The Duke of Normandy was the title of the ruler of Normandy from the 10th through 13th centuries. Normandy was a vassal state of France de jure, but de facto the Norman dukes (beginning with Rollo in 911) 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. It briefly reconnected with the English monarchy in the mid 17th century when Louis XIV granted it to his cousin James Stuart, who later ascended to the English throne. The title was dissolved by the French First Republic in 1792 and was not revived by any subsequent French government.
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