The Dukes of Normandy's Exchequer

Front of the Exchequer refitted
by the castle garrison. c. 1900.
Source : Musée de Normandie

   The work of William the Conqueror's son, Henry I Beauclerc, this large state room (aula) was only given the name "Exchequer" (Echiquier) in the 19 th century .
Rectangular in shape (30.70 x 11 metres), it is a two-floor building characteristic of 12 th century palace architecture. There are very few of them left, and the one at Caen Castle is the oldest and best preserved on the continent.

   The ground inside has been very carefully excavated but only parts of the archaeological strata of the Anglo-Norman period (11-12 th c.) were intact. The excavations did however reveal that the ground floor was a kitchen and the upper floor was used by the duke-king to receive his barons and other important guests, as did Richard the Lionheart, king of England and duke of Normandy, in bringing his barons together here before setting off on the Crusade.
Early in the 14 th century, the building was converted into a hall on a single floor such as had the preference of the princes of the time. It finally lost its noble purpose altogether at the end of the 15 th century and housed the garrison stables and a smithy. Miraculously spared by the bombing of Caen in 1944, it came in for restoration work taking the results of the excavations into account.

Link to the future of the Exchequer