Chartres

Chartres was one of the principal towns in Gaul of the Carnutes, a Celtic tribe. In the Gallo-Roman period, it was called Autricum, name derived from the river Autura (Eure), and afterwards civitas Carnutum, "city of the Carnutes", from which Chartres got its name. The city was burned by the Normans in 858, and unsuccessfully besieged by them in 911.[7]

During the Middle Ages, it was the most important town of the Beauce. It gave its name to a county which was held by the counts of Blois, and the counts of Champagne, and afterwards by the House of Châtillon, a member of which sold it to the Crown in 1286.[7]

In 1417, during the Hundred Years' War, Chartres fell into the hands of the English, from whom it was recovered in 1432. In 1528, it was raised to the rank of a duchy by Francis I.[7]

In 1568, during the Wars of Religion, Chartres was unsuccessfully besieged by the Huguenot leader, the Prince of Condé. It was finally taken by the royal troops of Henry IV on 19 April 1591. On Sunday, 27 February 1594, the cathedral of Chartres was the site of the coronation of Henry IV after he converted to the Catholic faith, the only king of France whose coronation ceremony was not performed in Reims.

In 1674, Louis XIV raised Chartres from a duchy to a duchy peerage in favor of his nephew, Duke Philippe II of Orléans. The title of Duke of Chartres was hereditary in the House of Orléans, and given to the eldest son of the Duke of Orléans.

In the 1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War, Chartres was seized by the Germans on 2 October 1870, and continued during the rest of the war to be an important centre of operations.[7]

In World War II, the city suffered heavy damage by bombing and during the battle of Chartres in August 1944, but its cathedral was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it.[8] On 16 August 1944, Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr. questioned the necessity of destroying the cathedral and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to find out whether the Germans were using it as an observation post. With his driver, Griffith proceeded to the cathedral and, after searching it all the way up its bell tower, confirmed to Headquarters that it was empty of Germans. The order to destroy the cathedral was withdrawn.

Colonel Griffith was killed in action later on that day in the town of Lèves, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) north of Chartres.[8][9] For his heroic action both at Chartres and Lèves, Colonel Griffith received, posthumously, several decorations awarded by the President of the United States and the U.S. Military, and also from the French government.[10]

Following deep reconnaissance missions in the region by the 3rd Cavalry Group and units of the 1139 Engineer Combat Group, and after heavy fighting in and around the city, Chartres was liberated, on 18 August 1944, by the U.S. 5th Infantry and 7th Armored Divisions belonging to the XX Corps of the U.S. Third Army commanded by General George S. Patton.[11]

Chartres is built on a hill on the left bank of the river Eure. Its renowned medieval cathedral is at the top of the hill, and its two spires are visible from miles away across the flat surrounding lands. To the southeast stretches the fertile plain of Beauce, the "granary of France", of which the town is the commercial centre.[7]

Chartres is one of the most important market towns in the region of Beauce (known as "the granary of France").

Historically, game pies and other delicacies of Chartres were well known, and the industries also included flour-milling, brewing, distilling, iron-founding, leather manufacture, perfumes, dyeing, stained glass, billiard requisites and hosiery.[7] More recently, businesses include the manufacture of electronic equipment and car accessories.

Since 1976 the fashion and perfumes company Puig has had a production plant in this commune.[18]

Chartres is home to two semi-professional association football clubs; FC Chartres, who play in the French sixth division, and HB Chartres, who play in the seventh tier.

Chartres has a table tennis club which is playing in the Pro A (French First division) and in the European Champions League. The club won the ETTU Cup on the season 2010 – 2011 and it finished at the second position in the French First division.

Chartres has the second most important squash club in France.

There is also a handball club and it is playing in the French second division.

In November 2012, Chartres organized the European Short Course Swimming Championships.

The town is the seat of a diocese (bishopric), a prefecture, and a cour d'assises. It has a Tribunal de grande instance, a Tribunal d'instance, a Chamber of commerce and a branch of the Banque de France.

Public and religious schooling from kindergarten through high school and vocational schools is given in mixed (boys and girls) establishments. The two main high schools are the Lycée Jehan de Beauce and the Lycée Marceau, named after two important personages of the history of Chartres: Jehan de Beauce was a 16th-century architect who rebuilt the northern steeple of the cathedral after it had been destroyed by lightning in July 1506, and Marceau, a native of city, who was a general during the French Revolution of 1789.

Chartres was the birthplace of:

• Hélène Boucher (1908–1934), pilot
• Jacques Pierre Brissot (1754–1793), a leading member of the Girondist movement (French Revolution)
• Julien Cétout (born 1987 or 1988), football player
• Arlette Chabot (born 1951), journalist
• Fulcher of Chartres (born around 1059 in or near Chartres), chronicler of the First Crusade
• Alexis de Castillon (1838–1873), composer
• Philippe de Dangeau (1638–1720), officer and member of the Académie française
• Philippe Desportes (1546–1606), poet
• Antoine François Desrues (1744–1777), poisoner
• Loïc Duval (born 1982), racing driver
• Julien Escudé (born 1979), football player
• Nicolas Escudé (born 1976), tennis player
• André Félibien (1619–1695), architect and historiographer
• Achille Guenée (1809–1880), lawyer and entomologist
• Pierre-Jules Hetzel (1814–1886), editor and publisher
• Éric Lada (born 1965), football player
• Luc Lamirault (born 1962), politician
• François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers (1769–1796), general
• Pierre Nicole (1625–1695), Jansenist theologian
• Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve (1756–1794), writer and politician
• Allison Pineau (born 1989), handball player
• André Plassart (1889–1978), hellenist, epigrapher and archaeologist
• Philippe Quintais (born 1967), pétanque player
• Mathurin Régnier (1573–1613), satirist
• Jacqueline de Romilly (1913–2010), philologist, classical scholar and fiction writer
• Benjamin Nivet (born 1977), football player
• Wandrille Lefèvre (born 1989), Canadian football player
• Audrey Marnay (born 1980), actress and model

Chartres is twinned with:[20]

• 
  Chartres railway station
• 
  17th-century engraving of Chartres "skyline"
• 
  The cathedral of Chartres
• 
  The Apostles and Saint sculptures of Chartres
• 
  The Old Town – Eure River
• 
  Half-timbered house in the Old Town
• 
  Hill of Saint François
• 
  View south from the cathedral
• 
  On the banks of the Eure River

• Chartres Cathedral
• Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department
• Chartres - Champhol Aerodrome

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chartres". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 954.
• Chartres and the Chartres Cathedral – Visitor Guide
• La Maison Picassiette in Chartres

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chartres.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Chartres.

• Tourist office website
• City council website (in French)
• Chartres' archeology service website (in French)
• Website about archaeological excavations (in French)
• Photo of the abbey church of St.Pierre
• Music recorded in Chartres Cathedral in the resonant space of the labyrinth
• Chartres World Heritage Site in panographies – 360-degree interactive imaging