Compiègne

Compiègne is the seat of two cantons:

• Compiègne-1 (with 19 communes and part of Compiègne)
• Compiègne-2 (with 16 communes and part of Compiègne)

• 665 - Saint Wilfrid was consecrated Bishop of York. Wilfrid refused to be consecrated in Northumbria at the hands of Anglo-Saxon bishops. Deusdedit, Archbishop of Canterbury, had died, and as there were no other bishops in Britain whom Wilfrid considered to have been validly consecrated, he travelled to Compiègne, to be consecrated by Agilbert, the Bishop of Paris.
• 757 - Byzantine emperor Constantine V sent to Compiègne a gift for Pepin the Short : France's first organ.
• 833 - Louis the Pious (also known as King Louis I, the Debonair) was deposed in Compiègne.
• February 888 - Odo, Count of Paris and king of the Franks was crowned in Compiègne.
• 23 May 1430 - During the Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians while attempting to free Compiègne. They then sold her to the English.
• 1557 - Battle of St. Quentin, where Habsburg Spanish forces defeat a French army in the Italian War of 1551-1559
• 1558 - The English occupy Compiègne
• 1624 - Compiègne gave its name to the Treaty of Compiègne, a treaty of alliance concluded by Cardinal Richelieu with the Dutch.
• 1630 - Marie de' Medici's attempts to displace Richelieu ultimately led to her exile to Compiègne, from where she escaped to Brussels in 1631.
• 17 July 1794 - The Martyrs of Compiègne are executed in Paris during the Reign of Terror.
• 1900 - The golf events for the 1900 Summer Olympics took place.
• 11 November 1918 - The Armistice with Germany, agreed at Le Francport near Compiègne, ends fighting in World War I.
• 22 June 1940 - The Second Compiègne Armistice was signed between Nazi Germany and the defeated France in Le Francport, in the same place as in 1918, in the same railroad carriage, but with the seats swapped.
• 1941 - During the German occupation of France, the Compiègne internment camp was established in Compiègne. A memorial of the camp, and another along the railway tracks, commemorate the tragedy.
• 1972 - Creation of the University of Technology of Compiègne
• 1977 - The starting location of the Paris-Roubaix bicycle race was changed from Paris to Compiègne.

Population

Compiègne is the central commune of an urban unit with 71,598 inhabitants, and a larger commuter zone with 142,230 inhabitants as of 2022. The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Compiègne proper.

The Hôtel de Ville (town hall) was completed in 1530.

Museums

• Château de Compiègne - the castle itself, and museums of the Second French Empire and of motoring and tourism within its walls
• Musée Antoine Vivenel
• Museum of historic figurines
• Memorial of internment and deportation

Compiègne Forest

The Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest was the site of the signing of two armistices; those of 11 November 1918 and 22 June 1940. Hitler specifically chose the location of the second, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as an irony for the defeated French.

The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original, Marshal Foch's Carriage, was taken to Germany as a trophy of victory following the second armistice. Various rumors about what happened to this railway carriage thereafter have flourished ever since. Some believe it was destroyed by the SS in Thuringia in April 1945; others say this happened in Berlin, but most likely it was destroyed during an Allied air-raid on Berlin. The latter version seems most plausible, since Ferdinand Foch's carriage actually was displayed at a Berlin museum.

Compiègne is home to the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), one of the top ranking engineering school in France, founded as a Technology University in 1972 to provide an alternative to the traditional "grandes écoles" for students interested in technologies and applied science.

Compiègne station offers connections with Paris, Amiens, Cambrai and several regional destinations. The nearest motorway is the A1 Paris-Lille. The nearest airport is Charles de Gaulle Airport, located 58 km (36 mi) south west of the commune.

Since 1977, Compiègne is the traditional start city of the famous Paris-Roubaix bicycle race. It was also the finish city of the 3rd stage in the 2007 Tour de France.

Compiègne has been home to:

• Roscellinus (~1050 - ~1122), philosopher and theologian, often regarded as the founder of Nominalism
• Pierre d'Ailly (1350-1420), theologian and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• The Martyrs of Compiègne
• Albert Robida (1848-1926), illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist
• Eugène Albertini (1880-1941), teacher in Latin literature, historian of ancient Rome, and epigrapher of Latin texts
• Marcel Tabuteau (1887-1966), Oboist, regarded as the founder of American oboe playing.
• Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938), tennis player, international female sport star
• Lucas Debargue (1990-), pianist and composer who works in both the classical and jazz fields

Compiègne is twinned with:

Compiègne is also partnered with: