Category:Dukes of Normandy

The Duke of Normandy was the title of the ruler of Normandy from the tenth through thirteenth centuries. Normandy was a vassal state of France de jure, but de facto the Norman dukes wielded tremendous autonomy and usually navigated foreign and domestic policies independent of French interests.

Duke William II conquered England in 1066 and became King of that country. Afterwards, some, but not all, English kings were Dukes at the same time. This ended in 1259, when Henry III of England (who also ruled Normandy as Henry III) renounced Normandy to France by treaty. (In practice, the French had controlled Normandy since 1204.) The ducal title was awarded to several French princes on a number of occasions until 1466, when it was subsumed into the French monarchy. The title was dissolved by the French First Republic in 1792. It remained dissolved in the Bourbon Restoration of 1815 and has been defunct ever since.