Péronne () is a

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 ...

of the Somme department in

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost Regions of France, region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its Prefectu ...

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 ...

. It is close to where the 1916, first 1918 and second 1918 Battles of the Somme took place during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The

Museum of the Great War The Museum of the Great War (french: Historial de la Grande Guerre) located near the heart of the World War I Somme battlefields, is housed within the Château de Péronne, a castle in the town of Péronne, France. Péronne was under German occupa ...

(known in French as the ''Historial de la Grande Guerre'') is located in the château.

Geography

Péronne is situated in the old region of Santerre, home of the early French kings. It is located in the

Somme valley The Somme ( , , ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geological ...

. The autoroutes A1 and A16 pass close by. The national road, the N17, traverses the town.

Demography

History

On a hill, dominating the

Somme river The Somme ( , , ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geolog ...

and its lakes, Péronne was a well-fortified place during the early Middle Ages. The ramparts were built in the 9th century. All that remains today of the ancient fortress is the ''Porte de Bretagne''. Few towns have been as involved in the history of France, few towns so often devastated, as Péronne. Burned and pillaged in the time of the Normans; gravely damaged during the time of the Spanish occupation; devastated by the Germans in 1870; totally destroyed in 1917; bombarded and burned in May 1940 by the German airforce. Péronne was awarded two

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

and the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. * King

Charles the Simple Charles III (17 September 879 – 7 October 929), called the Simple or the Straightforward (from the Latin ''Carolus Simplex''), was the king of West Francia from 898 until 922 and the king of Lotharingia from 911 until 919–923. He was a memb ...

, prisoner of

Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy Rudolph (french: Rodolphe), sometimes called Ralph (; c. 890 – 14/15 January 936), was the king of France from 923 until his death in 936. He was elected to succeed his father-in-law, Robert I, and spent much of his reign defending his realm fr ...

died here, a captive in the dungeons, in 929. He was buried in the abbey. * In the 12th century, Philippe II built the towers of the château, surrounded by ditches, with a portcullis to defend the main gate. * In 1468,

Charles the Bold Charles I (Charles Martin; german: Karl Martin; nl, Karel Maarten; 10 November 1433 – 5 January 1477), nicknamed the Bold (German: ''der Kühne''; Dutch: ''de Stoute''; french: le Téméraire), was Duke of Burgundy from 1467 to 1477. ...

, Duke of Burgundy forced a treaty from

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

, who was held prisoner in the castle. Much land was ceded, but eventually won back by Louis. * In 1536,

Charles Quint Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fro ...

unsuccessfully besieged the town. Catherine of Poix, also known as “Marie Fouré" led the defence of the town, throwing a Spaniard off the top of the wall. * On 14 September 1641,

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

and

Honoré II, Prince of Monaco Honoré II (24 December 1597 – 10 January 1662) was Prince of Monaco from 1604 to 1662. He was the first to be called Prince (in 1612), but started his reign as Lord of Monaco. Early life Honoré II was born on 24 December 1597. He was the so ...

signed a treaty at Péronne, placing the principality of

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

under the protection of France. * On 26June 1815 following the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

, a garrison of 1,500

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

in the town surrendered to the advancing Allied Army. * There was a motor-racing circuit southeast of the town in the 1920s and 1930s which held the Grand Prix de Picardie organised by the Automobile Club de Picardie et de l'Aisne.

Places and monuments

* Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Péronne: Destroyed between 1914 and 1918, then slightly damaged in 1944, the west front, is built in "gothique flamboyant" style. * In front of the church stands the statue of Marie Fouré, a local heroine. * Danicourt Museum (named for former mayor Charles Alfred Danicourt), founded in the Hôtel-de-ville in 1877, is the only museum of the Somme to have been pillaged and destroyed by the Germans between 1916-18. It lost 98% of its collection. A few archeological treasures were saved by the museum curator, who hid them from the Germans when they took the town in 1914. These treasures were again subject to German interest in 1941. Overlooked by the first reconstruction in 1955, it was not until the second reconstruction of the building that the museum was back in use. Its founder, the former mayor Charles Alfred Danicourt, created the museum as a cultural beacon of the Somme ca. 1900. Nowadays, one can find one of the finest collections of early Gallic coins, antique gold jewelry,

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

funeral artefacts, a panorama of sand production during prehistoric times and some local examples of 19th- and 20th-century paintings. * The city of Péronne is equally known for its "Monument to the Dead", the work of the architect

Louis Faille Louis-Michel-Clément Faille (1881, Nurlu – 1938, Nurlu) was a French architect from Picardie. He was responsible for much reconstruction in the eastern Somme department of northern France after the end of World War I. Career Faille was inte ...

