Marquise () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Geography

Marquise is a farming, quarrying and light industrial town, situated some northeast of Boulogne, at the junction of the D191, D231 and D238 roads. The river Slack flows through the commune, as does the A16 autoroute. Marquise-Rinxent station has rail connections to Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer.

History

Part of the Flemish-speaking territory until 1346, Marquise became an English county under

King Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring ...

after the

battle of Crécy The Battle of Crécy took place on 26 August 1346 in northern France between a French army commanded by King PhilipVI and an English army led by King EdwardIII. The French attacked the English while they were traversing northern France du ...

and the hexagonal bell-tower goes back to the English period. In 1420, in the suburbs of Marquise, at Leulinghen, the church of which was divided by the French-English border,

King Henry V Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hu ...

married

Catherine of Valois Catherine of Valois or Catherine of France (27 October 1401 – 3 January 1437) was Queen of England from 1420 until 1422. A daughter of Charles VI of France, she was married to Henry V of England and gave birth to his heir Henry VI of Englan ...

, daughter of

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad (french: le Fol or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychotic ...

.
Marquise received national media attention in autumn 2006 when the local gendarmerie retrieved a famous painting by

Maurice Boitel Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007) was a French painter. Artistic life Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris,The School of Paris (1945–1965) by Lydia Harambourg. ...

, stolen forty years before and taken out of France.info.france3.fr/insolite/24771923-fr.php - 100k - 13 déc 2006

Population

Places of interest

* The church of St.Martin, dating from the thirteenth century. * A

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

and

manorhouse A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals wi ...

of the 17th century. * The

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

quarries. * The

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

cemetery.

Notable people

Alphonse Pinart Alphonse Louis Pinart (26 February 1852 — 13 February 1911) was a French scholar, linguist, ethnologist and collector, specialist on the American continent. He studied the civilizations of the New World in the manner of the pioneers of the tim ...

, explorer, was born here in 1852.

References

External links

A history of the town

The CWGC cemetery
Communes of Pas-de-Calais {{PasdeCalais-geo-stub