Corbie

Geography

The small town is situated 15 km up river from Amiens, in the département of Somme and is the main town of the canton of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the river Somme, at the confluence with the Ancre. The town is bisected by the Canal de la Somme.

This satellite photograph shows it in its context. The town is to the left and the fenny Somme valley winds down to it from the right. The chalk of the Upper Cretaceous plateau shows pale in the fields. The river Ancre flows down from the north-east. The A29 road is shown under construction snaking across the chalk in the southern part of the picture. The fainter, straight line just to its north is the road N29. It passes through Villers-Bretonneux, the village just south of Corbie.

History

Corbie Abbey

Main article: Corbie Abbey

The town of Corbie grew up round Corbie Abbey, founded in 657 or 660 by the queen regent Bathilde, with a founding community of monks from Luxeuil Abbey in the Franche-Comté.

Its scriptorium came to be one of the centers of work of manuscript illumination when the art was still fairly new in western Europe. In this early Merovingian period the work of Corbie was innovative in that it portrayed images of people, such as Saint Jerome. It was also the place of creation, in about 780, of the influential Caroline minuscule script.

The contents of its library are known from catalogues of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In 1638, Cardinal Richelieu ordered the transfer of the library's books to the library at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which was dispersed at the end of the eighteenth century.

Town

In 1234, Floris IV, Count of Holland died at a tournament held here. In 1475, the town was taken by Louis XI. The Spanish took it after a short siege on 15 August 1636 but were ousted in November by Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIII after a siege of three months.

In 1918, Corbie was on the margin of the battlefield of Villers-Bretonneux at which the First Battle of the Somme (1918) of the German spring offensive came to a climax.

Population

|1968 |5261 |1975 |5466 |1982 |6176 |1990 |6152 |1999 |6317 |2007 |6342 |2012 |6290 |2017 |6283

Pictures

File:Bathilde Reine FRANCE.JPG|Queen Bathilde, Jardin du LUXEMBOURG, PARIS File:Blason de l'ancienne abbaye de Corbie.svg|Coat of arms of the Royal Abbey of CORBIE File:Corbie-Carte de Cassini1.jpg| Map by CASSINI, circa 1780 File:Corbie mairie (façade ouest).jpg|Town hall File:Corbie monument aux morts (détail) 1.jpg|Monument by Albert Roze File:Corbie ancienne église Saint-Etienne et abbatiale.jpg|The Abbey church, 18th century File:Corbie 28-09-2008 12-20-19.JPG|The Abbey church, 18th century File:Corbie toegangspoort klooster 28-09-2008 11-34-59.JPG|Gate of Honor of the Abbey, 1750 File:La Neuville-sous-Corbie église 1.jpg|Notre-Dame de la Neuville church, 15th century File:La Neuville-lès-Corbie église (détail du tympan) 1.jpg|La Neuville church, 15th century, detail File:La Neuville-lès-Corbie église (détail du tympan) 2.jpg|La Neuville church, 15th century, detail

Sights

• Abbey of St. Peter (Saint Pierre)
• Town Hall
• Church of la Neuville; at the north-west end of the town

Personalities

• Adalard of Corbie, a German cousin of Charlemagne, was abbot of Corbie. In 822, he founded Corvey Abbey (Corbeia nova or "new Corbie") on the territory of Höxter in Westphalia.
• Adela of France, Countess of Flanders (1009–1079), countess of Corbie, married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders(c. 1030-1070); their son, Baldwin of Mons became Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders.
• Saint Gérard (born at Corbie in 1025): abbot and confessor.
• Saint Colette (born at Corbie in 1381): reformer of the Franciscan Order
• Eugène Lefebvre, aviation pioneer, born at Corbie 4 October 1878. He was the first pilot to be killed at the controls of his aeroplane, 7 September 1909

Twin towns

• GER Höxter, Germany
• UK Pickering, Great Britain

References

References

1. (13 September 2022). "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises.
2. see [[Calligraphy#Western Europe. calligraphy]] and [[Merovingian script]]
3. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-80212#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE