1419 - The French city of Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England during the Hundred Years' War
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| Rouen as seen from the air. |
Rouen was the capital city of the Duchy of Normandy and the home of its dukes, including William the Conqueror until he moved his residence to Caen. By the reign of Henry II of England in 1154, it was one of the principal cities within the Angevin Empire, the collection of states and provinces ruled by Plantagenet's, who were originally the Count's of Anjou - hence the name "Angevin". The result was that the kings of England were also vassals of the kings of France, but the vastness of the Empire threatened to undermine the authority of French kings. In 1204, Philip Augustus of France marched into Rouen and took over Normandy as part of a personal campaign to break up the Angevin Empire.
Henry V's taking of Rouen more than 200 years later competed his reconquest of Normandy in the name of his ancestors, and was part of his bid restore that Empire and eventually claim dominion over all of France.
Photo Credit: Muffin76 via Wikimedia Commons cc
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