1966 & All That

So, Britain would insist on celebrating the 150th anniversary of Waterloo last year? Eh bien, mes amis, this year France gets her revenge. October 14th is the 900th anniversary of the subjugation of the Anglo-Saxons by that doughty Norman, William the Conqueror. The five departments of ancient Normandy are planning all sorts of festivities, starting in April and including a yacht race to Hastings across the Channel as well as to what should be a well-attended convention of all the descendants of the Conqueror's army.

Every normal Norman, Parisian planners calculated, would be delighted to help pay for such a triumphal occasion. They were wrong. Nestled amid the knotty hedgerows and gnarled apple orchards of the lower Seine Valley lies the village of Veauville-les-Baons (pop. 353), which has not changed much since William's day-and to some extent, holds him responsible. According to Jean Comps, 54, village schoolmaster and official secretary (also renowned for his fine home-made Calvados), the liege lord of Normandy in 1060 forced Veauville to ante up an annual ten gold talents to the nearby abbey of St.-Wandrille. The town kept right on paying the tithe for the next 700 years, until the Revolution of 1789 put an end to all that.

"We are a poor community," complained Comps last week, as headlines across France proclaimed that the Veauville council had voted against any and all contributions to the celebration of 1066. "We need roads, and piping to carry water to houses that still use hand pumps. If we find a way, we might give ten francs [$2], but I'm against even that."

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