Eu, Seine-Maritime

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For other meanings of Eu, see Eu (disambiguation).

Coat of arms Eu, Seine-Maritime

Eu is an historic town in northern France. It is the chief town of a canton situated close to the coast in the département of Seine-Maritime, in the region of Haute-Normandie; in the eastern part of Normandy and close to the border with Picardy. It has a population of 8,332 people (known as the eudois).

Eu stands in the steep sided valley of the River Bresle, whose mouth is 4 km away to the north in Le Tréport. It is chiefly known for its nearby national forest, its Renaissance style castle and its college.

1 Origin of the name
2 Coat of arms
3 History
4 Present day economic activities
5 Miscellaneous
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Origin of the name

The name of the commune is related to that of the river on which it stands. Before being called the Bresle, this small river was known in the Middle Ages under the name of d'Ou, which then became Eu.

[edit] Coat of arms

The coat of arms illustrated here show the Croix de Guerre, awarded to the town in 1944.

[edit] History

The County of Eu was created in 996 by Duke Richard I of Normandy for his illegitimate son Geoffrey, Count of Brionne. It was a march protecting Normandy from invasion from the east.

In 1050, William Duke of Normandy, the future William the Conqueror and king of England, married Mathilde, the daughter of the Count de Flanders at the chapel of the castle in Eu. The chapel is the only part of this castle which still remanis today.

In 1180, Lawrence O'Toole, the archbishop of Dublin and papal legate fell ill at Eu on his way to meeting King Henry II of England. He subsequently died there. He was beatified in 1186, and canonised in 1225. St Lawrence is the patron saint of the town, and has given his name to the collegiate church (Notre-Dame et Saint Laurent) where part of his reliquaries are preserved.

In the 12th century, King Richard I of England, who was also Duke of Normandy, built the city walls.

In 1430, Joan of Arc as a prisoner of the English passed through the town on her way to Rouen, spending a night there.

The county remained an independent fief of the French crown until 1472, when it was inherited by John, Count of Nevers. In 1477 it was incorporated into the Burgundian territories of Charles the Bold. However, later that year Charles was killed in battle; King Louis XI of France took the opportunity to seize Charles' French fiefs, including Eu, and incorporated them in the French royal domain.

The château stands at the centre of the town and was built in the fifteenth century to replace an earlier one purposely destroyed in 1475 to prevent its capture by the English. Between 1830 and 1848, King Louis-Philippe used the château at Eu as his summer residence.

Arrival of Queen Victoria at the Château d'Eu, by Eugène-Louis Lami, 1843

The British Queen Victoria visited Eu on two occasions as guest of Louis-Philippe. The first time in 1843 was to cement an early form of the Entente Cordiale between Britain and France. It was the first time monarchs of the two countries had met since King Henry VIII of England met with King Francis I of France on the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.