Hesdin

French commune
nomcommune=Hesdin
region=
departement=
arrondissement=
canton=Hesdin
insee=62447
cp=62140
maire=Jean-Marie Roussel
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Communauté de Communes de l'Hesdinois
longitude=2.0375
latitude=50.375
alt moy=26 m
alt mini=23 m
alt maxi=34 m
hectares=93
km²=0.9
sans=2,686
date-sans=1999
dens=2,888
date-dens=1999

Hesdin is a commune of northern France. It is the chief town of the canton of Hesdin, in the arrondissement of Montreuil, in the Pas-de-Calais "département". It is about a 10 minute journey from the house of the parents of Sam.

Geography

The N39, from Arras to Montreuil, used to be the main thoroughfare of the town. In the 1950s, a circular route was created to help traffic flow. A second bypass was built in the 1980s, taking all through traffic well away from the town.
The Canche river flows through the centre of Hesdin.

History

Hesdin was a fief of the counts of Artois, vassals of the Counts of Flanders until 1180. When Philip, count of Flanders gave Artois as dowry to his niece Isabel de Hainault when she married Philip Augustus of France in 1180, Hesdin and the other seigneuries passed to France. Though subsequently the territory passed to the Dukes of Burgundy, Hesdin remained one of a handful of French strongholds, until in 1553 Emperor Charles V ordered the utter destruction of the old fortified town on a rise of ground and built the present town the following year, some 6km from the original site, on the banks of the Canche.
In 1639 the French laid siege to Hesdin and under Louis XIII, it was recaptured for France. Thus, though Hesdin has an ancient name and 16th century structures, there is no medieval town at all.
The most recent and resourceful book on the history of Hesdin is "Promenades dans Hesdin" by Regis Deparis (2004) fr

Population

Places of interest

Hesdin is dominated by the central square, the "Place d'Armes" overlooked by the 16th-17th century town hall. The contemporary Church of Notre Dame was begun in 1565 and completed in 1685.

People with links to the town

*Jacquemart de Hesdin (c. 1355– c. 1414), miniaturist and painter to the duc de Berry
*The Abbé Prévost, (April 1, 1697 – 1763), celebrated novelist known worldwide for his "Manon Lescaut", was born in Hesdin.
*Henri Titelouze de Gournay (1871-1933)
*Clovis Normand
*François Dalle
*Jean-Louis Cottigny

Miscellaneous

The best day to visit Hesdin is market day, Thursday, when a large range of goods can be purchased although the clothes and furnishing materials sold in the main square are not good value. A good range of local produce can be purchased from the stalls in the surrounding streets.

Twinned with

flagicon|ENG London Borough of Havering in London, England.

ee also

* Communes of the Pas-de-Calais département

External links

* [http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/co_navigation.co_page?nivgeo=C&codgeo=62447&theme=ALL&typeprod=ALL&lang=FR&quelcas=LISTE Hesdin on the Insee website] fr
* [http://www.quid.fr/communes.html?mode=detail&id=26937&req=Hesdin Hesdin on the Quid website] fr