La Ferté-sous-Jouarre () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne département in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located at a crossing point over the river

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

between Meaux and Château-Thierry.

History

This area of France has frequently been a site of warfare. In 1819, British naval officer, Norwich Duff (1792–1862), Edinburgh born, recorded a note on La Ferté. The

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

had apparently dampened the Napoleonic road building boom, as evidenced by unused milestones. Construction projects had rebuilt some facilities destroyed in the wars with Britain and other Powers. La Ferté is famous for millstones used for milling flour. Some have even been found in England. Among notable residents, the artist

Émile Bayard Émile-Antoine Bayard (2 November 1837 – 6 December 1891) was a French illustrator born in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne. A student of Léon Cogniet, he is known for his illustration of Cosette from ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hug ...

was born in this town (1837). The Irish avant-garde writer, dramatist, poet and nobel prize winner

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

lived in the neighboring hamlet of Mollien for 36 years. The town's library and secondary school are named after him. André the Giant, three times Worldwide Wrestling champion, icon of the André the Giant Has a Posse (aka Obey) street art project grew up in the local

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

. As a child, the American writer and filmmaker

Oliver Stone William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Stone won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as writer of '' Midnight Express'' (1978), and wrote the gangster film remake '' Sc ...

used to spend all his summer holiday at his French maternal grands-parents' hotel in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. The area was invaded and occupied by the Germans from the beginning of the Great War, which led to considerable damage and casualties. After the war, on 14 August 1921, the town of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre was awarded the War Cross with the following citation: On the south-western edge of the town, on the south bank of the river Marne, is the

La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial is a World War I memorial in France, located on the south bank of the river Marne, on the outskirts of the commune of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, 66 kilometres east of Paris, in the department of Seine-et-Marne. Al ...

, commemorating more than 3000 British soldiers from the Great War with no known grave. They died in fighting in the area against the Germans.

Demographics

Inhabitants of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre are called ''Fertois'' in French.

Notable residents

* Antoine of Navarre (1518–1562), King of Navarre, Father Henri IV * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), French Cardinal *

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

(1721–1764), member of the French court *

Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon (9 January 1818 – 28 April 1881) was a French sculptor and photographer. Early career Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon was born to a French Jewish family on 9 January 1818 in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne, ...

(1818–1881), French sculptor & photography pioneer *

Fanny Marc Fanny Marc (18581937) was a French sculptor. She was born Estelle Odile Fanny Legendre on May 22, 1858, in Paris and lived in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, where a street, rue Fanny Marc, is named for her. Marc studied under sculptors Alexandre Falgui ...

(1858–1937), French sculptor * Henri Pouctal (1860–1922), early French silent film director *

Maurice Holleaux Maurice Holleaux (15 April 1861 – 21 September 1932) was a 19th–20th-century French historian, archaeologist and epigrapher, a specialist of Ancient Greece. Biography Années de formation Admitted in the École normale supérieure in 18 ...

(1861–1932), 19th–20th-century French historian, archaeologist and epigrapher died in the city. *

(1906–1989), Irish avant-garde writer, dramatist, and poet *

Maurice Tranchant de Lunel Maurice Tranchant de Lunel (25 November 1869, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre – 1944, La Seyne-sur-Mer), was a 20th-century French architect and writer. Biography An architect of historical monuments in Morocco, Maurice Tranchant de Lunel was the design ...

(1869-1944), French architect born in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre * André the Giant (1946–1993), Triple Worldwide Wrestling champion, wrestler and icon of the

Andre the Giant Has a Posse Andre the Giant Has a Posse is a street art campaign based on a design by Shepard Fairey created in 1989 while Shepard attended the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Distributed by the :wikt:skater, skater community and ...

(Obey) street art *

(1946–), American writer and filmmaker. *

Robert Hampson Joshua Robert Hampson (born 10 June 1965 in Bromley, London, England) is an English musician and composer, known primarily as a guitarist in the band Loop, which he co-founded in London in 1985 with his then-girlfriend Becky "Bex" Stewart. Lo ...

(1965–), English musician, singer, composer

Twin towns

* Zuffenhausen-

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Germany

References

External links