Corbie (; nl, Korbei) is a commune of the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France *Somme, Queensland, Australia *Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), a ...

department in

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. The ...

in northern

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 ar ...

Geography

The small town is situated up river from

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

, in the département of

and is the main town of the

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 ...

of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the river

, at the confluence with the

Ancre The Ancre (; ) is a river of Picardy, France. Rising at Miraumont, a hamlet near the town of Albert, it flows into the Somme at Corbie. It is long. For most of its length it flows through the department of Somme. For a short stretch near Puis ...

. The town is bisected by the

Canal de la Somme The Canal de la Somme is a canal in northern France. Its total length is 156.4 km with 25 locks, from the English Channel at Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme to the Canal de Saint-Quentin at Saint-Simon. History The Somme River was canalized ...

.
This satellite photograph
shows it in its context. The town is to the left and the

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

ny Somme valley winds down to it from the right. The

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Cha ...

of the

Upper Cretaceous The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', ...

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

shows pale in the fields. The river Ancre flows down from the north-east. The A29 road is shown under construction snaking across the chalk in the southern part of the picture. The fainter, straight line just to its north is the road N29. It passes through

Villers-Bretonneux Villers-Bretonneux () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Villers-Bretonneux is situated some 19 km due east of Amiens, on the D1029 road and the A29 motorway. Villers-Bretonneux border ...

, the village just south of Corbie.

History

Corbie Abbey

The town of Corbie grew up round Corbie Abbey, founded in 657 or 660 by the queen regent Bathilde, with a founding community of monks from

Luxeuil Abbey Luxeuil Abbey (), the ''Abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul'', was one of the oldest and best-known monasteries in Burgundy, located in what is now the département of Haute-Saône in Franche-Comté, France. History Columbanus It was founded circa ...

in the

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

. Its

scriptorium Scriptorium (), literally "a place for writing", is commonly used to refer to a room in medieval European monasteries devoted to the writing, copying and illuminating of manuscripts commonly handled by monastic scribes. However, lay scribes an ...

came to be one of the centers of work of manuscript illumination when the art was still fairly new in western Europe. In this early

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

period the work of Corbie was innovative in that it portrayed images of people, such as

Saint Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is c ...

. It was also the place of creation, in about 780, of the influential Caroline minuscule script.see calligraphy and

Merovingian script Merovingian script or Gallo-Roman script ( la, Scriptura Merovingica/Francogallica) was a medieval variant of the Latin script so called because it was developed in Gaul during the Merovingian dynasty. It was used in the 7th and 8th centuries be ...

The contents of its library are known from catalogues of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In 1638,

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

ordered the transfer of the library's books to the library at

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the north ...

, which was dispersed at the end of the eighteenth century.

Town

In 1234, Floris IV, Count of Holland died at a

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

held here. In 1475, the town was taken by

Louis XI Louis XI (3 July 1423 – 30 August 1483), called "Louis the Prudent" (french: le Prudent), was King of France from 1461 to 1483. He succeeded his father, Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revol ...

. The Spanish took it after a short siege on 15 August 1636 but were ousted in November by Richelieu and

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

after a siege of three months. In 1918, Corbie was on the margin of the battlefield of

at which the First Battle of the Somme (1918) of the German spring offensive came to a climax.

Population

Pictures

File:Bathilde Reine FRANCE.JPG, Queen Bathilde, Jardin du LUXEMBOURG, PARIS File:Blason corbie.svg, Coat of arms of the Royal Abbey of CORBIE File:Corbie-Carte de Cassini1.jpg, Map by CASSINI, circa 1780 File:Corbie mairie (façade ouest).jpg, Town hall File:Corbie monument aux morts (détail) 1.jpg, Monument by

Albert Roze Albert Auguste Roze (1861-1952) was a 19th century sculptor from Amiens, France. He was a prolific sculptor creating many notable works displayed in public spaces in France. Career One of his more important sculptures was entitled The Golden V ...

File:Corbie ancienne église Saint-Etienne et abbatiale.jpg, The Abbey church, 18th century File:Corbie 28-09-2008 12-20-19.JPG, The Abbey church, 18th century File:Corbie toegangspoort klooster 28-09-2008 11-34-59.JPG, Gate of Honor of the Abbey, 1750 File:La Neuville-sous-Corbie église 1.jpg, Notre-Dame de la Neuville church, 15th century File:La Neuville-lès-Corbie église (détail du tympan) 1.jpg, La Neuville church, 15th century, detail File:La Neuville-lès-Corbie église (détail du tympan) 2.jpg, La Neuville church, 15th century, detail

Sights

* Abbey of St. Peter (Saint Pierre) *

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually house ...

* Church of la Neuville; at the north-west end of the town

Personalities

* Adalard of Corbie, a German cousin of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

, was abbot of Corbie. In 822, he founded Corvey Abbey (''Corbeia nova'' or "new Corbie") on the territory of Höxter in

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regi ...

. * Adela of France, Countess of Flanders (1009–1079), countess of Corbie, married Baldwin V, Count of Flanders(c. 1030-1070); their son, Baldwin of Mons became Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders. * Saint Gérard (born at Corbie in 1025): abbot and confessor. * Saint Colette (born at Corbie in 1381): reformer of the Franciscan Order * Eugène Lefebvre,

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

pioneer, born at Corbie 4 October 1878. He was the first pilot to be killed at the controls of his

aeroplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spec ...

, 7 September 1909

Twin towns

* Höxter,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

Pickering Pickering may refer to: Places Antarctica * Pickering Nunataks, Alexander Island Australia * Pickering, South Australia, the original name (1872–1940) of the town of Wool Bay * Pickering Brook, Western Australia, Australia Canada * Pic ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...