Rouen

history

Rouen () is the historic capital city of Normandy, in northern France on the River Seine, and currently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) region. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the eleventh century to the 15th century. It was in Rouen where Joan of Arc was burnt in 1431. People from Rouen are called Rouennais.

The population of the metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 518,316 inhabitants and 532,559 inhabitants at the 2007 estimate. The city proper has an estimated population of 110,276 in 2007.

Administration

Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région, as well as a commune and the préfecture (capital) of the Seine-Maritime département.

Rouen and 70 suburban communes of the metropolitan area form the Agglomeration community of Rouen-Elbeuf-Austreberthe (CREA), with 494,382 inhabitants in it at the 2010 census. In descending order of population, the largest of these suburbs are Sotteville-lès-Rouen, Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, Le Grand-Quevilly, Le Petit-Quevilly, and Mont-Saint-Aignan, each with a population exceeding 20,000 inhabitants.

History

Rouen was founded by the Gaulish tribe of the Veliocasses, who controlled a large area in the lower Seine valley. They called it Ratumacos;Ratu- is not well explained; -macus, magus is a familiar toponymic suffix signifying "plain". the Romans called it Rotomagus.As in Ammianus Marcellinus and the Notitia dignitatum; other variants: Ratomagos (Ptolemy, Geography), Ratomagos (Antonine Itinerary, Tabula Peutingeriana). Roman Rotomagus was the second city of Gallia Lugdunensis after Lugdunum (Lyon) itself. Under the reorganization of Diocletian, Rouen was the chief city of the divided province Gallia Lugdunensis II and reached the apogee of its Roman development, with an amphitheatre and thermae of which foundations remain. In the fifth century, it became the seat of a bishopric (though the names of early bishops are purely legendaryCatholic Encyclopedia, at "Diocese of Rouen", records that Saint Mellon[ius] was credited with being the first bishop until a Nicaise, linked to Denis of Paris was inserted to precede him: see Diocese of Rouen.) and later a capital of Merovingian Neustria.

From their first incursion into the lower valley of the Seine in 841,Recorded in the chronicle of Fontenelle Abbey. the Normans overran Rouen. From 912, Rouen was the capital of the Duchy of Normandy and residence of the dukes, until William the Conqueror established his castle at Caen.

In 1150, Rouen received its founding charter which permitted self-government. During the twelfth century, Rouen was the site of a yeshiva. At that time, about 6,000 Jews lived in the town, comprising about 20% of the population. In addition, there were a large number of Jews scattered about another 100 communities in Normandy. The well-preserved remains of the yeshiva were discovered in the 1970s under the Rouen Law Courts and the community has begun a project to restore them.

]] In 1200, a fire destroyed part of the old cathedral and the present Gothic mainworks cathedral of Rouen were begun. On June 24, 1204, Philip II Augustus of France entered Rouen and definitively annexed Normandy to the French Kingdom. He demolished the Norman castle and replaced it with his own, the Château Bouvreuil, built on the site of the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre.With the exception of the tower associated with Joan of Arc, which was restored by Viollet-le-Duc, the castle was destroyed at the end of the fifteenth century, its stones quarried for other construction. A textile industry developed based on wool imported from England, for which the cities of Flanders and Brabant were constantly competitors, and finding its market in the Champagne fairs. Rouen also depended for its prosperity on the river traffic of the Seine, on which it enjoyed a monopoly that reached as far upstream as Paris. Wine and wheat were exported to England, with tin and wool received in return. In the fourteenth century urban strife threatened the city: in 1291, the mayor was assassinated and noble residences in the city were pillaged. Philip IV reimposed order and suppressed the city's charter and the lucrative monopoly on river traffic, but he was quite willing to allow the Rouennais to repurchase their old liberties in 1294. In 1306, he decided to expel the Jewish community of Rouen, then numbering some five or six thousands. In 1389, another urban revolt of the underclass occurred, the Harelle. It was part of widespread rebellion in France that yearSee Popular revolt in late medieval Europe for broad context. and was suppressed with the withdrawal of Rouen's charter and river-traffic privileges once more.

During the Hundred Years' War, on January 19, 1419, Rouen surrendered to Henry V of England, who annexed Normandy once again to the Plantagenet domains. But Rouen did not go quietly: Alain Blanchard hung English prisoners from the walls, for which he was summarily executed; Canon and Vicar General of Rouen Robert de Livet became a hero for excommunicating the English king, resulting in de Livet's imprisonment for five years in England. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431 in this city, where most inhabitants supported the duke of Burgundy, Joan of Arc's king enemy. The king of France Charles VII recaptured the town in 1449.

The city was heavily damaged during World War II on D-day and its famed cathedral was almost destroyed by Allied bombs. During the German occupation, the German Navy had its headquarters located in a chateau on the École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen campus.

