ALENçON

'Alençon' is a town in Normandy, France, ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Orne ''département''. It is situated 105 miles west of Paris, and the town has a population of 30,380 (in 1999). Alençon belongs to the ''Communauté urbaine'' d'Alençon (with 52,000 people).

Contents

History

Economy

Transport

Miscellaneous

Births

Twin towns

Alencon Spaceman

External links

History

It was probably during the 4th century, while the area was being christianised, that the city of Alençon was founded. The name is first seen in a document dated in the 7th century. During the 10th century, Alençon was a buffer state between Normandy and the Maine regions. In 1047, William Duke of Normandy, later known as William the Conqueror and king of England, laid siege to the town. The citizens insulted William by hanging animal skins from the walls, in reference to his ancestry as the illegitimate son of Duke Robert and a tanner's daughter. On capturing the town, William had the citizens' hands cut off in revenge. Alençon was occupied by the English during the Anglo-Norman wars of 1113 to 1203.
The city became the seat of a dukedom in 1415, belonging to the sons of the King of France until the French Revolution, and some of them played important roles in French history: see Duke of Alençon. The French Revolution caused relatively little disorder in this area although there were some royalist uprisings nearby.
The fabric industry gave birth to the famous point d'Alençon lace. The economic development of the 19th century and the industrial boom was generated by several factories (mills), and transport networks (roads and railways) developed. In the first half of the 20th century the city developed a flourishing printing industry.
On June 17 1940 the German army occupied Alençon. On August 12 1944 Alençon was the first French city to be liberated by the French army under General Leclerc, after minor bomb damage.
After the war the population sharply increased and new industries settled. Many of these are related to plastics and Moulinex was a major employer until the closure of the Moulinex factories throughout France in 2001.
Alençon is linked by the A28 autoroute to Le Mans in the Sarthe to the south. In late 2005 Alençon was linked to Rouen by a new section of the A28 autoroute.

Economy

In the 17th century Alençon was chiefly noted for its lace called point d'Alençon.
Today, Alençon is home to a prosperous plastics industry, and, since 1993, to a plastics engineering school.

Transport

Alençon is now linked to the autoroute (major interstate) system with Le Mans (Sarthe), and to Rouen (Haute-Normandie) since the completion of the A28 27 Oct 2005
They also have available from the hours of 07:00 to 19:00 an inter city bus system. A range of different tickets and rates are available; but it is possible to ride the bus for a 1€ ticket.

Miscellaneous

Births

Alençon was the birthplace of:

★ Marie-Catherine de Villedieu, (1640 – 1683), novelist

★ Pierre Allix (1641-1717), Protestant pastor and author

★ Daniel Balavoine (1952-1986), singer and songwriter

★ Jacques Hébert (1757-1794), editor of the extreme radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'' during the French Revolution

★ Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (1755–1834), botanist

★ Juste Lisch (1828 – 1910), architect

★ Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897), Roman Catholic nun who was canonised as a saint, and is one of only 33 Doctors of the Church

★ Auguste Poulet-Malassis (1825-1878), publisher and friend of Baudelaire

★ Anthony Geslin (9 June 1980), French cyclist

Twin towns

Alençon is twinned with Basingstoke in the United Kingdom, Koutiala in Mali, and Quakenbrück in Germany.

Alencon Spaceman

On June 12th, 1790, a crowd of people purportedly witnessed a strange entity emerge from a metal sphere that had crash landed along a nearby hillside. The being was adorned in a tight-fitting spacesuit and spoke a strange language. Afterwards, the being dashed for the forest and the spherical craft exploded. The being was never seen again.

External links

Web site about the life, writings, spirituality, and mission of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face, who was born in Alencon on January 2, 1873; information about the life of her family in Alencon and about pilgrimages to Alencon

★ Official town website

★ Alencon's citizen portal