Montereau-Fault-Yonne

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{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Infobox French commune

Montereau-Fault-Yonne (Template:IPA, before 1992: Montereau-Faut-Yonne),<ref>Décret du 5 août 1992 portant changement de nom de communes, Légifrance.</ref> or simply Montereau, is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.

Geography

Montereau-Fault-Yonne straddles the confluence of the rivers Yonne and Seine at the far south-east of the Île-de-France region, 70 km southeast of its administrative centre, Paris. The A5 autoroute (Paris–Troyes–Chaumont) passes northeast of the town. Montereau station links by rail Laroche-Migennes, Melun and Paris. It is approximately equidistant between slightly larger Melun and Sens.

Name

The city takes its name from its geographical position on the confluence of the Yonne and the Seine rivers. Template:Lang, also spelled Template:Lang comes from the verb Template:Lang ("to fail") in its old meaning to fall. Montereau is where the Yonne falls into the Seine.

Sights

File:Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Surville - Place Jean XXIII - 2.jpg
John XXIII Square, in Surville.

The town is split in three by the rivers, Template:Lang situated on the southern shore and Surville on the hill to the north. The old town centre is located in Template:Lang while Surville is an assembly of high rise buildings, erected after World War II, and is in many ways a typical Template:Lang in the Île-de-France. Some of these high rise buildings are now (2005) going to be destroyed and replaced by individual houses. The old château-park in Surville (now the site of a high school Lycée André Malraux) however gives a very nice view over the confluent and the Seine-et-Marne region. On the east side, between the two rivers, are the port and an industrial park.

History

In 1359, the King of Navarre Charles II of Navarre, who held the town because of his Champagne ascent, lost it to the regent of France (the future king Charles V).

File:Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Plaque commemorating assassination of John the Fearless.jpg
Plaque commemorating the murder in 1419 of John the Fearless, on the bridge crossing the Yonne river.

John the Fearless was killed on the town's bridge in September, 1419 by Tanneguy du Chastel and the sire de Barbazan, during a conference with the dauphin (who became in 1422 Charles VII). An inscription on the bridge recalls the event. In the collegiate church Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Loup there is a sword which has long been said to be John the Fearless', but actually this sword is certainly more recent.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1420, Philip the Good, the son of John the Fearless, seized the town, which remained for eight years in the hands of the Anglo-Burgundian coalition. However, at the end of a long siege, the king Charles VII, helped by Jacques de Chabannes and Jean de Dunois, managed to take it again.

In 1567, during the Wars of Religion, Condé briefly seized the town.

In 1587, the inhabitants of Montereau sided with the Catholic League, but in 1590 they accepted the legitimacy of the new king Henry IV.

File:Montereau-Fault-Yonne - Statue of Napoleon - 1.jpg
Statue of Napoleon, erected during the Second Empire on the bridge of Montereau.

Montereau was also the place of one of the last victories of Napoleon on 14 February 1814.

In January 2012, the mayor proposed development of Napoleon's Bivouac, a commemorative theme park at a projected cost of 200 million euros.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The plans remain in dispute and nothing has been built.

Demographics

Inhabitants of Montereau-Fault-Yonne are called Template:Lang.<ref>Le nom des habitants du 77 - Seine-et-Marne, habitants.fr</ref> The urban area of Montereau-Fault-Yonne has 29,458 inhabitants (2018).<ref>Comparateur de territoire, Unité urbaine 2020 de Montereau-Fault-Yonne (77404), INSEE</ref>

Template:Historical populations

Hospital

Montereau has a campus of the Centre hospitalier Sud Seine et Marne.

Economy

Historically, the city has sported a strong industrial base and thus has strong blue collar roots. In recent decades, unemployment has become an increasing problem, especially within the immigrant community in Surville.

Twin towns

Montereau is twinned with the British town of Otley, north of Leeds.

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Template:Commons category Template:EB1911 Poster

Template:Seine-et-Marne communes

Template:Authority control