Melun is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne
department in
the Île-de-France
region in
north-central France
.
It is
located in the south-eastern suburbs of
Paris
from the center. Melun is the capital of the
department, as the seat of an
arrondissement.
Its inhabitants are called
Melunais.
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. 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.
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.
Counts of Melun
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:
- 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.
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.
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.
People
Melun was the birthplace of:
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Melun is
twinned with:
See also
References
- 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.
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
