Melun (French pronunciation: [məlœ̃] ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about 41 kilometres (25+1⁄2 miles) from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, and the seat of one of its arrondissements. Its inhabitants are called Melunais.
Melun | |
|---|---|
Prefecture and commune | |
 Town hall | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs | |
Location of Melun  | |
  Melun  Melun | |
| Coordinates: 48°32′26″N 2°39′36″E / 48.5406°N 2.66°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Department | Seine-et-Marne |
| Arrondissement | Melun |
| Canton | Melun |
| Intercommunality | CA Melun Val de Seine |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2023–2026) | Kadir Mebarek[1] (Horizons) |
| Area 1 | 8.04 km2 (3.10 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 42,367 |
| • Density | 5,300/km2 (14,000/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 77288 /77000 |
| Elevation | 37–102 m (121–335 ft) (avg. 54 m or 177 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
History
editMeledunum 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.[3] 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.[4] Around 500 A.D, Clovis I granted Melun to a Gallo-Roman magnate, Aurelianus, who had fought for Clovis several times and apparently influenced his conversion to Christianity.[5]
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, but the king took it back for Bouchard in 999. The chatelain Gautier and his wife, who had sold the city, were hanged; Eudes escaped. Robert died there in July 1031.
Robert of Melun (c. 1100 – 27 February 1167) was an English scholastic Christian theologian who taught in France, and later became Bishop of Hereford in England. He studied under Peter Abelard in Paris before teaching there and at Melun, which gave him his surname.
In July 1415, Melun was besieged by King Henry V of England, who had recently signed the Treaty of Troyes with King Charles VI of France. The town was in the hands of the Dauphin, later Charles VII of France, who had been dispossessed by the treaty. The defenders were led by Arnaud Guillaume, seigneur de Barbazan, and fought off the besiegers for fourteen weeks before capitulating.[6] The town was liberated by Joan of Arc on 17 April 1430.
Counts of Melun
edit- Aurelianus (c. 500)
- Donatus (?-834)
- Bouchard I (956/967–1005), also Count of Vendôme and Count of Paris
Viscounts of Melun
editThe early viscounts of Melun were listed by 17th and 18th century genealogists, notably Père Anselme. Based on closer reading of the original documents, Adolphe Duchalais constructed this list of viscounts in 1844:[7]
- 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 honorary peerage. Such viscounts include Honoré Armand de Villars and Claude Louis Hector de Villars.
Population
edit
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| Source: EHESS[8] and INSEE (1968-2017)[9] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Climate
edit| Climate data for Melun (1981–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 16.9 (62.4) |
21.2 (70.2) |
25.6 (78.1) |
29.5 (85.1) |
31.2 (88.2) |
36.8 (98.2) |
39.4 (102.9) |
38.9 (102.0) |
33.8 (92.8) |
29.4 (84.9) |
22.1 (71.8) |
17.6 (63.7) |
39.4 (102.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.4 (43.5) |
7.8 (46.0) |
12.0 (53.6) |
15.3 (59.5) |
19.3 (66.7) |
22.5 (72.5) |
25.2 (77.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
21.1 (70.0) |
16.2 (61.2) |
10.3 (50.5) |
6.8 (44.2) |
15.7 (60.3) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.0 (33.8) |
1.0 (33.8) |
3.1 (37.6) |
5.0 (41.0) |
8.8 (47.8) |
11.6 (52.9) |
13.5 (56.3) |
13.2 (55.8) |
10.4 (50.7) |
7.8 (46.0) |
3.9 (39.0) |
1.8 (35.2) |
6.8 (44.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −19.8 (−3.6) |
−19.7 (−3.5) |
−10.3 (13.5) |
−4.6 (23.7) |
−2.1 (28.2) |
1.6 (34.9) |
4.0 (39.2) |
3.5 (38.3) |
0.4 (32.7) |
−4.8 (23.4) |
−9.3 (15.3) |
−14.8 (5.4) |
−19.8 (−3.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 55.1 (2.17) |
47.6 (1.87) |
51.0 (2.01) |
53.7 (2.11) |
64.6 (2.54) |
53.9 (2.12) |
61.3 (2.41) |
53.4 (2.10) |
56.1 (2.21) |
63.6 (2.50) |
55.2 (2.17) |
61.4 (2.42) |
676.9 (26.65) |
| Average precipitation days | 11.0 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 9.8 | 10.8 | 8.7 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 9.9 | 10.6 | 11.4 | 117.2 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 88 | 83 | 79 | 73 | 75 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 78 | 85 | 88 | 89 | 79.9 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 62.6 | 79.6 | 136.5 | 178.3 | 211.7 | 226.5 | 229.3 | 221.7 | 174.8 | 118.0 | 65.4 | 48.2 | 1,752.5 |
| Source 1: Météo France[10][11] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990)[12] | |||||||||||||
Transport
editMelun is served by the Gare de Melun, which is an interchange station on Paris RER line D, on the Transilien R suburban rail line, and on several national rail lines.
Main sights
editThe Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, Melun was the original home of the Melun Diptych.
The nearby château of Vaux-le-Vicomte is considered a smaller predecessor of Palace of Versailles.
The officers' school of the French Gendarmerie is located in Melun.
Notable people
editMelun is the birthplace of:
- Morgan Ciprès (born 1991), pair skater
- Jérémie Bela (born 1993), footballer
- Willy Boly (born 1991), footballer
- 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
- Raphaël Desroses (born 1980), basketball player
- Khamis Digol (born 1998), footballer
- Stéphane Dondon (born 1977), basketball player
- Grégory Guilvert (born 1982), racing driver
- Judah of Melun (13th century), French rabbi and tosafist
- Yvan Kibundu (born 1989), footballer
- Godson Kyeremeh (born 2000), footballer
- Edmé-François Mallet (1713–1755), theologian and encyclopédiste
- Steven Mouyokolo (born 1987), footballer
- Granddi Ngoyi (born 1988), footballer
- Yrétha Silété (born 1994), figure skater
- Oumar Solet (born 2000), footballer
- Bertrand Grospellier (1981–), poker player
- William the Carpenter, viscount of Melun in the 11th century
- Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (born 1982), politician and former Minister of Transport
Education
editA campus of the École nationale de l'aviation civile (French civil aviation university) is located in Melun.
Public high schools/sixth form colleges:[13]
There is one private high school/sixth form college:[13]
Twin towns – sister cities
editCrema, Italy
Spelthorne, England, United Kingdom
Vaihingen (Stuttgart), Germany
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 30 November 2023.
- ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
- ^ Gallic War vii. 58, 60.
- ^ Meledunum appears in the Antonine Itinerary almost halfway between Lutetia (Paris) and Condate (Rennes) ('Meledunum").
- ^ Bachrach, Bernard S. (1972). Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751. U of Minnesota Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780816657001.
- ^ The Field of Mars: Being an Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. J. Macgowan. 1801. p. 226.
- ^ 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).
- ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Melun, EHESS (in French).
- ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
- ^ "Données climatiques de la station de Melun" (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ "Climat Île-de-France" (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ "Normes et records 1961-1990: Melun - Villaroche (77) - altitude 91m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ a b "Liste des établissements scolaires Archived 21 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Melun. Consulté le 29 août 2016.
- ^ "Jumelage". ville-melun.fr (in French). Melun. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
Sources
edit- Initial text from the "Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters 2001" Compiled by John R. Carpenter.
- The Viscounts and Counts of Melun are listed in Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln, Neue Folge, Volume VII, Tafels 55 & 56.
External links
edit- Official 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) (in English)
- Base Mérimée: Search for heritage in the commune, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)