Bayeux is located 7 kilometres (4 miles) from the coast of the English Channel and 30 km (19 mi) north-west ofCaen. The city, with elevations varying from 32 to 67 metres (105 to 220 feet)above sea level – with an average of 46 metres (151 feet) – is bisected by theRiver Aure. Bayeux is located at the crossroads ofRN 13 and the train route Paris-Caen-Cherbourg. The city is the capital of theBessin, which extends north-west ofCalvados.Bayeux station has rail connections to Caen, Cherbourg, Granville and Paris.
The riverAure flows through Bayeux, offering panoramic views from a number of locations. The Aure has a relatively high level ofturbidity and the speed of its brownish water is moderate because of the slight slope of the watercourse, although where it is narrow in places like the centre of Bayeux, higher surface speeds are generated. In the centre of Bayeux near the Bayeux Tapestry Museum,pH levels were measured at 8.35 and the electrical conductivity of water was tested at 37 microsiemens per centimetre. Turbidity was measured at 13 centimetres by theSecchi disk method. At this point of reference, flows are generally of the order of 50 cubic feet per second (1.4 m3/s).[citation needed]
TheBajocian Age in theJurassic Period of geological time takes its name from the Latinised name of the inhabitants of Bayeux (the Bajocassi).[citation needed]
The city was known asAugustodurum in theRoman Empire. It means thedurum (Celtic wordduro- 'door', 'gate', Welshdor, Bretondor 'door', 'gate') dedicated toAugustus, Roman Emperor. The Celtic wordduron, Latinised asdurum, was probably used to translate the Latin wordforum (CompareFréjusForum Julii, dedicated to Julius (Caesar)).[3]
In the Late Empire it took the name of the Celtic tribe who lived here: theBodiocassi, Latinized inBajocassi,Bajocasses, and this word explains the place-names Bayeux andBessin.Bodiocassi has been compared with Old IrishBuidechass 'with blond locks'.[4]
Founded as a Gallo-Roman settlement in the 1st century BC under the name Augustodurum, Bayeux is the capital of the former territory of theBaiocasses people of Gaul, whose name appears inPliny'sNatural History (iv.107). Evidence of earlier human occupation of the territory comes from fortified Celtic camps, but there is no evidence of any major pre-existing Celtic town before the organization of Gaul in Romancivitates. Any settlement was more likely confined to scattered Druid huts along the banks of the Aure and Drome rivers or on Mount Phaunus where they worshipped. Cemeteries have been found on the nearby Mount Phaunus indicating the area as a Druid centre. Titus Sabinus, a lieutenant ofJulius Caesar, subjected the Bessin region to Roman domination. The 5th-centuryNotitia provinciarum et civitatum Galliae mentionsSuevi that had been officially settled here (laeti).[5]
The town is mentioned byPtolemy, writing in the reign of Antoninus Pius, under the nameNoemagus Biducassium (for*Noviomagus Badiocassium 'New market of the Badiocassi') and remained so until the time of the Roman Empire. The main street was already the heart of the city. Two baths, under the Church of St. Lawrence and the post office in rue Laitière, and a sculpted head of the goddess Minerva have been found, attesting to the adoption of Roman culture. In 1990 a closer examination of huge blocks discovered in the cathedral in the 19th century indicated the presence of an old Roman building. Bayeux was built on a crossroads betweenLisieux andValognes, developing first on the west bank of the river. By the end of the 3rd century a walled enclosure surrounded the city and remained until it was removed in the 18th century. Its layout is still visible and can be followed today. The citadel of the city was located in the southwest corner, and the cathedral in the southeast. An important city in Normandy, Bayeux was part of the coastal defence of the Roman Empire against the pirates of the region, and a Roman legion was stationed there.
The city was largely destroyed during theViking raids of the late 9th century but was rebuilt in the early 10th century under the reign of Bothon. In the middle of the 10th century Bayeux was controlled byHagrold, a pagan Viking who defended the city against the Franks. The 12th-century poetBenoît de Saint-Maure, in his verse history of the dukes of Normandy, remarked on the "Danish" commonly spoken at Bayeux in the 10th century.[6]
The 11th century saw the creation of five villages beyond the walls to the northeast, evidence of its growth duringDucal Normandy.William the Conqueror's half brotherOdo of Bayeux completed the cathedral in the city and it was dedicated in 1077. However the city began to lose prominence when William placed his capital atCaen. When KingHenry I of England defeated his brotherRobert Curthose for the rule of Normandy, the city was burned to set an example to the rest of the duchy. UnderRichard the Lionheart, Bayeux was wealthy enough to purchase amunicipal charter. From the end of Richard's reign to the end of theHundred Years' War, Bayeux was repeatedly pillaged untilHenry V of England captured the city in 1417. After theBattle of Formigny,Charles VII of France recaptured the city and granted a general amnesty to its populace in 1450. The capture of Bayeux heralded a return to prosperity as new families replaced those decimated by war, and they built some 60 mansions scattered throughout the city, with stone supplanting wood.
The area around Bayeux is called the Bessin, which was thebailiwick of the province Normandy until theFrench Revolution.
British troops marching through Bayeux, 27 June 1944.Bayeux Cathedral is in the background.
During theSecond World War, Bayeux was the first city of theBattle of Normandy to be liberated on 7 June by British troops of50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division with only light resistance. On 16 June 1944 GeneralCharles de Gaulle madethe first of two major speeches in Bayeux in which he made clear that France sided with the Allies. The buildings in Bayeux were virtually untouched during the Battle of Normandy, the German forces being fully involved in defendingCaen from the Allies. Bayeux nevertheless became an important hub for the allies - military vehicles found difficulty moving through the narrow medieval streets. In late June theRoyal Engineers andPioneer Corps built a road around the town, the 'Bayeux Bypass' – to facilitate the flow of traffic.
TheBayeux War Cemetery with its memorial includes the largest British cemetery dating from the Second World War in France. There are 4,648 graves, including 3,935 British and 466 Germans. Most of those buried there were killed in the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Bayeux city centre (2011)
Royal British Legion National, every 5 June at 1530 hrs, attends the 3rd Division Cean Memorial Service and beating retreat ceremony. On 6 June, it holds a remembrance service inBayeux Cathedral starting at 1015 hrs, and later at 1200 hrs, the Royal British Legion National holds a service of remembrance at the Bayeux Cemetery. All services are open to the public, all StandardsRBL, NVA,RN,ARMY, andRAF service and Regimental Associations are welcome to attend and parade. Details can be found atwww.rblsomme.org
Bayeux is also the home of a memorial to alljournalists who have lost their lives while reporting. The memorial was designed by Samuel Craquelin, who is a French architect. The memorial lists the names of 1,889 journalists killed between 1944 and 2007. The memorial was established in conjunction with the organisationReporters Without Borders and is located in Bayeux because of its historic liberation on 7 June 1944. It was inaugurated on 2 May 2007.[7]
Bayeux is a major tourist attraction, best known to British and French visitors for theBayeux Tapestry, made to commemorate events in theNorman Conquest of England in 1066. According to French tradition, the tapestry was made by the attendants ofMatilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror. It was almost certainly designed and stitched in England, as evidenced by its English spellings.[11] It is displayed in a museum in the town centre. The largeNorman-Romanesque andGothicCathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux,[12] consecrated in 1077, was probably the original home of the tapestry, where William's half-brotherOdo of Bayeux (represented on the tapestry wielding a wooden club at theBattle of Hastings) would have had it displayed.
