‘Vrais Jêrriais nès, et Normands d’race’: Press representations of transnational Norman identity in Jersey and France

Drawing in particular on the local press, along with a range of other sources from mainland Normandy and the British Crown Dependency of Jersey, this chapter explores the transnational aspects of Norman identity from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War. It examines how the Normans’ Scandinavian origins and medieval conquests were celebrated in official events in Rouen and Lower Normandy to a strong popular response, whilst in Jersey a discourse of Norman identity drew on ideas of a shared past and contemporary connections with the mainland. The chapter argues that Normanness represents a transnational regional identity that was celebrated in both France and the Channel Islands, but with different meanings in each national context.