| Duke of Normandy | |
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| Monarchy | |
Channel Islands |
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| Incumbent: Elizabeth II |
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| Style: | Her Majesty |
| Heir apparent: | Charles, Prince of Wales |
| First monarch: | Rollo |
| Formation: | 911 |
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The Duke of Normandy is the title of the reigning monarch of the British Crown Dependencies of the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. The title traces its roots to the Duchy of Normandy (of which the Channel Islands are remnants). Whether the reigning sovereign is male or female, the title remains "Duke of Normandy". [1]
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The fiefdom of Normandy was created in 911 for the Viking leader Rollo (also known as Rolf).
After participating in many Viking incursions along the Seine, culminating in the siege of Paris in 886, Rollo was finally defeated by King Charles the Simple. With the Treaty of St.-Claire-sur-Epte, Rollo accepted to become a vassal to Charles III of France, converted to Christianity and was baptized with the name Robert. Charles then granted Rollo territories around Rouen, which came to be called Normandy after the Northmen (Latin Normanni).
Rollo and his immediate successors were styled as "counts" of Normandy. Some later medieval sources refer to them by the title dux, the Latin word from which the English word "duke" is derived; however, Rollo's great-grandson Richard II was the first to assuredly be styled "Duke of Normandy".
Although certain titles were used interchangeably during this period, the title of "duke" was typically reserved for the highest rank of feudal nobility — either those who owed homage and fealty directly to kings, or who were independent sovereigns (primarily distinguished from kings by not having dukes as vassals).
William the Conqueror added the Kingdom of England to his realm after the Norman Conquest of 1066. This created a problematic situation wherein William and his descendants were king in England but a vassal to the king in France. Much of the contention which later arose around the title Duke of Normandy (as well as other French ducal titles during the Angevin period) stemmed from this fundamentally irreconcilable situation.
After the death of William the Conqueror, his eldest son, Robert Curthose, became Duke of Normandy while a younger son, William Rufus, became the King of England. After William's death, because he was William II's successor and because he had deposed Robert in 1106, Robert and William's younger brother, Henry I, claimed both titles, Duke of Normandy and King of England, uniting them once again.
In 1204, King Philip II of France confiscated the Duchy of Normandy, held at that time by King John of England, and subsumed it into the crown lands. Only the Channel Islands remained under John's control. In 1259, Henry III of England recognised the legality of French possession of mainland Normandy under the Treaty of Paris.
English monarchs made subsequent attempts to reclaim their former continental possessions, particularly during the Hundred Years' War, and even claimed the throne of France itself.
With the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, Henry V of England temporarily regained all territories formerly held by the Plantagenets, including Normandy, and was made regent and heir of France. His son, Henry VI inherited both kingdoms in 1422 and afterwards English monarchs included King of France among their list of titles. They also included the Royal Arms of France in their own armorial achievements, even after they had lost their French possessions (with the exception of Calais) after 1450.
British claims to the throne of France and other French claims were not formally abandoned until 1801, when George III and Parliament, in the Act of Union, joined the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland and used the opportunity to drop the obsolete claim on France. By that time, the French monarchy itself had been overthrown in 1792 with the establishment of the French Republic. The French revolution also brought an end to the Duchy of Normandy as a political entity, as it was replaced by several départements.
Although the British monarchy relinquished claims to continental Normandy and other French claims in 1801, the Channel Islands (except for Chausey under French sovereignty) remain Crown dependencies of the British Crown to this day. Unlike the Isle of Man, these islands have no specific title pertaining to them. The Loyal Toast in the Channel Islands is La Reine, notre Duc or The Queen, our Duke (or when the monarch is male, The King, our Duke), as the islands were formerly part of the Duchy of Normandy, the rest of which had been renounced in 1259.
According to the British monarchy's official website, "In the Channel Islands The Queen is known as The Duke of Normandy. At official functions, islanders raise the loyal toast to 'The Duke of Normandy, our Queen'." It goes on to say that "In 1106, William's youngest son Henry I seized the Duchy of Normandy from his brother Robert; since that time, the English Sovereign has always held the title Duke of Normandy... While the islands today retain autonomy in government, they owe allegiance to The Queen in her role as Duke of Normandy."
In 1204, the King of France confiscated the Duchy of Normandy (with only the Channel Islands remaining under English control) and subsumed it into the crown lands of France. Thereafter, the ducal title was held by several French princes.
In 1332, King Philip VI gave the Duchy in appanage to his son John, who became king as John II in 1350. He in turn gave the Duchy in appanage to his son Charles, who became king as Charles V in 1364. In 1465, Louis XI gave the Duchy to his brother Charles de Valois, Duke of Berry; when he died in 1466, the Duchy was again subsumed into the crown lands and remained a permanent part of it.
On 31 December 1660, a few months after the restoration of Charles II to the thrones of England and Scotland, King Louis XIV created Charles' younger brother James, Duke of York, "Duke of Normandy". This was probably done as a political gesture of support for James - since his brother also would have claimed the title "Duke of Normandy".
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