Main sights

]] Rouen is known for its Notre Dame cathedral, with its Tour de Beurre (butter tower). The cathedral was the subject of a series of paintings by Claude Monet, some of which are exhibited in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.

The Gros Horloge is an astronomical clock (dating back to the 16th century) though the movement is considerably older (1389). It is located in the Gros Horloge street.

Other famous structures include the Gothic Church of Saint Maclou (15th century); the Tour Jeanne d'Arc, where Joan of Arc was brought in 1431 to be threatened with torture (contrary to popular belief, she was not imprisoned there); the Church of Saint Ouen (12th–15th century); the Palais de Justice, which was once the seat of the Parlement (French court of law) of Normandy and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics which contains a splendid collection of faïence and porcelain for which Rouen was renowned during the 16th to 18th centuries.

Rouen is noted for its surviving half-timbered buildings.

There are many museums in Rouen: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen, an art museum with pictures of well-known painters such as Claude Monet and Géricault; Musée maritime fluvial et portuaire, a museum on the history of the port of Rouen and navigation; Musée des antiquités, an art and history museum with antic or gothic works; Musée de la céramique, Musée Le Secq des Tournelles...

The Jardin des Plantes de Rouen is a notable botanical garden dating to 1840 in its present form. It was previously owned by Scottish banker John Law and was the site of several historic balloon ascents.

In the centre of the Place du Vieux Marché is the modern church of Saint Joan of Arc. This is a large, modern structure which dominates the square. The form of the building represents the pyre on which Joan of Arc was burnt.

Rouen was also home to the French Grand Prix, hosting the race at the nearby Rouen-Les-Essarts track sporadically between 1952 and 1968. Much of the former circuit was extant into recent years, before a campaign in 1999 by Rouen authorities to obliterate remainders of Rouen's racing past. Today, little remains beyond the public roads that formed the circuit.

Transport

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Mainline train services operate from Gare de Rouen-Rive-Droite to Le Havre and Paris. Regional services operate to Caen, Dieppe, and other local destinations in Normandy. Daily direct trains operate to Amiens and Lille, and direct TGVs (high-speed trains) connect daily with Lyon and Marseille.

City transportation in Rouen is served by the métro. It branches into two lines out of a metro tunnel running through the city centre. Rouen is also served by TEOR and buses run in conjunction with the tramway by the transit company TCAR (Transports en commun de l'agglomération rouennaise), a subsidiary of Veolia Transport.

Rouen has its own airport, serving major domestic destinations as well as international destinations in Europe.

The Seine is a major axis for maritime (cargo) links in the Port of Rouen; and the Cross-Channel ferry ports of Caen, Le Havre, Dieppe (50 minutes), and Calais, and the Channel Tunnel are also within easy driving distance (i.e. two and a half hours or less).

Education

.]] Higher education in Rouen is provided by the University of Rouen, the École SupĂ©rieure de Commerce de Rouen (Rouen Business School) and »Ă©sitpa (agronomy and agriculture) - all centred or located at nearby Mont-Saint-Aignan, and INSA Rouen and »ESIGELEC - both at nearby Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.

Births

]] Rouen was the birthplace of:

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Rouen is twinned with:

In fiction and popular culture

Fine art

 , 1894.]] The Rouen Cathedral was the subject for a series of paintings by the Impressionist painter Claude Monet, who painted the same scene at different times of the day. Two paintings are in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; one is in the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade. The estimated value of one painting is over $40 million.

Literature

  • The character Erik, or The Opera Ghost of Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera was supposedly born "in a small town not far from Rouen".»http://www.gutenberg.org/files/175/175.txt
  • Rouen also played a major part in the Flaubert novel Madame Bovary.
  • Maupassant, a student of Flaubert, wrote a number of short stories based in and around Rouen.
  • In book two of The Strongbow Saga, the Vikings invade and conquer Ruda, also known as Rouen and make it their base in Frankia.

Music

The British band Supergrass named their fifth studio album Road to Rouen, punning on an Anglicised version of the city name's pronunciation.

Film

In the 2001 movie A Knight's Tale, the protagonist William Thatcher played by Heath Ledger poses as a noble and competes in his first jousting tournament at Rouen.

Computer games

  • The game Call of Duty 3 features a map set in Rouen. The map, entitled Rouen, is mainly city and offers fierce city fighting, much like that seen in World War II.
  • In the Soul Calibur series of fighting games, Raphael, a playable character, is explained as being born in Rouen. Interestingly, his fighting style involves an English rapier. His adopted daughter Amy is also from Rouen, having been a street child living there.
  • Rouen appears as an important location to protagonist Alice Elliot in the game Shadow Hearts.
  • The Rouen-Les-Essarts Grand Prix circuit is featured in both Grand Prix Legends and RFactor.
  • The PC adventure game starts in Rouen.

Heraldry

See also

References

Notes

External links

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rouen ". | compliance | March 14th 2010