Soissons

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Soissons
Soissons Coat of Arms
Soissons (France)
Soissons
region Hauts-de-France
Department Aisne
Arrondissement Soissons
Canton Soissons-1
Soissons-2
Community association Communauté d'agglomération du Soissonnais
Coordinates 49 ° 23 ′  N , 3 ° 19 ′  E Coordinates: 49 ° 23 ′  N , 3 ° 19 ′  E
height 38-130 m
surface 12.32 km 2
Residents 28,530 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 2,316 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 02200
INSEE code 02722
Website www.ville-soissons.fr

town hall

Soissons [ swaˈsõ ] is a northern French municipality with 28,530 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Aisne department in Picardy . It is the capital of the Soissons arrondissement .

Soissons was already known as Augusta Suessionum during the Roman occupation . It was the capital of the Franconian Empire between 486 and 497 . Today Soissons is still bishopric of the diocese of Soissons .

Geographical location

Soissons is located between the communes of Laon in the northeast, Compiègne in the west, Paris in the southwest and Reims in the east. The municipality is located on the south bank of the Aisne , whose left tributary Crise flows into the municipality.

history

Antiquity

In ancient times the Celtic tribe of the Suessionen settled in the area around Soissons. Soissons was the chief town of this Belgian tribe, who finally lived in 57 BC. Was subjugated by Gaius Iulius Caesar . The city was called Augusta Suessionum by the Romans . In the 5th century, Aegidius and Syagrius resided in Soissons. With the victory of Clovis over Syagrius in 486 (or 487) AD in the battle of Soissons , the city became the seat of the Merovingian kings.

middle Ages

After the establishment of the Frankish Empire by Clovis I by Emperor Anastasios I in 497, Clovis moved the capital to Paris. After the division of the empire in 511, Chlothar I , the youngest son of Clovis, received the north-western part of the empire with Soissons as the capital. The term Reich von Soissons is not widely used for this . From 575 the term Neustria for this part of the empire prevailed.

In 576 Chilperich I defeated the Austrasians at Soissons, and Karl Martell in 719 the Duke Friedrich of Aquitaine. In 744 a synod , which was important for Neustria, met in Soissons . a. marriage failed, strictness in the fight against paganism was ordered, and lay people were allowed to enjoy church goods. In 751 Pippin the Younger was raised to king in Soissons . Ludwig the Pious had to do church penance in the city in 833. The second church assembly in 853 established statutes on the invalidity of church ordinations performed by deposed prelates. The church assembly of 866 also referred to this, since the deposed Archbishop Ebo of Reims continued to consecrate.

Soissons had been the seat of its own counts since the 9th century . In 884 the city was conquered by the Normans . Hugo the Great of France defeated Charles III in the Battle of Soissons in June 923 . the simple-minded . In 1121 another council was held in Soissons , at which a writing by Peter Abelard was burned as a heretic. The synod held here in 1201 concerned the marriage affairs of King Philip II August because of his cast out wife Ingeborg . Philip II held a diet in Soissons in August 1213.

In 1415, Soissons resistance against King Charles VI. to the complete destruction of the city in the Hundred Years War . The last synod held in Soissons, which met in 1455, decided to join the decrees issued in Basel with regard to the order of worship.

Modern times

During the Huguenot Wars , Soissons was constantly besieged in the second half of the 16th century. In 1734 the county of Soissons reverted to the French crown.

During the Wars of Liberation , Soissons, fortified by tower and moat, was taken by storm on February 14, 1814 by the Russian general Alexander Ivanovich Tschernyschow , but was occupied again by Montier on February 19. On March 2 and 3, 1814, Soissons was besieged by Bülow and Wintzingerode . The French commander Moreau surrendered the city to the besiegers on March 3, which is why Napoleon had him shot. After Napoleon returned in March 1815 and assumed rule of the Hundred Days , Soissons and Laon were enclosed by part of the first Prussian army corps and surrendered on August 14, 1815 after peace had been concluded.

Soissons suffered severe damage in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. There was a fortress in the city, which was captured by German troops in October 1870. Over 4,700 soldiers were taken prisoner and extensive material assets such as cannons, equipment and the war chest with 92,000 francs were captured.

During the First World War (1914–1918), the city was occupied twice by German troops and three-quarters were destroyed by artillery fire from both sides. The towers of the abbey remained intact.

In June 1940 Soissons came under German occupation as part of the western campaign - the 1st Mountain Division (Wehrmacht) had crossed the Aisne at Soissons on June 8, 1940. In the course of the surrender of Paris , the Wehrmacht troops quickly withdrew; On August 28, 1944, Western Allied troops liberated Soissons. The 5th Panzer Army failed to hold onto Soissons.

Soissons – Breuil airfield

During both world wars there was an airfield west of the village of Saconin-et-Breuil south of today's D-94 . Between May 1917 and May 1918 he served in the French Air Force, which activated him again from the end of August 1939. During the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht in June 1940 he served German Bf 109E fighters. Parts of Jagdgeschwader 27 (staff, I. and II. Groups) and the I. group of Jagdgeschwader 1 lay here for a few days . In June 1944 the Luftwaffe requisitioned the area again, but hardly used it anymore.

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2007 2016
Residents 23,150 25,890 30.009 30,213 29,829 29,439 28,471 28,466

Buildings

Saint Gervais and Saint Protais Cathedral
Cathedral and war memorial
Ruins of the Saint-Jean-des-Vignes abbey church

Soissons Cathedral

The Gothic cathedral Saint-Gervais et Saint-Protais of Soissons was built from 1180. The facade dates from around 1400. The completion of the north tower was prevented by the Hundred Years War . The wheel window in the middle was used much later. The sculptural decoration of the portal zones fell victim to the Huguenots' destruction as early as 1567 . Later, the First World War in particular caused severe damage.

Former Saint-Jean-des-Vignes Abbey

The former abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, founded in 1076, towers over the city with the western towers that are still preserved and can be seen from afar. The Gothic architecture dates from the 13th to the 16th centuries. In 1359 the monastery was fortified during the Hundred Years War. At the end of the 18th century and after the French Revolution, the complex fell apart. From then on, the site served as a quarry and barracks. Today there is a museum in a former barracks building.

Other buildings worth seeing

  • War memorial 1870/71 and St. Jean Abbey

  • War Memorial First World War

  • Soissons on the Aisne

  • Notre Dame Abbey ruins

Twin cities


Personalities

Quotes

  • "She saw Caesar triumph, Clovis reign and Napoleon wavering." ( Victor Hugo )

literature

  • Horst Heynemann: Picardy. From the Aisne to the Oise ... from the Somme to the English Channel . Meyer and Meyer, Aachen 1999, ISBN 3-89124-558-0 .

Web links

Commons : Soissons  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Caesar, de bello Gallico 2.12
  2. ↑ SOCIÉTÉ ARCHÉOLOGIQUE, HISTORIQUEET SCIENTIFIQUE DE SOISSONS
  3. ↑ page 678
  4. ↑ a b c Jumelages: Ville de soissons. Retrieved November 25, 2012 (French).