution. It’s a story of rebuilding, reinvention, exploration, resistance, and a frankly impressive amount of apple-based problem solving.
1204: Normandy Becomes “French” (Officially) — But Manche Remains Manche
When Normandy fell to the French crown in 1204 (thanks, King John, for nothing), La Manche didn’t immediately burst into patriotic choruses of La Marseillaise. Mainly because it wouldn’t be written for another 500 years, but also because Manche identity is granite-solid. People carried on speaking Norman dialects, trading locally, running parishes their own way, and regarding Paris with the affectionate suspicion normally reserved for wolves circling a sheepfold.
But the shift set the stage for centuries of tension — centralisation from Paris versus local autonomy in La Manche. This tug-of-war shaped everything that followed.
After the Hundred Years’ War: A Region Held Together by Sea Spray and Stubbornness
The end of the Hundred Years’ War left much of Normandy battered, and La Manche in particular looked like it had hosted a medieval version of Eurovision without any of the singing but all of the chaos. But Manche people are made of sea spray and granite, and fueled by apple-based liquor. The rebuilding began immediately:
- Villages were repaired with whatever stone and timber could be gathered.
- Fishing fleets relaunched within months — because hungry families don’t wait for ideal conditions.
- Coutances Cathedral rose again, determined to outshine anything the war had thrown at it.
- Granville reinforced its high cliffs, a clear message to England: “Don’t even try it.”
This recovery wasn’t dramatic, but it was relentless — the best kind of Manche resilience.
The Renaissance Reaches Normandy: Quietly, Sensibly, and With a Lot of Stonework
The Renaissance didn’t burst into Normandy in a blaze of naked sculptures and radical philosophy. It arrived in the way things often do in La Manche: gradually, through trade, clergy, architecture, and the occasional returning sailor with stories from faraway lands.
⛪ Gothic Meets Renaissance: Parish Churches Get a Glow-Up
As communities rebuilt after the war, architecture became the region’s artistic language. Manche churches transformed:
- Pointed Gothic arches replaced older, heavier Romanesque forms.
- Renaissance doorways and carvings appeared even in small rural parishes.
- Bell towers became more elegant, sometimes octagonal — a quiet flex among neighbouring villages.
- Stained glass returned with brighter pigments and intricate storytelling.
⛪ Coutances Cathedral: The Jewel With a Second Life
The great cathedral, once rattled by war, underwent refinement that still dazzles visitors today. Its twin towers gained delicate lanterns, its interior saw sculptural renewal, and its soaring stonework became a symbol of Manche revival.
🪨 Granite Craftsmanship Levels Up
The Cotentin is granite country, and the 15th–16th centuries marked a boom in skilled masonry. Local artisans perfected finely dressed ashlar, decorative niches, calvaries, and durable civic buildings.
⛰️ Cotentin Quarries: Supplying Half of Normandy (Including Our Own Buildings!)
The quarries around Montmartin-sur-Mer, Trelly, and the Coutances basin became regional powerhouses. Granite and Cotentin grey stone were shipped across Normandy for churches, bridges, townhouses, and fortifications. If you see beautiful grey stone anywhere in western Normandy, chances are it was born in the Cotentin — including the main house on our own property, La Ruche, and all the barns (yes, even the one that now houses the Ursula gîte). They may not be pure granite, but they are unmistakably Cotentin stone through and through. 🏡🪨
Manche Takes to the Atlantic: Cod, Courage & Carnival
With peace restored, Manche sailors didn’t just return to local fishing — they set off across the Atlantic. This is when they joined the famous French cod expeditions to Newfoundland, voyages that demanded grit, knowledge of harsh seas, and an ability to fix a sail with one hand while eating yesterday’s bread with the other.
Salted cod became a global commodity, and Manche entered Europe’s expanding Atlantic economy. This maritime identity lives on today through one of Normandy’s greatest traditions: the UNESCO-recognised Granville Carnival, originally created to celebrate and send off fishermen before their long voyages.
Read the full story of the Granville Carnival here
The Reformation & Wars of Religion: Normandy Balances on a Tightrope
France tore itself apart in the 16th-century religious wars — but La Manche, ever practical, managed to avoid the worst. Still, the tension was real:
- Coastal towns traded with Protestant merchants, bringing new ideas with their goods.
- Local lords discreetly shifted allegiance when it suited survival (a Norman speciality).
