Dreux () is a commune in the

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.department in northern France.

Geography

Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres.

Dreux station Gare de Dreux is a railway station serving the town Dreux, Eure-et-Loir department, northwestern France. Services The station is served by regional trains to Argentan Argentan () is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondiss ...

has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granville. The

Route nationale 12 The Route nationale 12, or RN12, is a trunk road ( nationale) in France connecting Paris with Brittany. The road forms part of European route E50. It is approximately long. History Until the 1950s, the RN 12 followed a different itinerary bet ...

(Paris–Rennes) passes north of the town.

History

Dreux was known in ancient times as Durocassium, the capital of the

Durocasses The Durocasses were a Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Dreux during the Roman period. Name They are mentioned ''Durocasis'' (var. ''durocacasis'') on the ''Itinerarium Antonini'' (early 3rd c. AD), as ''Durocassio'' on the '' Tabula P ...

Celtic tribe. Despite the legend, its name was not related with Druids. The Romans established here a fortified camp known as Castrum Drocas. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Dreux was the centre of the

County of Dreux The Counts of Dreux were a noble family of France, who took their title from the chief stronghold of their domain, the château of Dreux, which lies near the boundary between Normandy and the Île-de-France. They are notable for inheriting the Du ...

. The first count of Dreux was

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

, the son of King Louis the Fat. The first large battle of 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 Catholics and Protestants, commonly called Huguenots, which lasted from 1562 to 1598. According to estimates, between two and four mil ...

occurred at Dreux, on 19 December 1562, resulting in a hard-fought victory for the Catholic forces of the

duc de Montmorency Duke of Montmorency was a title of French nobility that was created several times for members of the Montmorency family, who were lords of Montmorency, near Paris. History The first creation was in 1551 for Anne de Montmorency, Constable of F ...

. In October 1983, the

Front National The National Rally (french: Rassemblement National, ; RN), until 2018 known as the National Front (french: link=no, Front National, ; FN), is a far-rightAbridged list of reliable sources that refer to National Rally as far-right: Academic: * ...

won 55% of the vote in the second round of elections for the city council of Dreux, in one of its first significant electoral victories.

Population

Sights

Chapelle royale de Dreux

In 1775, the lands of the '' comté de Dreux'' had been given to the Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre by his cousin

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

. In 1783, the duke sold his domain of Rambouillet to Louis XVI. On 25 November of that year, in a long religious procession, Penthièvre transferred the nine caskets containing the remains of his parents, the Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse and Marie Victoire de Noailles, comtesse de Toulouse, his wife, Marie Thérèse Félicité d'Este, Princess of Modène, and six of their seven children, from the small medieval village church next to the castle in Rambouillet, to the chapel of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne de Dreux. The duc de Penthièvre died in March 1793 and his body was laid to rest in the crypt beside his parents. On 21 November of that same year, in the midst of 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 conside ...

, a mob desecrated the crypt and threw the ten bodies in a mass grave in the ''Chanoines'' cemetery of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne. In 1816, the duc de Penthièvre's daughter, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, duchesse d'Orléans, had a new chapel built on the site of the mass grave of the Chanoines cemetery, as the final resting place for her family. In 1830, Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, son of the

duchesse d'Orléans Duchesse (Duchesse satin) was a soft, heavy, and glossy satin cloth made in France. Weave Duchesse was produced with a satin weave with fine silk threads using a higher number of threads per square inch in the warp with at least seven float ...

, embellished the chapel which was renamed Chapelle royale de Dreux, now the necropolis of the

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Château d'Anet *''Hôtel de Montulé'' (16th century) *Pavilion of Louis XVI *''Hôtel de Salvat-Duhalde '' (18th century)

Personalities

Dreux was the birthplace of: * Kalifa Cissé, footballer * Martin Pierre d'Alvimare (1772–1839), composer and harpist * Siraba Dembélé, handball player * Abdou Dieye, footballer * Chloe Gosselin, fiancee of magician David Copperfield * Louis Victor Dubois (1837–1914), wine merchant and politician * Rémi Gounelle (1967-), Protestant theologian * Marouan Kechrid, basketball player *

Yannick Lesourd Yannick Lesourd (born 3 April 1988 in Dreux) is a track and field sprint athlete who competes internationally for France.Antoine Godeau (1605–1672), bishop, poet and exegete. He is now known for his work of criticism Discours de la poésie chrétienne from 1633. *

Jean Rotrou Jean Rotrou (21 August 1609 – 28 June 1650) was a French poet and tragedian. Life Rotrou was born at Dreux, city of the current department of Eure-et-Loir, in Centre-Val de Loire region. He studied at Dreux and at Paris, and, though three years ...

(1609–1650), poet and tragedian * Jean-Louis-Auguste Loiseleur-Deslongchamps (1774–1849), botanist * Charles Delescluze (1809–1871), journalist and military commander of the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

* Issa Samba, footballer * Adrien Trebel (1991-), footballer * Eddie London (1956–), singer * François-André Danican Philidor (1726–1795), musician and

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player * Guerschon Yabusele, basketball player

Twin towns - sister cities

Dreux is twinned with: * Todi, Italy, since 1960 *

Melsungen Melsungen () is a small climatic spa town in the Schwalm-Eder district in northern Hesse, Germany. In 1987, the town hosted the 27th ''Hessentag'' state festival. Geography Melsungen lies on the river Fulda in the North Hesse Highlands. The str ...

, Germany, since 1966 *

Koudougou Koudougou is a city in Burkina Faso's Boulkiemdé Province. It is located west of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. With a population of 160,239 (2019) it is the third most populous city in Burkina Faso after Ouagadougou and Bobo Dio ...

, Burkina Faso, since 1972 * Evesham, England, UK, since 1977 * Bautzen, Germany, since 1992 * Almeirim, Portugal, since 2018