Paths of history

'I dreamed that a tree sprang out of my body and grew up to the sky and all Normandy lay in its shade.'

The poet, Wace, puts these words into the mouth of Arlette, the beautiful daughter of a Falaise tanner, as she recounts the prophetic dream she had after spending her first night with Robert, Duke of Normandy.

The chronicler, Benedict of Saint-Maure adds that the tree cast its shadow, not just over Normandy, but also over'the sea and the vast land of the English...'

Nine months later Arlette bore a son, William, known as the 'Bastard'.

After a difficult minority, the young Duke managed to make Normandy one of the greatest provinces in the kingdom of France. The power he acquired enabled him to fit out a fleet and land it in England, and then to defeat and kill King Harold. Crowned King of England at Christmas 1066, he would go down in history as William the Conqueror.

This glorious epic is reflected in so many military and religious buildings in Normandy. The authors of this work aimed simply to walk in the tracks of William the Conqueror, his ancestors, family and contemporaries (whether friends or foes). Making use of recent research, they have tried to make his troubled life and times accessible and to arouse in the more curious a desire to wander the four corners of the province to discover its past. And so they offer you 22 walks following in William's footsteps.