Soissons

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Panoramic view from the top of the cathedral
Panoramic view from the top of the cathedral

Coordinates: 49°22′54″N 3°19′25″E / 49.3816666667, 3.32361111111

Commune of Soissons
Town hall
Location
Soissons (France)
Soissons
Administration
Country France
Region Picardie
Department Aisne
Arrondissement Soissons
Canton Chief town of 2 cantons
Intercommunality Soissonnais
Mayor Édith Errasti
(2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation 38 m–130 m
(avg. 55 m)
Land area¹ 12.32 km²
Population²
(1999)		 29,453
 - Density 2,390/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 02722/ 02200
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.
France

Soissons is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France, located on the Aisne River, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones.

Contents

[edit] History

Soissons enters written history under its Celtic name (as later borrowed in Latin), Noviodunum, meaning "new hillfort". At Roman contact, it was a town of the Suessiones, mentioned, by Julius Caesar (B. G. ii. 12). Caesar (B.C. 57), after leaving the Axona (modern Aisne), entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one day's long march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall and a broad ditch. The place surrendered to Caesar.

From 457 to 486, under Aegidius and his son Syagrius, Noviodunum was the capital of the "Kingdom of Soissons," until it fell to the Frankish king Clovis I in the Battle of Soissons.

Part of the Frankish territory of Neustria, the Soissons region, and the Abbey of Saint-Médard, built in the 8th century, played an important political part during the rule of the Merovingian kings (A.D. 447-751). After the death of Clovis I in 511, Soissons was made the capital of one of the four kingdoms into which his states were divided. Eventually, the kingdom of Soissons disappeared in 613 when the Frankish lands were amalgamated under Clotaire II.

In 744 the Synod of Soissons met at the instigation of Pippin III, and Saint Boniface, the Pope's missionary to pagan Germany, secured the condemnation of the Frankish bishop Adalbert and the Irish missionary Clement.

[edit] Sights

Today, Soissons is a commercial and manufacturing centre with the 12th century Cathedral of Saint-Gervais et Saint-Protais and Saint Jean des Vignes Abbey as one of its most important historical buildings.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Soissons is the birth place of:

The saints Crispin and Crispinian were martyred c. 286 at Soissons for preaching Christianity to the local Gauls.

Panoramic view of the Soissons Cathedral
Panoramic view of the Soissons Cathedral

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

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