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Melun

Coordinates: 48°32′26″N 2°39′36″E / 48.5406°N 2.66°E / 48.5406; 2.66
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Melun (disambiguation).

Melun
Prefecture and commune
Town hall
Town hall
Coat of arms of Melun
Coat of arms
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Location of Melun
Map
Melun is located in France
Melun
Melun
Melun is located in Île-de-France (region)
Melun
Melun
Coordinates: 48°32′26″N 2°39′36″E / 48.5406°N 2.66°E / 48.5406; 2.66
CountryFrance
RegionÎle-de-France
DepartmentSeine-et-Marne
ArrondissementMelun
CantonMelun
IntercommunalityCA Melun Val de Seine
Government
 • Mayor (2023–2026) Kadir Mebarek[1] (Horizons)
Area
1
8.04 km2 (3.10 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
42,367
 • Density5,300/km2 (14,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
77288 /77000
Elevation37–102 m (121–335 ft)
(avg. 54 m or 177 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Melun (French pronunciation: [məlœ̃] ⓘ) is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about 41 kilometres (25+1⁄2 miles) from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, and the seat of one of its arrondissements. Its inhabitants are called Melunais.

History

[edit]

Meledunum began as a Gaulish town; Caesar noted Melun as "a town of the Senones, situated on an island in the Seine"; at the island there was a wooden bridge, which his men repaired.[3] Roman Meledunum was a mutatio where fresh horses were kept available for official couriers on the Roman road south-southeast of Paris, where it forded the Seine.[4] Around 500 A.D, Clovis I granted Melun to a Gallo-Roman magnate, Aurelianus, who had fought for Clovis several times and apparently influenced his conversion to Christianity.[5]

The Normans sacked it in 845. The castle of Melun became a royal residence of the Capetian kings. Hugh Capet (See also: House of Capet) gave Melun to Bouchard, his favorite. In the reign of Hugh's son, Robert II of France, Eudes, the count of Champagne, bought the city, but the king took it back for Bouchard in 999. The chatelain Gautier and his wife, who had sold the city, were hanged; Eudes escaped. Robert died there in July 1031.

Robert of Melun (c. 1100 – 27 February 1167) was an English scholastic Christian theologian who taught in France, and later became Bishop of Hereford in England. He studied under Peter Abelard in Paris before teaching there and at Melun, which gave him his surname.

In July 1415, Melun was besieged by King Henry V of England, who had recently signed the Treaty of Troyes with King Charles VI of France. The town was in the hands of the Dauphin, later Charles VII of France, who had been dispossessed by the treaty. The defenders were led by Arnaud Guillaume, seigneur de Barbazan, and fought off the besiegers for fourteen weeks before capitulating.[6] The town was liberated by Joan of Arc on 17 April 1430.

Counts of Melun

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Viscounts of Melun

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The early viscounts of Melun were listed by 17th and 18th century genealogists, notably Père Anselme. Based on closer reading of the original documents, Adolphe Duchalais constructed this list of viscounts in 1844:[7]

  • Salo (c. 993; possibly legendary)
  • Joscelin I (c. 998)
  • William (possibly c. 1000)
  • Ursio (c. 1067–1085)
  • William the Carpenter (c. 1094)
  • Hilduin, Garin, Ursio II, Jean (unknown dates, possibly not viscounts)
  • Adam (c. 1138–1141; married Mahaut, daughter of his predecessor)
  • Joscelin II (c. 1156)

The title eventually became an honorary peerage. Such viscounts include Honoré Armand de Villars and Claude Louis Hector de Villars.

Watercolor postcard showing Melun in the 1920s and circa 1095.

Population

[edit]
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 5,500—    
1800 6,111+1.52%
1806 6,818+1.84%
1821 6,992+0.17%
1831 6,622−0.54%
1836 6,846+0.67%
1841 8,950+5.51%
1846 9,151+0.45%
1851 10,395+2.58%
1856 10,312−0.16%
1861 11,170+1.61%
1866 11,408+0.42%
1872 11,130−0.41%
1876 11,241+0.25%
1881 12,145+1.56%
1886 12,564+0.68%
1891 12,792+0.36%
1896 13,641+1.29%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 13,059−0.87%
1906 13,908+1.27%
1911 14,861+1.33%
1921 14,657−0.14%
1926 15,928+1.68%
1931 16,356+0.53%
1936 17,499+1.36%
1946 17,573+0.04%
1954 20,219+1.77%
1962 26,873+3.62%
1968 34,518+4.26%
1975 37,712+1.27%
1982 35,005−1.06%
1990 35,319+0.11%
1999 35,695+0.12%
2007 37,835+0.73%
2012 40,503+1.37%
2017 40,032−0.23%
Source: EHESS[8] and INSEE (1968-2017)[9]

