Valognes - Carte Postale Des Tourelles De L'ancien Château
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Valognes () is a commune in the Manche
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
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 ...
in north-western
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 ...
.


Geography

Valognes is situated in the Cotentin Peninsula, southeast of
Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
.
Valognes station Gare de Valognes is a railway station serving the town Valognes, Manche department, northwestern France. It is situated on the Mantes-la-Jolie–Cherbourg railway. Services The station is served by regional trains to Cherbourg, Caen and Paris ...
has rail connections to Caen, Paris and Cherbourg.


History

The town was built not far from the Gallo-Roman town of Alauna or Alaunia, from where the town derives its name. It was a fortified stronghold under the
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
dukes and French monarchs. Also here,
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...
received the news that the barons of Cotentin and
Bessin Bessin () is an area in Normandy, France, corresponding to the territory of the Bajocasses, a Gallic tribe from whom Bayeux, its main town, takes its name. History The territory was annexed by the count of Rouen in 924. The Bessin corresponds t ...
were conspiring to kill him, enabling him to escape to
Falaise Falaise may refer to: Places * Falaise, Ardennes, France * Falaise, Calvados, France ** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War * La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France * The Falaise escarpment in Quebec ...
.
Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ro ...
took Valognes without resistance, spent one night there and then pillaged and burnt the city.
Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...
possessed the town, which remained under English rule for thirty years. (It would be a kind of resort for English aristocratic visitors until the 1920s.) In 1588, 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 ...
, Valognes sided with the Catholic League. The
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
, like that of
Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...
, was completely destroyed under
Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...
. Of the convent of the Capuchins and
Cordelier The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French ...
s and the abbey of
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...
nuns, which existed in Valognes prior to 1792, only the latter remains and was transformed into the hospice of the ''Rue des Religieuses''. The 14th-century church of Notre Dame had a dome (dated 1612), the only example of a
Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
dome in France. The whole building was destroyed in 1944 during the Battle of Normandy. Before the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, Valognes was the residence of more than a hundred families of distinguished birth and fortune, and was for a long time afterwards the home, ''en villégiature'', of many of the old ''noblesse''. Thus the town was known as the ''Versailles of Normandy'' for its aristocratic mansions and palaces, as well as the quiet, mysterious ambience and exclusivity of its streets. This was the Valognes of
Barbey d'Aurevilly Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly (2 November 1808 – 23 April 1889) was a French novelist and short story writer. He specialised in mystery tales that explored hidden motivation and hinted at evil without being explicitly concerned with anythin ...
. The 1928 Methuen guide book to Normandy by Cyril Scudamore rather more prosaically describes Valognes as "a clean and well-built town, whose fine old houses bear witness to its former prosperity". Little remains of Valognes's famous architectural heritage, as many of the aristocratic mansions were reduced to rubble during the battle of Normandy. The lovely ''hôtel'' de Beaumont, however, still stands.


Population


Heraldry


Museums

The town has two museums devoted to the two alcoholic drinks for which Normandy is known: one for
cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...
, the other for the apple brandy called '' calvados''.


Twin towns

Valognes is twinned with * Wimborne in
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
* Stolberg in
Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...


Notable people

* Félix Vicq-d'Azyr born on 23 April 1746 *
Edelestand du Méril Edelestand Pontas du Méril (26 March 1801 – 24 May 1870) was a French medievalist and philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticis ...
(1801–1870), French medievalist and philologist. *
Frédéric Guilbert Frédéric Guilbert (; born 24 December 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Ligue 1 club Strasbourg. A product of the Caen youth system, he has played mainly in France for AS Cherbourg, Bordeaux and Strasbour ...
born 24 December 1994 in Valognes, French professional footballer.


See also

* Communes of the Manche department


References


External links


Valognes ville d'art et d'histoire
(official site)
History of the Hotel de Beaumont, grand historic house in the town
Communes of Manche {{Manche-geo-stub