Maubeuge (; historical nl, Mabuse or nl, Malbode; pcd, Maubeuche) is a commune in the

Nord Nord, a word meaning "north" in several European languages, may refer to: Acronyms * National Organization for Rare Disorders, an American nonprofit organization * New Orleans Recreation Department, New Orleans, Louisiana, US Film and televisi ...

department in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), east of Valenciennes and about from the Belgian border.

History

Maubeuge (ancient ''Malbodium'', from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

, derived from the

Old Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century. After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy ...

name ''Malboden'', meaning "assizes of Boden") owes its origin to Maubeuge Abbey, a double

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

, for men and women, founded in the 7th century by Saint Aldego, the

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s of whom are preserved in the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

. It subsequently belonged to the territory of Hainaut. The town was part of the

Spanish Netherlands Spanish Netherlands ( Spanish: Países Bajos Españoles; Dutch: Spaanse Nederlanden; French: Pays-Bas espagnols; German: Spanische Niederlande.) (historically in Spanish: ''Flandes'', the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the ...

and changed hands a number of times before it was finally ceded to France in the 1678

Treaty of Nijmegen The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen ('; german: Friede von Nimwegen) were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and October 1679. The treaties ended various interconnected wars among France, the Dutch Repub ...

. As part of Vauban's ''pré carré'' plan that protected France's northern borders with a double line of fortresses, it was extensively fortified as directed by

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

The Hundred Days Offensive, August-november 1918 Q7446

Besieged in 1793 by Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, it was relieved by the victory of Wattignies, which is commemorated by a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

in the town. It was unsuccessfully besieged in 1814, but was compelled to capitulate, after a vigorous resistance, in the Hundred Days. As a fortress, Maubeuge has an old enceinte of bastion trace which serves as the center of an important entrenched camp of 18 miles perimeter. The fortress was constructed after the War of 1870 but has since been modernized and augmented. The forts were besieged in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

by the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. Maubeuge suffered heavily in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

: 90% of the town centre was destroyed by bombardments in May 1940. Fighting again occurred in early September 1944, in and around the outskirts of Maubeuge, involving units of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division during the American push toward

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Heraldry

Geography

Climate

Maubeuge has a

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Maubeuge is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Maubeuge was on 7 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 16 January 1985.

Population

Economy

There are important foundries, forges and blast furnaces, together with manufactures of

machine tool A machine tool is a machine for handling or machining metal or other rigid materials, usually by cutting, boring, grinding, shearing, or other forms of deformations. Machine tools employ some sort of tool that does the cutting or shaping. Al ...

s and

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

. The town has a board of trade arbitration, a communal

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

, a commercial and industrial

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes co ...

Transport

Being close to the Belgian border,

Maubeuge station Maubeuge is a railway station serving the town Maubeuge, Nord department, northern France. It is situated on the Creil–Jeumont railway. Services The station is served by regional trains to Aulnoye-Aymeries, Valenciennes, Saint-Quentin, Cha ...

has two lines to Belgium: one leading North towards

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

, the other Eastbound to

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

. Neither have seen passenger service for several years; however, from December 2018 a limited service to Namur via Charleroi was announced. Trains to the South-West are frequent. There is an aerodrome in nearby Elesmes but it is purely recreational, with no facilities for commercial air transport of either passengers or cargo.

Tour de France

Maurice Garin, the winner of the inaugural 1903 Tour de France, began his cycling career in 1892 with the local Maubeuge cycling club, when he finished fifth in the Maubeuge-Hirson-Maubeuge race.Journal L'Alsace-Le Pays, 20 February 2001, Profile of Maurice Garin
In 2003, on the 100th anniversary of his win, he was commemorated with a street named after him.

Personalities

* Leandre Griffit, footballer * Jan Gossaert, painter * Benjamin Pavard, footballer * Benjamin Saint-Huile, politician

Sources

*http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/1stinfantry/ *

Footnotes

External links

Official website
(in French)

{{Authority control Communes of Nord (French department) Vauban fortifications in France