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Corbie
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<h2 id="geography">Geography</h2> <p>The small town is situated 15 km (9.3 mi) up river from <a href="/facts/Amiens/MluWTCmt">Amiens</a>, in the département of <a href="/facts/Somme_(d%C3%A9partement)/1xNDvLgz">Somme</a> and is the main town of the <a href="/facts/Canton_in_France/JbX4Slx1">canton</a> of Corbie. It lies in the valley of the river <a href="/facts/Somme_(river)/7RcEdApe">Somme</a>, at the confluence with the <a href="/facts/Ancre/2eSoQfzC">Ancre</a>. The town is bisected by the <a href="/facts/Canal_de_la_Somme/0jP9zWnk">Canal de la Somme</a>. </p><p><a href="https://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&ll=49.914093,2.609253&spn=0.150996,0.315857&t=k">This satellite photograph</a> shows it in its context. The town is to the left and the <a href="/facts/Fen/8nry82bD">fenny</a> Somme valley winds down to it from the right. The <a href="/facts/Chalk/b6hepsNS">chalk</a> of the <a href="/facts/Upper_Cretaceous/pcHa4fBg">Upper Cretaceous</a> <a href="/facts/Plateau/R9ugUKzQ">plateau</a> shows pale in the fields. The river Ancre flows down from the north-east. The <a href="/facts/Autoroutes_of_France/C3WISxNm">A29 road</a> is shown under construction snaking across the chalk in the southern part of the picture. The fainter, straight line just to its north is the road N29. It passes through <a href="/facts/Villers-Bretonneux/Rzez48IB">Villers-Bretonneux</a>, the village just south of Corbie. </p> <h2 id="history">History</h2> <h3>Corbie Abbey</h3> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Corbie_Abbey/ShvtS1fv">Corbie Abbey</a></p> <p>The town of Corbie grew up round <a href="/facts/Corbie_Abbey/ShvtS1fv">Corbie Abbey</a>, founded in 657 or 660 by the queen regent <a href="/facts/Balthild_of_Chelles/mvvPnNSN">Bathilde</a>, with a founding community of monks from <a href="/facts/Luxeuil_Abbey/wDojf7W1">Luxeuil Abbey</a> in the <a href="/facts/Franche-Comt%C3%A9/zghCwXPa">Franche-Comté</a>. </p><p>Its <a href="/facts/Scriptorium/xX1KyjVW">scriptorium</a> came to be one of the centers of work of manuscript illumination when the art was still fairly new in western Europe. In this early <a href="/facts/Merovingian/mz0Sv722">Merovingian</a> period the work of Corbie was innovative in that it portrayed images of people, such as <a href="/facts/Saint_Jerome/4j8B8gSQ">Saint Jerome</a>. It was also the place of creation, in about 780, of the influential <a href="/facts/Caroline_minuscule/zfQzztxn">Caroline minuscule</a> script.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p><p>The contents of its library are known from catalogues of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. In 1638, <a href="/facts/Cardinal_Richelieu/8QJRAcvV">Cardinal Richelieu</a> ordered the transfer of the library's books to the library at <a href="/facts/Saint-Germain-des-Pr%C3%A9s/686a1g32">Saint-Germain-des-Prés</a>, which was dispersed at the end of the eighteenth century. </p> <h3>Town</h3> <p>In 1234, <a href="/facts/Floris_IV,_Count_of_Holland/qaXa5for">Floris IV, Count of Holland</a> died at a <a href="/facts/Tournament_(medieval)/WBVFGmme">tournament</a> held here. In 1475, the town was taken by <a href="/facts/Louis_XI/8WqL9L1y">Louis XI</a>. The <a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spanish</a> took it after a short siege on 15 August 1636 but were ousted in November by Richelieu and <a href="/facts/Louis_XIII_of_France/lQLogryS">Louis XIII of France</a> after a siege of three months. </p><p>In 1918, Corbie was on the margin of the battlefield of <a href="/facts/Villers-Bretonneux/Rzez48IB">Villers-Bretonneux</a> at which the <a href="/facts/First_Battle_of_the_Somme_(1918)/9Gx66TbC">First Battle of the Somme (1918)</a> of the <a href="/facts/German_spring_offensive/fShURo0M">German spring offensive</a> came to a climax. </p> <h2 id="population">Population</h2> Historical population<table><tbody><tr><th>Year</th><th>Pop.</th><th>±% p.a.