Claire HANUSSE THE VILLAGE OF COURTSIGNY AND THE HAMLET OF TRAINECOURT IN THE CAEN PLAIN: Two medieval settlements deserted at the onset of the modern era

Abstract

Located in the Caen plain in an ancient open landscape given over to cereal growing, two sites at Courseulles-sur-Mer and Grentheville are used to define settlement characteristics with particular reference to their lay-out and changes in land and living units. Similarities and differences bear witness to opposite origins and status, one being the centre of a parish and the other a simple hamlet. In both cases, nonetheless, an inexorable and quite similar process of desertion leads to their slow disappearance in the early decades of the modern era.

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