, representing a Picardy woman with clenched fist raised above the body of her son or husband killed by the war. * Monument of the Sailor Delpas, recalling the defence of the city and its fall at the time of the Franco-Prussian War in the winter 1870-1871. * The Australian Monument recalls the heroic actions in a neighbourhood of the town by Australian soldiers in 1918. * The Brittany Gate, with its strengthened stonework, is reminiscent of the defensive aspect of Péronne * The

Château de Péronne The Château de Péronne is a partly ruined castle in the ''commune'' of Péronne in the Somme ''département'' of France. It consists of the ruins of three towers and the curtain walls connecting them. The castle is the property of the commu ...

is a largely ruined castle, classified as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

. * Within the walls of the ancient château, nowadays run by the Somme département, the "Historial de la Grande Guerre" museum is a ‘must visit’ for those interested in the Great War. Created in 1992, by architect

Henri Ciriani Henri (Enrique) Ciriani (born 1936) is a Peruvian architect and teacher. Ciriani was born and worked in Lima, Peru before moving to Paris in 1964. He has worked on modernist experimental living projects in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the San Fel ...

, it illustrates the development of the conflict. The building is characterised by the stark whiteness of the cement, inset with small cylinders, symbolic of military graves. *

Mont Saint-Quentin Mont Saint-Quentin overlooks the Somme River in the region of Picardie approximately 1.5 km north of the town of Péronne, Somme, France. The hill is about 100 metres high but as it is situated in a bend of the river it dominates the whole ...

Notable people

Pierre-Jean de Béranger Pierre-Jean de Béranger (19 August 178016 July 1857) was a prolific French poet and chansonnier ( songwriter), who enjoyed great popularity and influence in France during his lifetime, but faded into obscurity in the decades following his deat ...

Jean-Pierre Demailly Jean-Pierre Demailly (25 September 1957 – 17 March 2022) was a French mathematician who worked in complex geometry. He was a professor at Université Grenoble Alpes and a permanent member of the French Academy of Sciences. Early life and edu ...

Saint Fursey Saint Fursey (also known as Fursa, Fursy, Forseus, and Furseus: died 650) was an Irish monk who did much to establish Christianity throughout the British Isles and particularly in East Anglia. He reportedly experienced angelic visions of the a ...

, patron saint of the town *

Louis-Mathieu Langlès Louis-Mathieu Langlès (23 August 1763 – 28 January 1824) was a French academic, philologist, linguist, translator, author, librarian and orientalist. He was the conservator of the oriental manuscripts at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Napoleon ...

Pierre Mac Orlan Pierre Mac Orlan, sometimes written MacOrlan (born Pierre Dumarchey, February 26, 1882 – June 27, 1970), was a French novelist and songwriter. His novel '' Quai des Brumes'' was the source for Marcel Carné's 1938 film of the same name, starring ...

Francis Tattegrain Francis Tattegrain (11 October 1852, Péronne - 1 January 1915, Arras) was a French Naturalist painter. Biography He was born into a family with a long history in the legal profession. His father, President of the Court of Amiens, allowed h ...

Twin towns — sister cities

Péronne is twinned with: *

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, England *

Altena Altena (; Westphalian: ''Altenoa'') is a town in the district of Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town's castle is the origin for the later Dukes of Berg. Altena is situated on the Lenne river valley, in the northern stre ...

, Germany *

Salobreña Salobreña (, < Phoenician ''Salambina Salawbiniya'') is a town on the ''

Costa Tropical

'' in