</th></tr><tr><th>1968 </th><td>5,261</td><td>— </td></tr><tr><th>1975 </th><td>5,466</td><td>+0.55%</td></tr><tr><th>1982 </th><td>6,176</td><td>+1.76%</td></tr><tr><th>1990 </th><td>6,152</td><td>−0.05%</td></tr><tr><th>1999 </th><td>6,317</td><td>+0.29%</td></tr><tr><th>2007 </th><td>6,342</td><td>+0.05%</td></tr><tr><th>2012 </th><td>6,290</td><td>−0.16%</td></tr><tr><th>2017 </th><td>6,283</td><td>−0.02%</td></tr><tr><td colspan="3">Source: INSEE<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a></td></tr></tbody></table> <h2 id="pictures">Pictures</h2> <h2 id="sights">Sights</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Corbie_Abbey/ShvtS1fv">Abbey of St. Peter</a> (Saint Pierre)</li> <li><a href="/facts/Town_hall/y4XjQrg7">Town Hall</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Church_(building)/gtw3YSsd">Church</a> of la Neuville; at the north-west end of the town</li></ul> <h2 id="personalities">Personalities</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Adalard_of_Corbie/4ruUEfKM">Adalard of Corbie</a>, a German cousin of <a href="/facts/Charlemagne/o0PlxScC">Charlemagne</a>, was abbot of Corbie. In 822, he founded <a href="/facts/Corvey_Abbey/3CaKanzF">Corvey Abbey</a> (<i>Corbeia nova</i> or "new Corbie") on the territory of <a href="/facts/H%C3%B6xter/gypy7FUN">Höxter</a> in <a href="/facts/Westphalia/tHtm9cTt">Westphalia</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Adela_of_France,_Countess_of_Flanders/IMCTNyqb">Adela of France, Countess of Flanders</a> (1009–1079), countess of Corbie, married <a href="/facts/Baldwin_V,_Count_of_Flanders/jtwvdceG">Baldwin V, Count of Flanders</a>(c. 1030-1070); their son, Baldwin of Mons became <a href="/facts/Baldwin_VI,_Count_of_Flanders/tIRdjD4D">Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gerald_of_Corbie/76BbMcTT">Saint Gérard</a> (born at Corbie in 1025): abbot and confessor.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Saint_Colette/vhzH6CVW">Saint Colette</a> (born at Corbie in 1381): reformer of the <a href="/facts/Franciscan/gwohhd4C">Franciscan Order</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Eug%C3%A8ne_Lefebvre/smnGJkkP">Eugène Lefebvre</a>, <a href="/facts/Aviation_history/ePwqJ7pH">aviation</a> pioneer, born at Corbie 4 October 1878. He was the first <a href="/facts/Aviator/SJaN1UAJ">pilot</a> to be killed at the controls of his <a href="/facts/Aeroplane/81161IpU">aeroplane</a>, 7 September 1909</li></ul> <h2 id="twin-towns">Twin towns</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX"></a> <a href="/facts/H%C3%B6xter/gypy7FUN">Höxter</a>, <a href="/facts/Germany/paluuWBX">Germany</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/United_Kingdom/kuPAILt2"></a> <a href="/facts/Pickering,_North_Yorkshire/YS1pUFoW">Pickering</a>, <a href="/facts/Great_Britain/TNgGQRPj">Great Britain</a></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Communes_of_the_Somme_department/anE45v9e">Communes of the Somme department</a></li></ul> <ul><li>Nordenfalk, C. (1995). <i>Book Illumination Early Middle Ages</i>. pp. 52, 54, 60. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 2-605-00299-3.</li> <li>Voronova, T.; A. Sterligov (2003). <i>Western European Illuminated Manuscripts 8th to 16th centuries</i>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-86288-584-1.</li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corbie. <ul><li><a href="https://www.mairie-corbie.fr/">Corbie town site</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04355d.htm">Catholic Encyclopedia (Corbie)</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>see calligraphy and Merovingian script <a href="/wiki/Calligraphy#Western_Europe" target="_blank">/wiki/Calligraphy#Western_Europe</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE <a href="https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-80212#ancre-POP_T1" target="_blank">https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-80212#ancre-POP_T1</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>