2023 Caen, Paris France

Our train back to Paris leaves mid-afternoon so we spent the morning visiting the Men’s Abbey and Church built by William the Conqueror.

William the Conqueror holds a little nostalgia for me. We studied English history in school and William played a large part. 1066 was the last time England has been conquered. The Norman conquest and the Battle of Hastings, according to some historians, was the single most radical change in European history between the Fall of Rome and the 20th century. 

William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087.

In the 1050s and early 1060s, William became a contender for the throne of England held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other potential claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson, whom Edward named as king on his deathbed in January 1066. Arguing that Edward had previously promised the throne to him and that Harold had sworn to support his claim, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

As part of his efforts to secure England, William ordered many castles, keeps, and mottes built – among them the central keep of the Tower of London, the White Tower. 

At Christmas 1085, William ordered the compilation of a survey of the landholdings held by himself and by his vassals throughout his kingdom, organised by counties. It resulted in a work now known as the Domesday Book. 

The impact on England of William’s conquest was profound; changes in the Church, aristocracy, culture, and language of the country have persisted into modern times. The Conquest brought the kingdom into closer contact with France and forged ties between France and England that lasted throughout the Middle Ages.

We arrived back in Paris late afternoon in time to take one last walk down to the Seine and have a delightful meal in a small restaurant near the river. Paris is in full preparation for the Olympics in 2024. Many buildings getting a full clean up. How beautiful they are when all the grime and dirt of the modern age are removed!

We head home tomorrow. It was a great, but short, trip.