Bernay, Eure

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Coordinates: 49°05′22″N 0°35′57″E / 49.0894444444, 0.599166666667

Administration
Commune of Bernay Coat of arms of Bernay
Location

Country	France
Region	Haute-Normandie
Department	Eure
Arrondissement	Bernay
Canton	Chief town of 2 cantons: Bernay-Est Bernay-Ouest
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de Bernay et ses environs
Mayor	Hervé Maurey (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	87 m–173 m (avg. 108 m)
Land area^¹	24.03 km²
Population^² (1999)	11,024
- Density	458.8/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	27056/ 27300
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Bernay is a commune in the west of the department of the Eure département, to around fifty of kilometers of the Évreux prefecture, in France. The city is on the Pays d'Ouche and the Lieuvin. On its territory run the Charentonne, an affluent of the Risle and the Cosnier.

[edit] History

The etymological origin of Bernay indicates that it is a marshy place, which does not surprise since the Charentonne river comes to butt against a slope ("les Monts") and receives the Cosnier river that has an important flow.

Between 996 and 1008, the duke of Normandy, Richard II, offers this area in dowry to his wife, Judith of Brittany, who built a Bénédictine abbey at once. The monks arrange the site by important hydraulic work: cleansing, mills, fisheries... and the construction of an abbey which remains a jewel of the Norman Romanesque architecture . To cover the expenses and to ensure their defense, they yield a part of their property in 1048.

The commercial activity attested since 1198 takes its rise on the principal axis of the town. The industry of cloth is famous, the fairs are numerous (the "Foire Fleurie" at the time of Palm Sunday is memorable), because of the diversity and the abundance of the agricultural produce of the area. Besides Bernay holds a big market each Saturday. The veneration of "Notre-Dame de la Couture" as of XIII century, is at the origin of important pilgrimages which attract crowd of all Normandy, the diocesan Marian pilgrimage still takes place each Whit Monday.

During the XIX century, important installations of roadway system modernize the city, and the evolution of the industrial structure is directed towards the circumference of the city. This development will continue during last century, with the arrival of new industries and the considerable extension of Bernay on the slopes overhanging the traditional center, which has remained faithful to its origins.

At the time of the Second World war, the city escapes the Canadian bombardments in August 1944 thanks to a thick layer of cloud, thus preserving the historical center.