Maubeuge is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
It is situated on both banks of the Sambre (here canalized), 36 km (22 mi) east of Valenciennes and about 9 km (5.6 mi) from the Belgian border.
Contents
-
History 1
-
Economy 2
-
Tour de France 3
-
Personalities 4
-
See also 5
-
Sources 6
-
Footnotes 7
-
External links 8
History
Maubeuge (ancient Malbodium, from Latin, derived from the Old Frankish name Malboden, meaning "assizes of Boden") owes its origin to Maubeuge Abbey, a double monastery, for men and women, founded in the 7th century by Saint Aldego, the relics of whom are preserved in the church. It subsequently belonged to the territory of Hainaut. It was burnt by Louis XI of France, by Francis I of France, and by Henry II of France, and was finally assigned to France by the Treaty of Nijmegen.
It was fortified by Vauban by the command of Louis XIV of France, who under Turenne first saw military service there.
Besieged in 1793 by Prince Josias of Coburg, it was relieved by the victory of Wattignies, which is commemorated by a monument in the town. It was unsuccessfully besieged in 1814, but was compelled to capitulate, after a vigorous resistance, in the Hundred Days.
As a fortress Maubeuge has an old enceinte of bastion trace which serves as the center of an important entrenched camp of 18 miles perimeter, constructed for the most part after the War of 1870, but since modernized and augmented.
The forts were besieged in World War I by the German Empire. Maubeuge suffered heavily in World War II: 90% of the town centre was destroyed by bombardments in May 1940. Fighting again occurred in early September of 1944, in and around the outskirts of Maubeuge, involving units of the U.S. 1st Infantry Division during the American push toward Belgium.[1][2]
Heraldry
|
|
The arms of Maubeuge are blazoned :
Or, 4 lions, 2 in bend sable armed and langued gules, 2 in bend sinister gules armed and langued azure, in chief an eagle sable beaked langued membered and armed gules, overall a crozier Or bendwise.
|
Economy
There are important blast furnaces, together with manufactures of machine tools and porcelain.
The town has a board of trade arbitration, a communal college, a commercial and industrial school.
Tour de France
Maurice Garin, the winner of the inaugural 1903 Tour de France, began his cycling career in 1892 with the local Maubeuge cycling club, when he finished 5th in the Maubeuge-Hirson-Maubeuge, 200 kilometres (124 mi)race.[3] In 2003, on the 100th anniversary of his win, he was commemorated with a street named after him.
Personalities
See also
Sources
-
^ [4]
-
^ Official site of the town of Maubeuge (French)
-
^ Journal L'Alsace-Le Pays, 20 February 2001, Profile of Maurice Garin
External links
-
Official website (in French)
-
Webpage about the fortifications
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.