Everything about Yvetot totally explained
Yvetot is a
commune in the
Seine-Maritime département in the
Haute-Normandie region of
France.
History
The name is of Scandinavian origin (
Ivetofta). The town is most likely of Scandinavian origin too. Yvetot comes from the
Frankish man’s name "Ivo", root of the modern French names Yves and Yvon, which are very common in Normandy, being adopted by the Scandinavian converts to Christianity, and "topt" (modern toft), 'farm' in Danish, found in many place-names throughout Normandy . This 'Ivo' may have received this territory as a
jarl of
Rollo or his successors. These lords were often given the title
king and benefited from all of the privileges of sovereignty up until 1551. One of the most popular songs of the 19th century, 'Le Roi d'Yvetot', written by the famous
Béranger, helped propagate the legend of an independent state within the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of France. However, it's established that, with no other allegiances since 1203, Yvetot remained a
principality up until 1789, a time at which the title was held by the (now-extinct) d'Albon family.
The town’s prosperity was linked to strong commerce, developed as early as the 17th century, thanks to its fiscal statutes and to
cotton spinning, which saw massive expansion after
1794. In the 19th century, the town developed fabric production.
Until
1926, Yvetot had been
chef-lieu of the old
arrondissement of Yvetot, and a sub_prefecture. During this period of reorganisation, it lost its status of sub-prefecture.
In
World War II, Yvetot was practically razed in
1940 by the Germans. Later, the 75th Division of the U.S. Army, 575th Signal Co., maintained its command post in the town from December 14-20,
1944, as it counterattacked against the German army.
After the war, Yvetot was rebuilt in a classical style and regained its importance in the middle of the 20th century.
Population
The Round Church and its stained-glass window
The stained-glass window, considered the largest in Europe with 1046 m²), was constructed in the
1950s by
Max Ingrand and is a jigsaw that explodes in crimson, gold and blue. Meticulous assembly of a thousand pieces of glass that portray saints, with a wide section consecrated to the
Normans of the diocese of
Rouen. Either side of
Christ are St. Peter (patron saint of Yvetot for a thousand years) and the apostles, including St. Valery (apostle of Calluses and Vimeux in the 7th century), St. Saëns (an Irish monk and founder of an abbey in the valley of the Varenne), St. Ouen (who introduced monasteries to Rouen) and St Wandrille. There are also bishops of Rouen. Among them: St. Roman (in the process of strangling the gargoyle that devastated Rouen), St Rémy and St Hugues. Others represented in the stained-glass include the Virgin Mary and
Joan of Arc shining in her armour.
Anecdotes
Yvetot’s entry in the
Dictionnaire des idées reçues by
Gustave Flaubert, reads: "YVETOT: Voir Yvetot et mourir ! (See Yvetot and die) (cf.
Naples and
Seville)".
It is in Yvetot that novelist
Guy de Maupassant received his primary education; the town itself and its surrounding area, le
Pays de Caux feature extensively in his oeuvre.
Twin town
Further Information
Get more info on 'Yvetot'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://yvetot.totallyexplained.com">Yvetot Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
