Visiting the Tomb of William the Conqueror in Caen (France) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Caen, France is a favorite destination of American and British tourists alike but for different reasons.
The Americans come to the area to see the Normandy beaches,
especially the new museum dedicated to D-Day at Utah Beach. My husband Laurent and I visited the Utah
Beach Museum on a Memorial Day weekend and also rendered homage to my English
ancestors by visiting William the Conqueror’s (1028 – 1087) tomb at Abbaye aux
Hommes in Caen.
William the Conqueror was the son of Robert I, Duke of
Normandy. William and his army invaded
England in 1066. William won the English
throne by winning the Battle of Hastings.
William the Conqueror’s rule brought about profound changes
to English culture. William’s supporters
became the new ruling class of England.
French was the language of the ruling classes, the courts, government,
and high culture. The French language
has retained its lofty stature in English society; the Queen of England speaks
French fluently.
William the Conqueror also commissioned the Domesday Book in 1086, which was a
survey of landholders in England. The Domesday Book is now available
online. It has a search function, which
allows you to type in your family name to see if your family was recorded at
this time. I typed in my maiden name,
Pennington, and found several listings for landholders, an endowed church, and
a town named Pennington. That was nifty!
A trip to Caen is nifty, too. William the Conqueror’s wife Mathilda of
Flanders (1031 – 1083) is buried about one mile away from the Abbaye aux Hommes
in the Abbaye aux Dames. There are many
restaurants in Caen for all pocketbooks, which makes all the walking seem
shorter.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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| Photo by Laurent Paget |
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| Photo by Laurent Paget |
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| Photo by Laurent Paget |
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| Ruth Paget Selfie |
