Roman Armorica The peninsula formed part of the Roman geographical area of
Armorica. The town known today as
Coutances, capital of the
Unelli, a
Gaulish tribe, acquired the name of
Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor
Constantius Chlorus. The base of the peninsula, called in
Latin the
pagus Constantinus, joined with the
pagus Coriovallensis centred upon Cherbourg to the north, subsequently became known as the Cotentin. Under the
Carolingians it was administered by
viscounts drawn successively from members of the Saint-Sauveur family, at their seat
Saint-Sauveur on the
Douve.
Medieval history King Alan the Great of Brittany (d. 907) waged war successfully on the Norsemen. As a result of his conquests, the Cotentin Peninsula was included theoretically in the territory of the
Kingdom of Brittany, after the
Treaty of Compiègne (867) with the king of the Franks. The kings of Brittany suffered continuing Norse invasions and Norman raids, and Brittany lost the Cotentin Peninsula (and
Avranchin nearby) after only 70 years of political domination. Meanwhile,
Vikings settled on the Cotentin in the ninth and tenth centuries. There are indications of a whaling industry there dating to the ninth century, possibly introduced by Norsemen. They were followed by Anglo-Norse and Anglo-Danish people, who established themselves as farmers. The Cotentin became part of Normandy in the early tenth century. Many placenames there are derived from the
Norse language. Examples include
La Hague, from
hagi ("meadow" or "enclosure"), and
La Hougue, from
haugr ("hill" or "mound"). Other names are typical: all those ending with
-tot (Quettetot..) from
topt "site of a house" (modern
-toft),
-bec (Bricquebec, Houlbec..) from
bekkr "brook", "stream", etc. In 1088
Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, enfeoffed the Cotentin to his brother
Henry, who later became king of England. Henry, as count of the Cotentin, established his first power base there and in the adjoining Avranchin, which lay to the south, beyond the
River Thar. During the
Hundred Years War, King
Edward III of England landed in the bay of La Hougue, and then went to the Church of Quettehou in Val de Saire. It was there that Edward III knighted his son
Edward, the Black Prince. A remembrance plaque can be seen next to the altar.
Modern history assault map of Normandy and northwest coastal France The naval
Battle of La Hogue in 1692 was fought off
Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue near
Barfleur. The town of
Valognes was, until the
French Revolution, a provincial social resort for the aristocracy, nicknamed the
Versailles of Normandy. The social scene was described in the novels of
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly (1808–1889) (himself from the Cotentin). Little now remains of the grand houses and châteaux; they were destroyed by combat there during the
Battle of Normandy in
World War II. The westernmost part of the
D-Day landings was at
Utah Beach, on the southeastern coast of the peninsula, and was followed by a campaign to occupy the peninsula and take Cherbourg. The genetic history of the modern inhabitants of Cotentin Peninsula was studied by the
University of Leicester in 2015–2016 to determine the extent of Scandinavian ancestry in Normandy. The results were inconclusive. ==Economy==