Melun

History

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. 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. 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.

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. The town was liberated by Joan of Arc on 17 April 1430.

The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1848.

Counts of Melun

• Aurelianus (c. 500)
• Donatus (?-834)
• Bouchard I (956/967–1005), also Count of Vendôme and Count of Paris

Viscounts of Melun

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:

• 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.

Population

| graph-pos = bottom |1793 |5500 |1800 |6111 |1806 |6818 |1821 |6992 |1831 |6622 |1836 |6846 |1841 |8950 |1846 |9151 |1851 |10395 |1856 |10312 |1861 |11170 |1866 |11408 |1872 |11130 |1876 |11241 |1881 |12145 |1886 |12564 |1891 |12792 |1896 |13641 |1901 |13059 |1906 |13908 |1911 |14861 |1921 |14657 |1926 |15928 |1931 |16356 |1936 |17499 |1946 |17573 |1954 |20219 |1962 |26873 |1968 |34518 |1975 |37712 |1982 |35005 |1990 |35319 |1999 |35695 |2007 |37835 |2012 |40503 |2017 |40032

Climate

|Jan record high C = 16.9 |Feb record high C = 21.2 |Mar record high C = 25.6 |Apr record high C = 29.5 |May record high C = 31.6 |Jun record high C = 36.8 |Jul record high C = 41.9 |Aug record high C = 38.9 |Sep record high C = 34.4 |Oct record high C = 29.4 |Nov record high C = 22.1 |Dec record high C = 17.6 |Jan record low C = -19.8 |Feb record low C = -19.7 |Mar record low C = -10.3 |Apr record low C = -4.6 |May record low C = -2.1 |Jun record low C = 1.6 |Jul record low C = 4.0 |Aug record low C = 3.5 |Sep record low C = 0.4 |Oct record low C = -4.8 |Nov record low C = -9.3 |Dec record low C = -14.8 |access-date=21 November 2024}} | access-date = 5 January 2016}}

Transport

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

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

Melun is the birthplace of:

• Morgan Ciprès (born 1991), pair skater
• Jérémie Bela (born 1993), footballer
• Willy Boly (born 1991), footballer
• Pierre Certon (c.1510-1520-1572), composer of the Renaissance (probably born in Melun)
• Jacques Amyot (1513–1593), writer
• Chimène Badi (1982–), singer
• Samir Beloufa (1979–), professional footballer
• Raphaël Desroses (born 1980), basketball player
• Khamis Digol (born 1998), footballer
• Stéphane Dondon (born 1977), basketball player
• Grégory Guilvert (born 1982), racing driver
• Judah of Melun (13th century), French rabbi and tosafist
• Yvan Kibundu (born 1989), footballer
• Godson Kyeremeh (born 2000), footballer
• Edmé-François Mallet (1713–1755), theologian and encyclopédiste
• Steven Mouyokolo (born 1987), footballer
• Granddi Ngoyi (born 1988), footballer
• Yrétha Silété (born 1994), figure skater
• Oumar Solet (born 2000), footballer
• Bertrand Grospellier (born 1981), poker player
• William the Carpenter, viscount of Melun in the 11th century
• Jean-Baptiste Djebbari (born 1982), politician and former Minister of Transport
• Werenoi (1994–2025), rapper of Cameroonian descent

Education

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

Public high schools/sixth form colleges:

• Lycée Léonard-de-Vinci
• Lycée Jacques-Amyot
• Lycée George-Sand

There is one private high school/sixth form college:

• Lycée Saint Aspais

Twin towns – sister cities

Melun is twinned with:

• ITA Crema, Italy
• ENG Spelthorne, England, United Kingdom
• GER Vaihingen (Stuttgart), Germany

References

Sources

• 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.

References

1. (30 November 2023). "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises.
2. ''[[Gallic War]]'' vii. 58, 60.
3. Meledunum appears in the [[Antonine Itinerary]] almost halfway between [[Lutetia]] (Paris) and [[Rennes. Condate (Rennes)]] ([http://www.sc.edu/ltantsoc/mele0296.htm 'Meledunum"]).
4. (1972). "Merovingian Military Organization, 481-751". U of Minnesota Press.
5. (1801). "The Field of Mars: Being an Alphabetical Digestion of the Principal Naval and Military Engagements, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America". J. Macgowan.
6. "Melun Town Hall". Structurae.
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. {{Cassini-Ehess. 21914. Melun
9. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-77288#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE
10. "[http://www.ville-melun.fr/partager-eduquer/scolarite/111-liste-des-etablissements-scolaires Liste des établissements scolaires ] {{webarchive. link. (21 September 2016 ." Melun. Consulté le 29 août 2016.)
11. "Jumelage". Melun.