- Catholic processions grew increasingly elaborate as declarations of unity and tradition.
- Monasteries strengthened alliances with larger abbeys and bishops for protection.
Manche wasn’t untouched — but compared to Rouen or Caen, we got off lightly. Geography helps. So does Manche stubbornness.
The Early Ancien Régime: Paris Sends Administrators (Manche Groans Softly)
The early Ancien Régime brought new royal administrators — with clipboards, rules, expectations, and absolutely no understanding that Manche farmers were not interested in Parisian micromanagement. (Not a lot has changed even to this day 😉)
🍏 Cider: Normandy’s Liquid Backbone
By the 1600s, cider wasn’t just a beverage — it was a lifestyle. Orchards expanded, presses multiplied, and cider taxes became a constant source of local fury. Manche communities could tolerate many things. Taxing their apples was not one of them.
⚓ Granville’s Golden Age of Shipbuilding
Granville’s shipyards thrived. Among its notable vessels:
- La Valeureuse — famed for daring escapes and quick manoeuvres.
- L’Aimable Grenot — one of the most profitable corsair vessels of its era.
- Le Hasard — ironically named, as its captains preferred skill over luck.
Manche sailors pushed farther than ever, and Granville’s confidence soared with each successful voyage.
🌾 Rural Stability… But Fragile
For the first time in centuries, La Manche enjoyed long stretches of peace — but they were delicate. Why?
- Harvests could plunge villages into crisis after just one bad season.
- Wars with England could instantly halt maritime trade.
- Royal taxation fluctuated wildly and unpredictably.
- Climate variations during the Little Ice Age reduced yields and chilled tempers.
A peaceful year was a blessing. A string of them felt like a miracle.
Louis XIV’s Normandy: Uniformity, Fortifications & Eye-Watering Taxes
Then came the Sun King — and with him, France’s biggest push for centralisation.
- New roads connected Manche more efficiently to Caen and Paris, speeding travel and trade.
- Granville’s fortifications expanded dramatically, transforming the town into a formidable coastal stronghold.
- Legal standardisation aimed to replace local customs with uniform national codes.
- New taxes appeared with the enthusiasm of Normandy rain: salt tax, hearth tax, window tax, cider tax… you name it.
🧡 Manche Independence Hits Its Stride
Paris issued rules. Manche communities assessed them, shrugged, and adapted them in ways that suited common sense. This era is where Norman stereotypes about independence really solidify — one of the many reasons why I love these people ❤️.
- They embraced better roads, stronger ports, safer travel and improved justice.
- They ignored impractical farming decrees, excessive taxes, and anything that looked like it was invented by someone who had never tried to get a cow through a narrow lane.
The 18th Century: Prosperity With a Side of Discontent
Normandy grew wealthier as trade flourished — but inequality widened. Grain shortages hit, food prices spiked, and tempers flared.
In La Manche, unrest surfaced through:
- bread riots in market towns,
- petitions against taxes filed by parish communities,
- angry confrontations between villagers and collectors of the gabelle (the salt tax),
- secret smuggling networks helping families avoid ruinous levies.
The pressure was building — the old order was wobbling.
Granville the Corsair Port: Manche’s Licensed Pirates
Granville entered a prosperous corsair era, capturing enemy ships and bringing home prizes that electrified the local economy.
Common captures included:
- British merchant ships heavy with tea, spices, fabrics and silverware.
- Cargo vessels from the Americas laden with sugar, tobacco or rum.
- Luxury items such as fine porcelain, clocks, jewellery and embroidered silks.
- Entire enemy vessels auctioned off in Granville’s port to fund further ventures.
The wealth these prizes brought is still visible today in elements of Granville’s upper town architecture and civic buildings.
Rural Traditions Flourish — Many Still Alive Today
While corsairs ruled the sea, rural Manche deepened its cultural traditions:
- Saint’s day festivals with markets, feasts and music.
- Village theatre performed in front of churches (often hilariously cheeky).
- Seasonal fairs celebrating apples, livestock and local crafts.
- Traditional dances that survive in Manche folk groups today.
- Saint-Jean bonfires still lit in parts of the region each June.
These practices anchored community identity through centuries of change.
By the eve of the French Revolution, Normandy was prosperous, frustrated and poised for transformation. And once again, La Manche would find itself adapting — stubbornly, brilliantly — to a changing world.