Following the conquest, the new, converted Norman dukes undertook the reconstruction of the province. They drew upon the pacifying influence of the Church, with its network of monasteries whose restoration they undertook from the mid-10th century.
In 1001, Duke Richard II persuaded Guilermo de Volpiano, as disciple of Maieul de Cluny, to come and rebuild the abbey of Fécamp. Through him, the introduction of Cluniac reform in the Duchy was the starting point for a monastic renewal intended by the dukes as a means of establishing their power in lasting way throughout Normandy and of unifying a population of disparate origins.
This reform, which hinged on the founding ideals of Saint Benedict, was based upon an intense activity in the intellectual disciplines. Scriptoria re-emerged in order to reconstitute a corpus of manuscripts that had disappeared. The recovery in this respect is manifest from the first half of the 11th century, in the abbeys that had been restored first of all: Mont-Saint-Michel, Fécamp, Jumièges, and Saint-Wandrille especially.
The conquest of 1066 encouraged the blossoming of art of Norman illuminated manuscripts. Monks on the continent were then in close contact with the art of the Winchester school, in direct line from a virtually pure Carolingian tradition.
Between c. 1090 and 1110, the monastic art of illuminated manuscripts reached its apogee. Its stylistic homogeneity, due to exchanges between the various centres of production and the mobility of the artists, enabled the advancement of the expression of the "Norman school". Of the older abbeys only Jumièges experienced sustained activity. The abbeys of the second generation were now at the forefront of activity: Saint-Pierre-de-Préaux, Notre-Dame in Lyre, and, in the confines of the Perche and Maine region, Saint-Evroul and Saint-Martin in Sées. The role of Bec and Saint-Ouen in Rouen, which is difficult to assess, was probably significant.
From c. 1120, links with England tailed off somewhat, Normandy became more provincial from a political and an artistic point of view. Jumièges and above all Fécamp were still producing a number of high quality manuscripts until the middle of the century, from which point their scriptoria seemed to have ceased functioning.M.-D. Nobécourt-Mutarelli
Rouen Public Library
England
- Sacramentarium so called of de Robert de Jumièges. England, 11th century (early).
- Bible. Fécamp. 1025-1050.
- Bible, Fécamp, c. 1120-1130.
- Haymon d'Auxerre, Commentary on the Epistles of saint Paul, Jumièges. 1025-1050.
- Lives of the Saints, Jumièges, 1050-1075.
- Life of saint Aycadre, abbot of Jumièges. Jumièges, 11th century (4th quarter).
- Bible, Jumièges, c. 1080.
- Saint Gregory, Moralia in Job (books XVII-XXII), Jumièges, 11th century (4th quarter).
- Lives of the Saints . Jumièges, 11th century (end).
- Saint Anselm. Various treatises, 11th century (end).
- Saint Ambrose. Various treatises, 11th century (end).
- Gospels. Abingdon, between 1084 and 1097.
- Saint Augustine, Various treatises. Saint-Evroul, 11th century (end).
- Sacramentarium. Saint-Evroul, 11th century (end).
- Saint Augustine. Commentary on the Psalms I-L. Saint-Evroul, 11th - 12th centuries.
- Gospels. Saint-Evroul, 12th century (1st quarter).
- Saint Augustine, treatises on the Gospel of the saint John. Saint-Ouen de Rouen (?), 12th century (end).
- Lives of the saints (also referred to as the " Livre noir " ("Black book")). Saint-Ouen, Rouen, 11th century (end).
- Saint Gregory. Moralia in Job (books XVII-XXXV), Saint-Pierre, Préaux, 11th - 12th centuries.
- Bible. Notre-Dame, Lyre, 12th century (1st quarter).