Coutances

Coutances rises above the countryside of the Cotentin peninsula, its Gothic cathedral dominating the town and the roads that converge upon it. Built around an older Norman church, the cathedral's towers and lantern gave a distinctive soaring silhouette to the seat of the bishop. The town's religious life and its position in western Normandy made it important beyond its size.

The cathedral suffered during the fighting of 1356 and was plundered by Huguenot forces in 1562, at the beginning of the Wars of Religion. In 1789 representatives of the three estates of the Cotentin assembled in its nave to choose deputies to the Estates-General. The same great church had thus witnessed both armed religious conflict and the political upheaval that preceded the Revolution.