Caudebec-en-Caux (, literally ''Caudebec in Caux'') is a former
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in the
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
in northern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of
Rives-en-Seine
Rives-en-Seine () is a commune in the department of Seine-Maritime, northern France. The municipality was established on 1 January 2016 by merger of the former communes of Caudebec-en-Caux, Saint-Wandrille-Rançon and Villequier.Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
tidal bore
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
in the estuary of the Seine which is known as the ''mascaret'' in French, but locally as the ''barre'', used to be well seen at this point. The development of the industrial polder towards
Harfleur
Harfleur () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France.
It was the principal seaport in north-western France for six centuries, until Le Havre was built about five kilometres (three miles) downstream i ...
has changed the geometry of the estuary so that mascaret now seems to be a phenomenon of the past.
Since 1977 Caudebec has been served by the
Pont de Brotonne
The Brotonne Bridge (''pont de Brotonne'') is a bridge in the region of Normandy in France, situated between the cities of Le Havre and Rouen. It has crossed the Seine since 1977, to the east of the commune of Caudebec-en-Caux. Its construction ...
, one of three bridges built across the Seine, downstream from Rouen since 1960, to replace the many ferries so making vehicular access between the
Pays de Caux
The Pays de Caux (, , literally ''Land of Caux'') is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French ''département'' of Seine Maritime in Normandy. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs ...
Caudebec is one of numerous places in Normandy having names which are clearly derived from a Scandinavian language.
''Caldebec'' Abt 1025 (like
Caldbeck
Caldbeck is a village in Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland, it is situated within the Lake District National Park. The village had 714 inhabitants according to the census of 2001.
Caldbeck is closely associated with neighbouring ...
, ''Caldebeck'' 1060, Cumberland.) derives from the old Danish ''kaldr bekkr'': cold stream, cold brook.
In May 1592 during the
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the term which is used in reference to a period of civil war between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estim ...
Caudebec had been taken by Spanish and French Catholic League forces of
Duke of Parma
The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy, which existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859.
The Duke of Parma was also Duke of Piacenza, except ...
Henry IV of France
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
. Parma though wounded then made a miraculous escape avoiding complete defeat but died at
Arras
Arras ( , ; pcd, Aro; historical nl, Atrecht ) is the prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department, which forms part of the regions of France, region of Hauts-de-France; before the regions of France#Reform and mergers of ...
.
Heraldry
Sights
The chief architectural interest of the town lies in its
Flamboyant
Flamboyant (from ) is a form of late Gothic architecture that developed in Europe in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, from around 1375 to the mid-16th century. It is characterized by double curves forming flame-like shapes in the bar-tr ...
church, which was constructed during the 15th and the early 16th centuries. Round its top run balustrades formed of
Gothic letter
Blackletter (sometimes black letter), also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 until the 17th century. It continued to be commonly used for the Danish, Norweg ...
y soul
Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...
magnifies
he Lord
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Eastern Christianity, Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated ...
''. Its west portal, the decoration of the spire of the tower, and its
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
are among the features which make it one of the finest churches of the Rouen diocese.
* In the town are also
**''Maison des Templiers'' (The Templars' House) from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The building was saved by a society set up for the purpose and houses a small museum of local archaeology and history. A domestic building of this period is a rarity.
**The former prison from the fourteenth century.
**''Hôtel du Bailli'', a town house.
**''Hôtel de ville'' (Town Hall) from fround 1800.
**The riverside embankments (Les Quais).
**''Musée de la marine de Seine'', on the history of river navigation.
*Just outside the town:
** ''Château d'Etelan'' a renaissance château overlooking the final loop of the river Seine
**The short length of riverside road between Caudebec and St Wandrille, passes under the ''Pont de Brotonne'', a high-level
cable-stayed bridge
A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...
.
**''Monument du
Latham 47
__NOTOC__
The Latham 47, or Latham R3B4 in Naval service was a French twin-engine flying boat designed and built by Société Latham & Cie for the French Navy. The aircraft achieved notoriety in 1928 when aircraft number 47.02 disappeared with t ...
''
** Fontenelle Abbey (''Abbaye de Saint-Wandrille''), in the nearby village of
Saint-Wandrille-Rançon
Saint-Wandrille-Rançon () is a former commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in north west France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Rives-en-Seine. Caudebec was formerly the location of the French seaplane manufacturer Latham.
Caudebec-en-Caux in fiction
* Caudebec-en-Caux (though shortened to 'Caudebec') is the site of the death of the character Captain William Bush, in C.S. Forester's novel ''
Lord Hornblower
''Lord Hornblower'' (published 1946) is a Horatio Hornblower novel written by C. S. Forester. Hornblower, a Knight of the Bath, is tasked with suppressing a mutiny on board a Royal Navy ship. He succeeds, and with reinforcements captures Le Hav ...
'', part of the popular
Horatio Hornblower
Horatio Hornblower is a fictional officer in the British Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, the protagonist of a series of novels and stories by C. S. Forester. He later became the subject of films, radio and television programmes, an ...
series set during the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. Bush, Hornblower's loyal companion for much of the series, was killed due to an explosion in a minor military operation in the Seine estuary near to the town of Caudebec.Forester, C.S., (1964), ''The Hornblower Companion'', Michael Joseph, London.
* Much of the action in '' They Wouldn't Be Chessmen'' by A. E. W. Mason takes place in Caudebec.
Notable people
*
Thomas Basin
Thomas Basin (1412–1491) was a French bishop of Lisieux and historian.
Biography
Basin was born at Caudebec in Normandy, but in the devastation caused by the Hundred Years' War, his childhood was itinerant. He was taken from Caudebec in 1415 ...
, historian, was born here in 1412.
*
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury
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Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 10th Earl of Shaftesbury Bt (22 May 1938 – c. 5 November 2004), styled Lord Ashley between 1947 and 1961, and Earl of Shaftesbury from 1961 until his death, was a British peer from Wimborne St Giles, Dorset, England. H ...
was raised here after his father, the 9th Earl of Shaftesbury died in 1947. The 10th Earl's mother was the French-born Françoise Soulier, daughter of Georges Soulier.
*
François Duprat
François Duprat (26 October 1940 – 18 March 1978) was an essayist and politician, a founding member of the Front National party and part of the leadership until his assassination in 1978. Duprat was one of the main architects in the introducti ...
(1941–1978), French writer, was killed here.
* Hippolyte Sebron (1801-1879), painter and associate of
Louis Daguerre
Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( , ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a French artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of the fathers of photog ...