Climate

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Climate data for Melun (1981–2010 averages)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 16.9
(62.4) 		21.2
(70.2) 		25.6
(78.1) 		29.5
(85.1) 		31.2
(88.2) 		36.8
(98.2) 		39.4
(102.9) 		38.9
(102.0) 		33.8
(92.8) 		29.4
(84.9) 		22.1
(71.8) 		17.6
(63.7) 		39.4
(102.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 6.4
(43.5) 		7.8
(46.0) 		12.0
(53.6) 		15.3
(59.5) 		19.3
(66.7) 		22.5
(72.5) 		25.2
(77.4) 		25.0
(77.0) 		21.1
(70.0) 		16.2
(61.2) 		10.3
(50.5) 		6.8
(44.2) 		15.7
(60.3)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.0
(33.8) 		1.0
(33.8) 		3.1
(37.6) 		5.0
(41.0) 		8.8
(47.8) 		11.6
(52.9) 		13.5
(56.3) 		13.2
(55.8) 		10.4
(50.7) 		7.8
(46.0) 		3.9
(39.0) 		1.8
(35.2) 		6.8
(44.2)
Record low °C (°F) −19.8
(−3.6) 		−19.7
(−3.5) 		−10.3
(13.5) 		−4.6
(23.7) 		−2.1
(28.2) 		1.6
(34.9) 		4.0
(39.2) 		3.5
(38.3) 		0.4
(32.7) 		−4.8
(23.4) 		−9.3
(15.3) 		−14.8
(5.4) 		−19.8
(−3.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 55.1
(2.17) 		47.6
(1.87) 		51.0
(2.01) 		53.7
(2.11) 		64.6
(2.54) 		53.9
(2.12) 		61.3
(2.41) 		53.4
(2.10) 		56.1
(2.21) 		63.6
(2.50) 		55.2
(2.17) 		61.4
(2.42) 		676.9
(26.65)
Average precipitation days 11.0 9.9 10.6 9.8 10.8 8.7 8.2 7.8 8.4 9.9 10.6 11.4 117.2
Average relative humidity (%) 88 83 79 73 75 74 73 74 78 85 88 89 79.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 62.6 79.6 136.5 178.3 211.7 226.5 229.3 221.7 174.8 118.0 65.4 48.2 1,752.5
Source 1: Météo France[10][11]
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990)[12]

Transport

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Melun Shield dating from the 15th century – "Melun (Seine-et-Marne): Azure on a semy-de-lys or a castle with three towers argent. Melun was one of the original strongholds of the royal domain. Motto: fida muris usque ad mures, recalling the siege of 1420 when inhabitants had to eat rats." http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/frcitdep.htm

Melun is served by the Gare de Melun, which is an interchange station on Paris RER line D, on the Transilien R suburban rail line, and on several national rail lines.

Main sights

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The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame, Melun was the original home of the Melun Diptych.

The nearby château of Vaux-le-Vicomte is considered a smaller predecessor of Palace of Versailles.

The officers' school of the French Gendarmerie is located in Melun.

Notable people

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Melun is the birthplace of:

Education

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Lycée Jacques-Amyot

A campus of the École nationale de l'aviation civile (French civil aviation university) is located in Melun.

Public high schools/sixth form colleges:[13]

There is one private high school/sixth form college:[13]

Twin towns – sister cities

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Melun is twinned with:[14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 30 November 2023.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ Gallic War vii. 58, 60.
  4. ^ Meledunum appears in the Antonine Itinerary almost halfway between Lutetia (Paris) and Condate (Rennes) ('Meledunum").
  5. ^ Bachrach, Bernard S. (1972). Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751. U of Minnesota Press. p. 15. ISBN 9780816657001.
  6. ^ The Field of Mars: Being an Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. J. Macgowan. 1801. p. 226.
  7. ^ Adolphe Duchalais, "Charte inedité de l’an 1138, relative à l’histoire des viscomtes de Melun" (Bibliothèque de l’école des chartes vol. 6 no. 6, 1845).
  8. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Melun, EHESS (in French).
  9. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  10. ^ "Données climatiques de la station de Melun" (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  11. ^ "Climat Île-de-France" (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original on 13 June 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Normes et records 1961-1990: Melun - Villaroche (77) - altitude 91m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Liste des établissements scolaires Archived 21 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine." Melun. Consulté le 29 août 2016.
  14. ^ "Jumelage". ville-melun.fr (in French). Melun. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.

Sources

[edit]
  • Initial text from the "Carpenters' Encyclopedia of Carpenters 2001" Compiled by John R. Carpenter.
  • The Viscounts and Counts of Melun are listed in Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln, Neue Folge, Volume VII, Tafels 55 & 56.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Melun.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Melun".
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