Compiègne (; ) is a commune in the

Oise Oise ( ; ; ) is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise. Inhabitants of the department are called ''Oisiens'' () or ''Isariens'', after the Latin name for the river, Isara. It had a population of 829,419 in 2019.< ...

department of northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref> It is located on the river

, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' ().

Administration

Compiègne is the seat of two cantons: * Compiègne-1 (with 19 communes and part of Compiègne) * Compiègne-2 (with 16 communes and part of Compiègne)

History by year

* 665 - Saint Wilfrid was consecrated Bishop of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. Wilfrid refused to be consecrated in

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

at the hands of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

bishops. Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, had died, and as there were no other bishops in Britain whom Wilfrid considered to have been validly consecrated, he travelled to Compiègne, to be consecrated by Agilbert, the Bishop of Paris. * 757 - Byzantine emperor Constantine V sent to Compiègne a gift for

Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...

: France's first organ. * 833 -

Louis the Pious Louis the Pious (; ; ; 16 April 778 – 20 June 840), also called the Fair and the Debonaire, was King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor, co-emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813. He was also King of Aquitaine from 781. As the only ...

(also known as King Louis I, the Debonair) was deposed in Compiègne. * February 888 - Odo, Count of Paris and king of the

Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...

was crowned in Compiègne. * 23 May 1430 - During the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

was captured by the

Burgundians The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...

while attempting to free Compiègne. They then sold her to the English. * 1557 - Battle of St. Quentin, where Habsburg Spanish forces defeat a French army in the Italian War of 1551–1559 * 1558 - The English occupy Compiègne * 1624 - Compiègne gave its name to the Treaty of Compiègne, a treaty of alliance concluded by

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

with the Dutch. * 1630 - Marie de' Medici's attempts to displace Richelieu ultimately led to her exile to Compiègne, from where she escaped to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in 1631. * 17 July 1794 - The Martyrs of Compiègne are executed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

during the

Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...

. * 1900 - The

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

events for the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

took place. * 11 November 1918 - The Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), agreed at Le Francport near Compiègne, ends fighting of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

* 22 June 1940 - Another Armistice with France (Second Compiègne) was signed between

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and the defeated France in Le Francport, near Compiègne, in the same place as in 1918, in the same railroad carriage, but with the seats swapped. * 1941 - During the German occupation of France, the Compiègne internment camp was established in Compiègne. A memorial of the camp, and another along the railway tracks, commemorate the tragedy. * 1972 - Creation of the University of Technology of Compiègne * 1977 - The starting location of the Paris–Roubaix

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

race was changed from

to Compiègne.

Population

Compiègne is the central commune of an urban unit with 70,699 inhabitants, and a larger commuter zone with 141,504 inhabitants as of 2017. The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Compiègne proper.

Sights

The Hôtel de Ville (town hall) was completed in 1530.

Museums

Château de Compiègne The Château de Compiègne is a French château, a former royal residence built for Louis XV and later restored by Napoleon. Compiègne was one of three seats of royal government, the others being Versailles and Fontainebleau. It is located i ...

- the castle itself, and museums of the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

and of motoring and tourism within its walls * Musée Antoine Vivenel * Museum of historic figurines * Memorial of internment and deportation

Compiègne Forest

The Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest was the site of the signing of two armistices; those of 11 November 1918 and 22 June 1940. Hitler specifically chose the location of the second, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as an irony for the defeated French. The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original, Marshal Foch's Carriage was taken to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as a trophy of victory following the second armistice. Various rumors about what happened to this railway-carriage thereafter, have flourished ever since. Some believe it was destroyed by the SS in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

in April 1945; others say this happened in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, but most likely was it destroyed during an allied air-raid on Berlin. The latter version seems most plausible, since

Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general, Marshal of France and a member of the Académie Française and French Academy of Sciences, Académie des Sciences. He distinguished himself as Supreme Allied Commander ...

's carriage actually was displayed at a Berlin museum.

The University of Technology of Compiègne

Compiègne is home to the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), one of the top ranking engineering school in France, founded as a Technology University in 1972 to provide an alternative to the traditional "

grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

" for students interested in technologies and applied science.

Transport

Compiègne station offers connections with Paris, Amiens, Cambrai and several regional destinations. The nearest motorway is the A1 Paris-Lille.

Cycling

Since 1977, Compiègne is the traditional start city of the famous Paris–Roubaix bicycle race. It was also the finish city of 3rd stage in the

2007 Tour de France The 2007 Tour de France the 94th running of Tour de France, the race, took place from 7 to 29 July. The Tour began with a prologue in London, and ended with the traditional finish in Paris. Along the way, the route also passed through Belgium and ...

Notable people

Compiègne has been home to: * Roscellinus (~1050 - ~1122),

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, often regarded as the founder of

Nominalism In metaphysics, nominalism is the view that universals and abstract objects do not actually exist other than being merely names or labels. There are two main versions of nominalism. One denies the existence of universals—that which can be inst ...

* Pierre d'Ailly (1350–1420),

and

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

* Albert Robida (1848–1926), illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist * Eugène Albertini (1880–1941), teacher in Latin literature, historian of ancient Rome, and epigrapher of Latin texts * Marcel Tabuteau (1887–1966), Oboist, regarded as the founder of American oboe playing. * Suzanne Lenglen (1899–1938), tennis player, international female sport star * Lucas Debargue (1990–), pianist and composer who works in both the classical and jazz fields. * The Martyrs of Compiègne

International relations

Compiègne is twinned with: Compiègne is also partnered with:

Climate

References

External links

City council website
(in French)
Le musée du château/The Château museum

Memorial to Nazi/French Internment Camp and Deportations During WW2

Universite de Technologie de CompiegneJoan of Arc Captured At Compiegne

customized transport in compiègne

Concerts in Compiègne
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compiegne Venues of the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic golf venues Communes of Oise Subprefectures in France World Heritage Sites in France