Melun () is a commune in the

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

department in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, and the seat of one of its ''

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, and certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissem ...

s''. Its inhabitants are called ''Melunais''.

History

Meledunum began as a

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

town;

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

noted Melun as "a town of the

Senones The Senones or Senonii (Gaulish: "the ancient ones") were an ancient Gallic tribe dwelling in the Seine basin, around present-day Sens, during the Iron Age and the Roman period. Part of the Senones settled in the Italian peninsula, where the ...

, 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 Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

south-southeast of Paris, where it forded the Seine. Around 500 A.D,

Clovis I Clovis (; reconstructed Old Frankish, Frankish: ; – 27 November 511) was the first List of Frankish kings, king of the Franks to unite all of the Franks under one ruler, changing the form of leadership from a group of petty kings to rule by a ...

granted Melun to a Gallo-Roman magnate, Aurelianus, who had fought for Clovis several times and apparently influenced his conversion to Christianity. The

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

sacked it in 845. The castle of Melun became a royal residence of the Capetian kings.

Hugh Capet Hugh Capet (; ; 941 – 24 October 996) was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The son of the powerful duke Hugh the Great and his wife Hedwige of Saxony, he was elected as t ...

(See also:

House of Capet The House of Capet () ruled the Kingdom of France from 987 to 1328. It was the most senior line of the Capetian dynasty – itself a derivative dynasty from the Robertians and the Karlings. The direct line of the House of Capet came to an ...

) gave Melun to Bouchard, his favorite. In the reign of Hugh's son,

Robert II of France Robert II ( 972 – 20 July 1031), called the Pious () or the Wise (), was List of French monarchs, King of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned Junior King in 987, he assisted his father on military matters ...

, Eudes, the

count of Champagne The count of Champagne was the ruler of the County of Champagne from 950 to 1316. Champagne evolved from the County of Troyes in the late eleventh century and Hugh I was the first to officially use the title count of Champagne. Count Theobal ...

, 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 Robert of Melun ( – 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 g ...

(c. 1100 – 27 February 1167) was an English scholastic Christian theologian who taught in France, and later became

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. Until 1534, the Diocese of Hereford was in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church and two of its bishop ...

in England. He studied under

Peter Abelard Peter Abelard (12 February 1079 – 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet. This source has a detailed description of his philosophical work. In philos ...

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

, who had recently signed the

Treaty of Troyes The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the French throne upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was formally signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of ...

with King

Charles VI of France Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...

. The town was in the hands of the Dauphin, later

Charles VII of France Charles VII (22 February 1403 – 22 July 1461), called the Victorious () or the Well-Served (), was King of France from 1422 to his death in 1461. His reign saw the end of the Hundred Years' War and a ''de facto'' end of the English claims to ...

, 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 Joan of Arc ( ; ; – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the Coronation of the French monarch, coronation of Charles VII o ...

on 17 April 1430.

Counts of Melun

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

Count of Paris Count of Paris () was a title for the local magnate of the district around Paris in Carolingian times. After Hugh Capet was elected King of the Franks in 987, the title merged into the crown and fell into disuse. However, it was later revived ...

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 Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis then (1st) Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun (, 8 May 1653 – 17 June 1734) was a French people, French military commander and an illustrious general of Louis XIV of France. He was on ...

Population

Climate

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 The Collegiate Church of Notre-Dame ( French: ''Collégiale Notre-Dame de Melun'') was a collegiate church, now a parish church in the French town of Melun, on rue de la Courtille on the île Saint-Etienne. History The building dates back to th ...

was the original home of the Melun Diptych. The nearby

château A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking re ...

Vaux-le-Vicomte The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte () or simply Vaux-le-Vicomte is a Baroque French château located in Maincy, near Melun, southeast of Paris in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department of Île-de-France. Built between 1658 and 1661 ...

is considered a smaller predecessor of

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. The officers' school of the

French Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie ( ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, with ad ...

is located in Melun.

Notable people

Melun is the birthplace of: *

Morgan Ciprès Morgan Ciprès (born 24 April 1991) is a French former competitive pair skater. With partner Vanessa James, born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, he is the 2019 European Figure Skating Championships, 2019 European Champion, the 2018 World Figure ...

(born 1991), pair skater *

Jérémie Bela Jérémie Bela (born 8 April 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for the Angola national team. He has played for Lens, Dijon, Albacete, Birmingham City and Clermont. He represented his native France at under- ...

(born 1993), footballer *

Willy Boly Willy-Arnaud Zobo Boly (born 3 February 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Nottingham Forest. Born in France, he represents the Ivory Coast national team. Club career Auxerre Born in Melun, Seine-et-Mar ...

(born 1991), footballer * Pierre Certon (c.1510-1520-1572), composer of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

(probably born in Melun) * Jacques Amyot (1513–1593), writer *

Chimène Badi Chimène Badi (; born 30 October 1982), also known by her mononym Chimène, is a French singer of Algerian descent. Early life Badi was born in Melun in the Paris suburbs to a family of Algerian origin. She spent her entire childhood in the s ...

(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 Judah of Melun was a French rabbi and ''tosafist'' of the first half of the 13th century. He was the son of the tosafist David of Melun (from the area of Seine-et-Marne). In Perez of Corbeil's ''tosafot'' to Baba Ḳamma (ed. Leghorn, p. 53a) h ...

(13th century), French

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and ''

tosafist The Tosafot, Tosafos or Tosfot () are medieval commentaries on the Talmud. They take the form of critical and explanatory glosses, printed, in almost all Talmud editions, on the outer margin and opposite Rashi's notes. The authors of the Tosafot ...

'' * 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 École nationale de l'aviation civile (; "National School of Civil Aviation"; abbr. ENAC) is one of 205 colleges (as of September 2018) accredited to award engineering degrees in Education in France, France. ENAC is designated as a grande école ...

(French civil aviation university) is located in Melun. Public high schools/sixth form colleges:Liste des établissements scolaires
." Melun. Consulté le 29 août 2016. * 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: * Crema, Italy * Spelthorne, England, United Kingdom * 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 ''Europäische Stammtafeln'' - German for ''European Family Trees'' - is a series of twenty-nine books which contain sets of genealogical tables of the most influential families of Medieval European history. It is a standard reference work for t ...

'', Neue Folge, Volume VII, Tafels 55 & 56.

External links

*
Tourist office website

* {{Authority control Communes of Seine-et-Marne Prefectures in France Senones