Chronology

Evidence of man's existence can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, pollen has been discovered from cereals buried in the peat of the Chef du Pont marshes and in Vierville the remains of a dwelling dating from 3000 BC have been excavated.

The Romans conquered the Gauls - Viridorix and his Unelles - and left evidence of their civilisation: a vase containing 4500 coins with the heads of the emperors on them was found in Sainte-Mère-Eglise; two bronze cooking pots were excavated in Foucarville in 1835; a milliary column or milestone in the square in Sainte-Mère-Eglise also dates from the Roman period. It was used to mark the route from Alauna (Valognes) to Crocianatum (Sainte-Côme-du-Mont). These "milliary" columns were placed every thousand paces and indicated the distance from Rome. Titus Sabinus, one Caesar's lieutenants who conquered Viridorix, chief of the Gauls, built a major thoroughfare from the little road which led to the ford at Veys. The Roman legions used the ford to get to the Cotentin. "Vey" comes from the Latin "vadum" which means "ford".

A thousand years later the Saxon and Viking hordes left their very distinctive mark on the area. Hrolf, known as Rollon, settled permanently in Normandy and proceeded to share out the territory amongst his family and his vassals. The same thing happened in the Cotentin in 933 AD when the peninsula joined the mainland of Normandy under the iron rule of William Long Sword, son of Rollon. Through the various gifts made to the different abbeys Sainte-Mère-Eglise began to appear in the chronicles. A descendant of Rollon founded the family lineage "de Sainte Mère" while one of his comrades, Vieul Aux Espaulles founded the village of Sainte-Marie-Du-Mont. In the church of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont the tops of certain columns are sculpted with designs which bring to mind the rigging on the Viking sailing ships. These Viking designs are rare in Normandy, there are only two. The second is in Saint-Côme-du-Mont near Carentan. Works of sculpture from this period can be found on the sculpted column capitals in the church of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, the bas-relief in Chef-du-Pont or the column capitals of Boutteville. The feudal motte at La Fière, a semi-circular mound of earth encircled by a wide ditch, constituted a defence which, in the Middle Ages, served as a retrenchment and as protection. Also in the Middle Ages the castle at Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, "L'islet" was built, where the Aux Espaulles family lived for centuries.

Several lords, holders of fiefdoms in the district, (lords of Boutteville or of Sainte-Mère for example) followed William the Conqueror when he invaded England in 1066 (the Battle of Hastings).
The Cotentin remained Norman and independent until 1204 at which date Philippe-Auguste, king of France, drove the English, allies of the Normans, out of the duchy once and for all. The Engish wanted to regain the duchy (1338-1450) and on 13th July 1346, Edward III, king of England, landed with his army at Sant-Vaast-la-Hougue. Considering himself to be the sole heir of the crown of France following the death of his grandfather, Philippe le Bel, he came to take possession of his kingdom but Philippe VI de Valois also laid claim to the crown. War was declared and continued for 100 years. Having at his side the terrible Geoffroy D'Harcurt, Lord of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Edward ravaged Barfleur, laid siege to Valognes and arrived on 20th July at the gates of Carentan having devastated and pillaged Montebourg and Sainte-Mère-Eglise on the way. This was the beginning, for the village and for the region, of dark unhappy times. As well as the atrocities perpetrated by the army rabble, epidemics and natural catastrophes were the cause of an unprecedented fall in the population at this time: famine and the Plague in 1348 eradicated nearly half of the inhabitants of the Cotentin. In the locality "La Valléé de Misère", in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, there was once a village whose inhabitants were either massacred by the English or died of the Plague. In 1355 Charles of Navarre, ally of the English, occupied the Fort of Holme and the marshes at Chef-du-Pont and, having taken possession of the Cotentin, marched on Cherbourg with 10,000 men.

In 1388, the English, under the leadership of the Count of Arundel, left their garrison in Cherbourg to devastate the Cotentin once again. Surely there was little left that had not already been inflicted on the village of La Vallée de Misère.
The 100 Years War came to an end at Grand Vey: Thomas Kyriel tried to cross the bay but the French took up position in the middle of the ford and held strong in the rising tide. The next day the English forced their way through but were crushed at Formigny. The survivors turned back towards les Veys at high tide. Most of them drowned. Those that escaped were met on the bank by the peasants who had gathered there at the tolling of the alarm bells.
Some traces of the 100 Years War have remained over the centuries, for example, the fortress at Beuzeville, built in the 14th century to defend the marshes and the Plain from the attentions of the English. This was destroyed in 1925. The manor farms with their typical regional architecture were built at this time as a protection against the English invaders. In fact the English presence made itself felt right down to the place names in that there is a field in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont bearing the name "champ aux Anglais" where English gold coins were discovered.

The Revolution engendered excesses too but they were less bloody than elsewhere (destruction of property, exile of the clergy). The local Royalists, the Chouans, were to be found in Roueur Manor in Fauville (Sainte-Mère-Eglise). Sainte-Mère became "Mère Libre" and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont whose castle held 300 prisoners, " Le Mont du-Vey ".

The Empire was quite well received. Louis XVIII (1815) returned to an enthusiastic welcome. The Restoration put an end to the occupation by the Russians and the Prussian Hussars. The reigns of Louis XVIII, Charles X and Louis-Philippe were unremarkable. Napoléon III was well accepted. Under the Third Republic there was prosperity at last which continued to grow until the First World War.