Hesdin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 50°22′30″N 2°02′15″E / 50.375, 2.0375

Administration
Commune of Hesdin
Location

Country	France
Region	Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Department	Pas-de-Calais
Arrondissement	Montreuil
Canton	Hesdin
Intercommunality	Communauté de Communes de l'Hesdinois
Mayor	Jean-Marie Roussel (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	23 m–34 m (avg. 26 m)
Land area^¹	0.9 km²
Population^² (1999)	2,686
- Density	2,888/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	62447/ 62140
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Hesdin is a commune of northern France. It is the chief town of the canton of Hesdin, in the arrondissement of Montreuil, in the Pas-de-Calais département.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Population
4 Places of interest
5 People with links to the town
6 Miscellaneous
7 Twinned with
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Geography

The N39, from Arras to Montreuil, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flow. A second bypass was built in the 1980s, taking all through traffic well away from the town.
The Canche river flows through the centre of Hesdin.

[edit] History

Hesdin was a fief of the counts of Artois, vassals of the Counts of Flanders until 1180. When Philip, count of Flanders gave Artois as dowry to his niece Isabel de Hainault when she married Philip Augustus of France in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France. Though subsequently the territory passed to the Dukes of Burgundy, Hesdin remained one of a handful of French strongholds, until in 1553 Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6km from the original site, on the banks of the Canche.
In 1639 the French laid siege to Hesdin and under Louis XIII, it was recaptured for France. Thus, though Hesdin has an ancient name and 16th century structures, there is no medieval town at all.
The most recent and resourceful book on the history of Hesdin is Promenades dans Hesdin by Regis Deparis (2004) (French)

[edit] Population

Population Growth
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999
3010	3105	3248	2977	2713	2686
Census count starting from 1962 : Population without double counting

[edit] Places of interest

Hesdin is dominated by the central square, the Place d'Armes overlooked by the 16th-17th century town hall. The contemporary Church of Notre Dame was begun in 1565 and completed in 1685.

The belfry of the town hall

Façade of the town hall of Hesdin

[edit] People with links to the town

Jacquemart de Hesdin (c. 1355– c. 1414), miniaturist and painter to the duc de Berry
The Abbé Prévost, (April 1, 1697 – 1763), celebrated novelist known worldwide for his Manon Lescaut, was born in Hesdin.
Henri Titelouze de Gournay (1871-1933)
Clovis Normand
François Dalle
Jean-Louis Cottigny

[edit] Miscellaneous

The best day to visit Hesdin is market day, Thursday, when a large range of goods can be purchased although the clothes and furnishing materials sold in the main square are not good value. A good range of local produce can be purchased from the stalls in the surrounding streets.