author

J.-E. (Jean-Eugène) Decorde

1811–1881

A 19th-century Norman priest who turned local history into a life’s work, writing vividly about the towns, language, and heritage of the Pays de Bray. His books still stand out for the care they bring to everyday places often left out of grand histories.

1 Audiobook

Dictionnaire du patois du pays de Bray

Dictionnaire du patois du pays de Bray

by J.-E. (Jean-Eugène) Decorde

About the author

Born in Bois-Héroult in 1811, Jean-Eugène Decorde was a French priest of the Diocese of Rouen and a dedicated historian of Normandy. He was ordained in 1835, served as parish priest of Bures from 1836 to 1870, and then of Notre-Dame-d'Aliermont until his death in 1881.

Alongside his religious work, he wrote extensively on the history, archaeology, and heraldry of Normandy. Much of his writing focused on the Pays de Bray, where he documented local cantons and communities with unusual patience and detail.

He is also remembered for his Dictionnaire du patois du pays de Bray, a study of regional speech that helped preserve the language of his corner of Normandy. His work has lasting value not just for scholars, but for readers interested in how local memory, landscape, and tradition are kept alive in print.