Auxerre
Encyclopedia
Auxerre is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Bourgogne
Bourgogne
Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...

 region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....

. It is the capital of the Yonne
Yonne
Yonne is a French department named after the Yonne River. It is one of the four constituent departments of Burgundy in eastern France and its prefecture is Auxerre. Its official number is 89....

 department.

Auxerre's population today is about 45,000. People there are called Auxerrois.
Auxerre's urban area accounts for more than 88,000 people.

It is a commercial and industrial centre, with industries including food production, woodworking and batteries.
Auxerre is also world-famous for the wine produced in the neighbourhood, including the renowned Chablis.

History

Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, Antissiodorum through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the Via Agrippa
Via Agrippa
The term Via Agrippa, describes any stretch of the network of Roman roads in Gaul that were built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to whom Octavian entrusted the reorganization of the Gauls. In all, the Romans built of roads in Gaul.-Agrippa's project:...

 (1st century AD) which crossed the Yonne River
Yonne River
The Yonne is a river in France, left tributary of the Seine. It is 292 km long. The river gives its name to the Yonne département. Its source is in the Nièvre département, in the Morvan hills near Château-Chinon...

 (Gallo-Roman Icauna) here. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop and a provincial capital of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

. In the 5th century it received a Cathedral. In the late 11th-early 12th century the existing communities were included inside a new line of walls built by the feudal Counts of Auxerre
County of Auxerre
The County of Auxerre is a former state of current central France, with capital in Auxerre.-History:The first count attested by the sources is one Ermenaud, a companion of Charlemagne who reigned around 770. In 859 Charles the Bald handed over the county to his cousin Conrad II of Burgundy. When he...

.

Bourgeois activities accompanied the traditional land and wine cultivations starting from the twelfth century, and Auxerre developed into a commune with a Town Hall of its own. The Burgundian city, which became part of France under King Louis XI
Louis XI of France
Louis XI , called the Prudent , was the King of France from 1461 to 1483. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Mary of Anjou, a member of the House of Valois....

, suffered during the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...

 and the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...

. In 1567 it was captured by the Huguenots, and many of the Catholic edifices were damaged. The medieval ramparts were demolished in the 18th century.

In the 19th century numerous heavy infrastructures were built, including a railway station, a psychiatric hospital and the courts, and new quarters were developed on the right bank of the Yonne.

In 1995 it was named "Town of Art and History".

Main sights

  • Cathedral of St. Étienne
    Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre
    Auxerre Cathedral located in Auxerre, Burgundy, France, is known for its expansive stained glass windows.Most of the Burgundian Gothic cathedral was built between 1215 and 1233 above an 11th-century crypt...

     (11th–16th centuries). In Gothic
    Gothic architecture
    Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

     style, it is renowned for its three doorways with remarkable bas-reliefs. The stained glass windows in the choir and the apsidal chapel are among the finest in France. The 11th century crypt houses the remains of the former Romanesque
    Romanesque architecture
    Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

     cathedral.
  • Abbey of Saint-Germain
    Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre
    The Abbey of Saint-Germain d'Auxerre was a Benedictine monastery in southern France, dedicated to its founder Saint Germain of Auxerre, the bishop of Auxerre, who died in 478...

    , existing from the ninth century. The crypt has some of the most ancient mural paintings in France, and houses the tomb of the bishops of Auxerre. Also interesting are the chapter room (12th century), the cellar (14th century) and the cloister (seventeenth century).
  • The Clock tower, located in the Old Town
  • The church of St. Pierre en Vallée (17th–18th centuries), established over a 6th century abbey. In the style of late Gothic architecture, it has a tower similar to that of the cathedral. Portions of the decorations and inner chapels were financed by local winegrowers.
  • Church of St. Eusèbe, founded in the 7th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century, while the tower is in Romanesque style.
  • Museum of Natural History.

Personalities

  • Théodore Frédéric Gaillardet, (1808–1882), born in Auxerre, journalist, publisher of French-language newspaper Courrier des Etats-Unis
    Courrier des Etats-Unis
    The Courrier des Etats-Unis was a French language newspaper published by French immigrants in New York. It was founded in 1828 by Félix Lacoste with the help of Joseph Bonaparte , who was living in New Jersey....

    in New York City, mayor of Plessis-Bouchard, France.
  • Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier
    Joseph Fourier
    Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier was a French mathematician and physicist best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series and their applications to problems of heat transfer and vibrations. The Fourier transform and Fourier's Law are also named in his honour...

    , (1769–1830), born in Auxerre, mathematician, experimental physicist, and politician.
  • Saint Patrick
    Saint Patrick
    Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

     (5th Century AD), Apostle to the Irish, visited Bishop Germanus of Auxerre
    Germanus of Auxerre
    Germanus of Auxerre was a bishop of Auxerre in Gaul. He is a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, commemorated on July 31. He visited Britain in around 429 and the records of this visit provide valuable information on the state of post-Roman British society...

     here. Possibly he studied in Auxerre.
  • Saint Helladius
    Helladius of Auxerre
    Helladius of Auxerre was a Christian bishop of Auxerre. St. Amator was ordained deacon and tonsured by Helladius, which provides the earliest example of ecclesiastical tonsure mentioned in the religious history of France. He is commemorated on May 8.-Sources:*...

     (d. 387), bishop of Auxerre

Sister and twin cities

Greve in Chianti
Greve in Chianti
Greve in Chianti is a town and comune in the province of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is located c...

, Italy Płock, Poland Redditch
Redditch
Redditch is a town and local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district had a population of 79,216 in 2005. In the 19th century it became the international centre for the needle and fishing tackle industry...

, United Kingdom Roscoff
Roscoff
Roscoff is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France.The nearby Île de Batz, called Enez Vaz in Breton, is a small island that can be reached by launch from the harbour....

, France Saint-Amarin
Saint-Amarin
Saint-Amarin is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-References:*...

, France Varaždin
Varaždin
Varaždin is a city in north Croatia, north of Zagreb on the highway A4. The total population is 47,055, with 38,746 on of the city settlement itself . The centre of Varaždin county is located near the Drava river, at...

, Croatia Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...

, Germany

See also

  • County of Auxerre
    County of Auxerre
    The County of Auxerre is a former state of current central France, with capital in Auxerre.-History:The first count attested by the sources is one Ermenaud, a companion of Charlemagne who reigned around 770. In 859 Charles the Bald handed over the county to his cousin Conrad II of Burgundy. When he...

  • Bishopric of Auxerre
  • Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre
    Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre
    Auxerre Cathedral located in Auxerre, Burgundy, France, is known for its expansive stained glass windows.Most of the Burgundian Gothic cathedral was built between 1215 and 1233 above an 11th-century crypt...

  • Lady of Auxerre
    Lady of Auxerre
    The relatively small limestone Cretan sculpture called the Lady of Auxerre, , at the Louvre Museum in Paris depicts an archaic Greek goddess of c. 650 - 625 BC...

  • Saint Germanus of Auxerre
  • Remigius of Auxerre
    Remigius of Auxerre
    Remigius of Auxerre was a Benedictine monk during the Carolingian period, a teacher of Latin grammar, and a prolific author of commentaries on classical Greek and Latin texts...

  • William of Auxerre
    William of Auxerre
    William of Auxerre was a French scholastic theologian and official in the Roman Catholic Church.The teacher by whom William was most influenced was Praepositinus, or Prevostin, of Cremona, Chancellor of the University of Paris from 1206 to 1209...

  • Communes of the Yonne department

External links

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