Château-Thierry

For the vine training system also known as Château-Thierry, see Chateau-Thierry (vine system).

Château-Thierry
Subprefecture
Town hall
Coat of arms
Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardy
Department	Aisne
Arrondissement	Château-Thierry
Canton	Château-Thierry
Intercommunality	Région de Château-Thierry
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Sébastien Eugène (PRG)
Area1	16.55 km2 (6.39 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)2
INSEE/Postal code	02168 / 02400
Elevation	59–222 m (194–728 ft) (avg. 63 m or 207 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Château-Thierry (French: [ʃɑto tjeʁi]) is a French commune situated in the department of the Aisne, in the administrative region of Hauts-de-France, and in the historic Province of Champagne.

The origin of the name of the town is unknown. The local tradition attributes it to Theuderic IV, the penultimate Merovingian king, who was imprisoned by Charles Martel, without a reliable source. Château-Thierry is the birthplace of Jean de La Fontaine and was the location of the First Battle of the Marne and Second Battle of the Marne. The region of Château-Thierry (the arrondissement, to be exact) is called the country of Omois. Château-Thierry is one of 64 French towns to have received the Legion of Honour.

History

Postcard from World War I showing the mounting of the Paris Gun

Battlefield of Chateau-Thierry in 1920.

In the late years of the western Roman empire, a small town called Otmus was settled on a site where the Soissons-Troyes road crossed the Marne river. During the 8th century, Charles Martel kept king Theuderic IV prisoner in the castle of Otmus. At this time, the town took the name of Castrum Theodorici, later transformed in Château-Thierry (Castle of Thierry, Thierry is the French or early Roman language translation of Theuderic).

In 946, the castle of Château-Thierry was the home of Herbert le-Vieux, Count of Omois of the House of Vermandois and Soissons.

Château-Thierry was the site of two important battles: the Battle of Château-Thierry (1814) in the Napoleonic Wars between France and Prussia, and the Battle of Château-Thierry (1918) in World War I between the United States and Germany.

In 1918, a mounting for the Paris Gun was found near the castle, though the cannon itself had apparently been moved prior to the emplacement's discovery.

Geography

Château-Thierry is situated on the river Marne, at 90 kilometres (56 mi) from Paris.

Château-Thierry

Transport

Château-Thierry station is the terminus station of a regional railway line starting from the Gare de l'Est in Paris. Furthermore, it has rail connections to Châlons-en-Champagne, Nancy and Strasbourg. It is also one of the exits of the A4 autoroute that links Paris with the east part of France. Transval operates the local bus routes.

Personalities

Château-Thierry was the birthplace of Jean de La Fontaine.

• Jean-Baptiste Dumangin (1744–1826), French physician who performed the autopsy of Louis XVII.
• Louis Jean-Baptiste Leseur (1774–1818), army general of the French First Republic and the First French Empire.
• Léon Hess, creator of the "Le Castel" gâteau du voyageur, who won a gold medal at the 1912 Exposition Culinaire Internationale in Paris.
• Gauthier II de Château-Thierry.
• Samuel ben Salomon, 13th-century rabbi (one of the proponents of the Talmud during the Disputation of Paris).
• Antoine Menant (1762-1829), army general of the French First Republic and the First French Empire, born in Lyon and died in Château-Thierry.
• Charles Martigue (1777-1825), cavalry colonel of the armies of the French First Republic and the First French Empire.
• Charles Ferton père.
• Edmond de Tillancourt.
• Charles Schneider (1881-1953), glassworker.
• Achille Jacopin (1874-1958), sculptor.
• Pierre Bensusan.
• Rumer Godden's novel The Greengage Summer (1958) is set in Château-Thierry.
• François Aman-Jean, physician, surgeon, playwright.
• Yves Bot, magistrate.
• Charles-Armand de Rougé.
• Guillaume-Benoît Houdet.
• Joseph Bologne de Saint-George, better known under the name "chevalier de Saint-George".
• Manu Dibango, musician.
• Jean Macé, pedagogue.
• Maurice Holleaux (1861–1932), 19th– to 20th-century French historian, archaeologist and epigrapher.
• Sylvain Lévignac, actor and stuntman, died in Château-Thierry.
• Nadia Tagrine (1917-2003), pianist.
• Auguste Jordan (1909-1990), Austrian professional footballer who played on the French national team.
• Jules Guiart (1870-1965), parasitologist and medical historian, was born in the city.
• Ba Jin, a Chinese writer and intellectual, stayed here in 1927 and 1928.
• Teddy Roosevelt's son Quentin was shot down in July 1918 while flying a French SPAD plane during World War I.

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 4,080 —     1800 4,160 +0.28% 1806 4,730 +2.16% 1821 4,422 −0.45% 1831 4,697 +0.61% 1836 4,761 +0.27% 1841 4,995 +0.96% 1846 5,413 +1.62% 1851 5,629 +0.79% 1856 5,381 −0.90% 1861 5,761 +1.37% 1866 6,519 +2.50% 1872 6,623 +0.26% 1876 6,902 +1.04% 1881 7,015 +0.33% 1886 7,296 +0.79% 1891 6,863 −1.22% 1896 7,063 +0.58%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 7,083 +0.06% 1906 7,347 +0.73% 1911 7,771 +1.13% 1921 7,751 −0.03% 1926 8,266 +1.29% 1931 8,154 −0.27% 1936 7,928 −0.56% 1946 8,094 +0.21% 1954 8,841 +1.11% 1962 10,006 +1.56% 1968 11,049 +1.67% 1975 13,491 +2.89% 1982 14,557 +1.09% 1990 15,312 +0.63% 1999 14,967 −0.25% 2007 14,794 −0.15% 2012 14,329 −0.64% 2017 15,107 +1.06%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2017)

Sights

• Castle walls
• Saint-Crépin church (15th century)
• Balhan tower
• Marne River
• World War I Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial (south of the village of Belleau)
• Chateau-Thierry American Monument (overlooking the town)
• Champagne vineyards
• Several churches

Twin towns – sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Château-Thierry is twinned with:

• Cisnădie, Romania (1997)
• Grybów (rural gmina), Poland
• Mosbach, Germany (1974)
• Pößneck, Germany (1989)

See also

• Château de Condé
• Communes of the Aisne department
• US I Corps

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

•  
• Official site
• American Battlefield Monument Commission
• FirstWorldWar.com
• Local Bus Route
• Photo of city during WWI