Dreux

For the saint of this name, see Saint Drogo. For the cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, see House of Dreux.
Dreux

Saint-Pierre church

Coat of arms
Dreux

Coordinates: 48°44′14″N 1°21′59″E / 48.7372°N 01.3664°E / 48.7372; 01.3664Coordinates: 48°44′14″N 1°21′59″E / 48.7372°N 01.3664°E / 48.7372; 01.3664
Country France
Region Centre-Val de Loire
Department Eure-et-Loir
Arrondissement Dreux
Intercommunality Drouais
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Gérard Hamel
Area1 24.27 km2 (9.37 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 31,212
 • Density 1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 28134 / 28100
Elevation 75–139 m (246–456 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.

Dreux (French pronunciation: ​[dʁø]) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.

History

Dreux was known in ancient times as Durocassium, the capital of the Durocasses Celtic tribe. Despite the legend, its name was not related with Druids. The Romans established here a fortified camp known as Castrum Drocas.

In the Middle Ages, Dreux was the centre of the County of Dreux. The first count of Dreux was Robert, the son of King Louis the Fat. The first large battle of the French Wars of Religion occurred at Dreux, on 19 December 1562, resulting in a hard-fought victory for the Catholic forces of the duc de Montmorency.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
17935,383—    
18005,437+1.0%
18066,037+11.0%
18216,032−0.1%
18316,249+3.6%
18366,379+2.1%
18416,367−0.2%
18466,774+6.4%
18516,764−0.1%
18566,498−3.9%
18616,940+6.8%
18667,237+4.3%
18727,418+2.5%
18767,922+6.8%
18818,254+4.2%
18868,719+5.6%
18919,364+7.4%
18969,718+3.8%
19019,647−0.7%
19069,928+2.9%
191110,692+7.7%
192110,908+2.0%
192611,313+3.7%
193112,200+7.8%
193613,361+9.5%
194614,184+6.2%
195416,818+18.6%
196221,588+28.4%
196829,408+36.2%
197533,101+12.6%
198233,379+0.8%
199035,230+5.5%
199931,849−9.6%
200831,212−2.0%

Sights

Chapelle royale de Dreux

In 1775, the lands of the comté de Dreux had been given to the Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre by his cousin Louis XVI. In 1783, the duke sold his domain of Rambouillet to Louis XVI. On 25 November of that year, in a long religious procession, Penthièvre transferred the nine caskets containing the remains of his parents, the Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse and Marie Victoire de Noailles, comtesse de Toulouse, his wife, Marie Thérèse Félicité d'Este, Princess of Modène, and six of their seven children, from the small medieval village church next to the castle in Rambouillet, to the chapel of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne de Dreux.[1] The duc de Penthièvre died in March 1793 and his body was laid to rest in the crypt beside his parents. On 21 November of that same year, in the midst of the French Revolution, a mob desecrated the crypt and threw the ten bodies in a mass grave in the Chanoines cemetery of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne. In 1816, the duc de Penthièvre's daughter, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, duchesse d'Orléans, had a new chapel built on the site of the mass grave of the Chanoines cemetery, as the final resting place for her family. In 1830, Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, son of the duchesse d'Orléans, embellished the chapel which was renamed Chapelle royale de Dreux, now the necropolis of the Orléans royal family.

Other sights

Personalities

Dreux was the birthplace of:

International relations

Dreux is twinned with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ G. Lenotre, Le Château de Rambouillet, six siècles d'histoire, Calmann-Lévy, Paris, 1930, reprint: Denoël, Paris, 1984, (215 pages), chapter 5: Le prince des pauvres, pp. 78–79
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