Melun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Commune of Melun |
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| Location | |
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| Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs | |
| Coordinates | 48°32′26″N 2°39′36″E / 48.54056°N 2.66°E |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Department | Seine-et-Marne (préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Melun |
| Canton | Chief town of 2 cantons: Melun-Nord, Melun-Sud |
| Intercommunality | Communauté d'agglomération Melun-Val de Seine |
| Mayor | Gérard Millet (UMP) (2008 – 2014) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 37–102 m (120–330 ft) (avg. 54 m/180 ft) |
| Land area1 | 8.04 km2 (3.10 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 37,800 (2005 [1]) |
| - Density | 4,701 /km² (12,180 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 77288/ 77000 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
| Contents | |
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Melun is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 25.7 miles (41.4 km) from the center of Paris. Melun is the préfecture (capital) of the Seine-et-Marne département, as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Melun.
Its inhabitants are called Melunais.
[edit] History
Meledunum began as a Gaulish town; Caesar noted Melun as "a town of the Senones, situated on an island in the Seine"; at the island there was a wooden bridge, which his men repaired.[2] Roman Meledunum was a mutatio where fresh horses were kept available for official couriers on the Roman road south-southeast of Paris, where it forded the Seine.[3]
The Normans sacked it in 845. The castle of Melun became a royal residence of the Capetian kings. Hugh Capet (See also: House of Capet) gave Melun to Bouchard, his favorite. In the reign of Hugh's son, Robert II of France, Eudes, the count of Champagne, bought the city, and the king took it back for the viscount in 999. Le Chatelain and his wife, who had sold the city, were hanged. Robert died there in July 1031.
[edit] Vicounts of Melun
The early viscounts of Melun were listed by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century genealogists, notably Père Anselme. Based on closer reading of the original documents, Adolphe Duchalais constructed this list of viscounts in 1844:[4]
- Salo (c. 993; possibly legendary)
- Joscelin I (c. 998)
- William (possibly c. 1000)
- Ursio (c. 1067-1085)
- William the Carpenter (c. 1094)
- Hilduin, Garin, Ursio II, Jean (unknown dates, possibly not viscounts)
- Adam (c. 1138-1141; married Mahaut, daughter of his predecessor)
- Joscelin II (c. 1156)
The title eventually became an honourary peerage. Such viscount include Honoré-Armand de Villars and Claude Louis Hector de Villars.
[edit] Transport
Melun is served by Melun station, which is an interchange station on Paris RER line D, on the Transilien Paris – Lyon suburban rail line, and on several national rail lines.
[edit] Sights
The nearby chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte is considered a smaller predecessor of Palace of Versailles.
The officers' school of the French Gendarmerie is located in Melun.
[edit] Births
Melun was the birthplace of:
- Pierre Certon (c.1510-1520-1572), composer of the Renaissance (probably born in Melun)
- Jacques Amyot (1513-1593), writer
- Chimène Badi (1982-), singer
- Samir Beloufa (1979-), professional footballer
[edit] Twin towns
Melun is twinned with:
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ 2005 estimate, 35,695 in the 1999 census
- ^ Gallic War vii. 58, 60.
- ^ Meledunum appears in the Antonine Itinerary almost halfway between Lutetia (Paris) and Condate (Rennes) ('Meledunum").
- ^ Adolphe Duchalais, “Charte inedité de l’an 1138, relative à l’histoire des viscomtes de Melun” (Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes vol. 6 no. 6, 1845).
- Initial text from the "Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters 2001" Compiled by John R. Carpenter.
- The Viscounts and Counts of Melun are listed in ES (Detlev Schwennicke, "Europäische Stammtafeln," Neue Folge) Volume VII, Tafels 55 & 56.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Melun |
- City council website (in French)
- Tourist office website (in French)
- 1999 Land Use, from IAURIF (Institute for Urban Planning and Development of the Paris-Île-de-France région (English)
- French Ministry of Culture list for Melun (French)
- Map of Melun on Michelin (English)
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