Just caught that video on YT. It is peculiar because it touches a subject that is close to me, romantically and geographically: the city of Rouen, where I was born and in the vicinity of which I live today. It certainly changes of all those videos about Paris, Paris and Paris... France is not all about Paris, never has been. So it's always nice to see people focusing on another corner of France from time to time.
The video stating that Rouen is France might be a bit too much. We certainly don't pretend to replace Paris for the title, nor do we want to, we got enough tourists as it is. But it's true that despite being destroyed at 75% during the late stage of WW2, downtown Rouen (right bank of the Seine, including the Cathedral) was left untouched and managed to keep a certain medieval charm.
I won't be going into the whole history of Rouen (we would still be there next year) but some facts and dates:
The original settlement was founded by a Gaulish tribe, the Véliocasse during the 1st century CE; no one really knows the exact date. possibly closer to the end of the century as the construction of aqueducts and sewers is known to have occurred around 120 CE.
It was originally known as Rotomago by the Gauls, Ratomagos by the Greeks and Rotomagus by the Romans. The translation is uncertain as we are talking about very old Celtic words "roto" and "mago" which could mean something like "round market" or "round plain".
In its early history, Rotomagus/Rouen was considered the second town of Gaul by the Roman, just after Lugdunum/Lyon. And yes Paris did exist back then (as Lutetia) but it was neither a big town nor a capital.
During the 4th century, Rouen was fortified by the Romans (as other towns in France) to resist invasions from the East that were becoming more and more common and remained fortified until the 18th century. Today only a couple of towers remain of the old fortifications but there is a long semi-circular boulevard that follows the line where the walls were.
Between the 6th and 9th centuries, Rouen was prized by the early Frankish (later French as the Franks literally created France) kings. Some even married there.
In 911, a piece of French land that would be renamed "Normandy" was ceded to the Viking Rollo (Rollon in French -- and if you ever saw the series "Vikings", yes, it was that Rollo) in exchange for his help fighting other Vikings coming to invade Northern France. Rouen became the capital of the newly created Duchy of Normandy (Normandie in French, called like that because the Normans -- men from the North -- lived there; still true today. Technically I'm a Normand -- we added a "d" at some point). In 931 Rollon died in Rouen and was buried in the Sainte-Marie church which later (during the 12-13th century) was rebuilt into Notre-Dame de Rouen cathedral (not to be confused with Notre-Dame de Paris). Today, Rollon's sarcophagus is still in the nave of the cathedral, for those who'd like to pay their respect to a true Viking lord, even if he was considered a traitor by his peers.
In 1066, William the Conqueror, a direct descendant of Rollon and also Duke of Normandy, invades England and becomes King of England after the death of the former King of England Harold II at the battle of Hastings. This will have unexpected consequences on the Franco-English relations about 3 centuries later even though at the time Normandy was not a part of France, so technically France didn't invade England, Normandy did. But the English didn't see it that way especially when later Normandy became a part of France. This invasion also had a pervasive effect on the English language, introducing in it all kind of new words all derived from old French like beef, mutton, veal, judge, jury, war, government, chivalry, art, cuisine, power, justice, culture, battle, prince, court, council, tailor, mason, grocer, barber, venison, diner, bottle... the list is seriously too long... Thing is every noble in England at that time ended up speaking Norman-French which was a variation of standard French. The well known Richard the Lion Heart who was a famous English King and crusader didn't speak a word of English because back then English was not the language of the English nobility, French was. Additionally, Richard reigned for 10 years during which he only spent 6 months in England.
In 1204, Philippe August, King of France, seizes Rouen militarily, putting an end to the Duchy of Normandy and integrating the region into the kingdom of France.
In 1348, the black plague kills a third of Rouen population.
In 1419, after a year of siege, Rouen falls in the hands of the English during the Hundred Years War (which started in 1337 -- yeah, LEET, way before our time) that happened because of a misunderstanding born from the invasion of England by Normandy in 1066. Since the dukes of Normandy kinda were also kings of England, the King of England -- this time a proper Englishman -- decided that Normandy, and by extension France, belonged to him and that he should be crowned king of France. Unfortunately, his successors pursued the same idea until England was finally defeated in 1453... So the Hundred Years War was more like 116 but, you know, round numbers always win... It's during this period that the English rejected everything French, still, centuries later they never got rid of all those words derived from French.
In 1431, Joan of Ark is judged, condemned and burned by the English in Rouen on the location that you see in the video, la "Place du Vieux Marché". Note that the site itself was discovered in the 1970s during some construction work because here's the thing about Rouen: you cannot dig a hole anywhere without stumbling into history. And there's a French law stating that as soon as something history related is found during an excavation, all construction work must cease the time for archeologists to assess things and gather relevant samples, pieces and data. The deeper you dig the worse it gets.
In 1449, Rouen is liberated by the French under Charles VII.
I'll spare you the following centuries which are mainly a long list of new buildings, extensions, a lot of new churches (Rouen isn't known as the "hundred bell towers city" for no reason), official kingly visits and the occasional military occupation (briefly by the Prussians in 1815 after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo).
From 1915 to 1918, Rouen serves as the rear base for the British Expeditionary Forces participating in WW1. A place of resting far from the front lines.
From 1940 to 1944, due to it's strategic location and its extensive railroad network on the left bank, Rouen is regularly bombed by allied bombers but especially during the week preceding D-Day that is still remembered as "la semaine rouge" (the red week) during which 849 French were killed and 20,000 made homeless. 75% of the city is destroyed, including severe damage to a few churches. Unexpectedly most of the churches and the medieval center, including the cathedral are spared.
After WW2 and to this day it's another long list of new buildings, artistic events, galas, official visits of all kinds and so on. Very quiet and uneventful. If we exclude an industrial explosion a few years back that got everyone on edge for a couple of days. Oh and every four years, "Les Voiles de la Liberté" (The Sails of freedom), a regular event that started in 1989 and that happens near Summer for a couple of weeks during which people can admire the few ships coming right from the age of sails that still float from around the world and a lot of other more modern ships from all nationalities, including military ones. In 1989 the USA was represented by the US Coast Guard cutter Eagle, a three masts barque that happen to still be in service today. No need to mention that Rouen is quite overcrowded during those events.
Hope you enjoyed the video and the little history.