Dreux (French pronunciation: [dʁø] ) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.
Dreux lies on the small river Blaise, a tributary of the Eure, about 35 km north of Chartres. Dreux station has rail connections to Argentan, Paris and Granville. The Route nationale 12 (Paris–Rennes) passes north of the town.
Dreux was known in ancient times as Durocassium, the capital of the Durocasses Celtic tribe. Despite the legend, its name was not related with Druids. The Romans established here a fortified camp known as Castrum Drocas.
In the Middle Ages, Dreux was the centre of the County of Dreux. The first count of Dreux was Robert, the son of King Louis the Fat. The first large battle of the French Wars of Religion occurred at Dreux, on 19 December 1562, resulting in a hard-fought victory for the Catholic forces of the duc de Montmorency.
In October 1983, the Front National won 55% of the vote in the second round of elections for the city council of Dreux, in one of its first significant electoral victories. [3]
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Source: EHESS [4] and INSEE (1968–2017) [5] |
Dreux has a significant Muslim population, and is estimated to be around 35%. Dreux's Muslim population consists mainly of North Africans, Arabs, Turks, and Sub-Saharan Africans. Many Muslims in Dreux experience high levels of poverty and unemployment. [6] [7] One-in-four residents in the town are immigrants. [8]
In 1775, the lands of the comté de Dreux had been given to the Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre by his cousin Louis XVI. In 1783, the duke sold his domain of Rambouillet to Louis XVI. On 25 November of that year, in a long religious procession, Penthièvre transferred the nine caskets containing the remains of his parents, the Louis-Alexandre de Bourbon, comte de Toulouse and Marie Victoire de Noailles, comtesse de Toulouse, his wife, Marie Thérèse Félicité d'Este, Princess of Modène, and six of their seven children, from the small medieval village church next to the castle in Rambouillet, to the chapel of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne de Dreux. [9] The duc de Penthièvre died in March 1793 and his body was laid to rest in the crypt beside his parents. On 21 November of that same year, in the midst of the French Revolution, a mob desecrated the crypt and threw the ten bodies in a mass grave in the Chanoines cemetery of the Collégiale Saint-Étienne. In 1816, the duc de Penthièvre's daughter, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, duchesse d'Orléans, had a new chapel built on the site of the mass grave of the Chanoines cemetery, as the final resting place for her family. In 1830, Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, son of the duchesse d'Orléans, embellished the chapel which was renamed Chapelle royale de Dreux, now the necropolis of the Orléans royal family.
Dreux was the birthplace of:
Dreux is twinned with: [11]
Climate data for Dreux (1996–2010 normals, extremes 1996–2011) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 15.2 (59.4) | 18.5 (65.3) | 22.5 (72.5) | 26.6 (79.9) | 31.2 (88.2) | 34.3 (93.7) | 36.0 (96.8) | 39.4 (102.9) | 31.7 (89.1) | 24.7 (76.5) | 18.8 (65.8) | 16.8 (62.2) | 39.4 (102.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) | 8.5 (47.3) | 11.8 (53.2) | 15.3 (59.5) | 19.2 (66.6) | 22.3 (72.1) | 24.9 (76.8) | 25.0 (77.0) | 21.4 (70.5) | 16.1 (61.0) | 10.4 (50.7) | 6.6 (43.9) | 15.8 (60.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) | 5.2 (41.4) | 7.7 (45.9) | 10.3 (50.5) | 14.0 (57.2) | 17.1 (62.8) | 19.1 (66.4) | 19.3 (66.7) | 16.1 (61.0) | 12.2 (54.0) | 7.5 (45.5) | 4.2 (39.6) | 11.4 (52.5) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) | 2.0 (35.6) | 3.5 (38.3) | 5.2 (41.4) | 8.8 (47.8) | 11.5 (52.7) | 13.3 (55.9) | 13.5 (56.3) | 10.8 (51.4) | 8.3 (46.9) | 4.6 (40.3) | 1.7 (35.1) | 7.1 (44.8) |
Record low °C (°F) | −14.0 (6.8) | −9.3 (15.3) | −8.3 (17.1) | −3.4 (25.9) | −1.0 (30.2) | 2.4 (36.3) | 6.8 (44.2) | 4.4 (39.9) | 2.0 (35.6) | −4.5 (23.9) | −10.0 (14.0) | −10.6 (12.9) | −14.0 (6.8) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 41.6 (1.64) | 38.6 (1.52) | 40.6 (1.60) | 38.4 (1.51) | 47.0 (1.85) | 46.9 (1.85) | 57.8 (2.28) | 39.2 (1.54) | 39.2 (1.54) | 60.0 (2.36) | 48.8 (1.92) | 59.2 (2.33) | 557.3 (21.94) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 9.1 | 9.9 | 9.3 | 8.8 | 8.9 | 7.6 | 8.3 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 10.3 | 11.9 | 11.9 | 110.7 |
Source: Meteociel [12] |
Eure-et-Loir is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.
Louis Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, known as le Gros, was a French royal of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. The First Prince of the Blood after 1752, he was the most senior male at the French court after the immediate royal family. He was the father of Philippe Égalité. He greatly augmented the already huge wealth of the House of Orléans.
Rambouillet is a subprefecture of the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of France. It is located beyond the outskirts of Paris, 44.3 km (27.5 mi) southwest of its centre. In 2018, the commune had a population of 26,933.
The 4th House of Orléans, sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. The house was founded by Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, the "Sun King".
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, a legitimated prince of the blood royal, was the son of Louis XIV and of his mistress Françoise-Athénaïs, marquise de Montespan. At the age of five, he became grand admiral of France.
Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon was the son of Louis Alexandre de Bourbon and his wife Marie Victoire de Noailles. He was therefore a grandson of Louis XIV of France and his mistress, Madame de Montespan. From birth he was known as the Duke of Penthièvre. He also possessed the following titles: Prince of Lamballe ; Prince of Carignano; Duke of Rambouillet; Duke of Aumale (1775); Duke of Gisors; Duke of Châteauvillain; Duke of Arc-en-Barrois; Duke of Amboise; Count of Eu; Count of Guingamp. He was the father in law of Philippe Égalité.
Philippe-Emmanuel de Lorraine, Duke of Mercœur and of Penthièvre was a French soldier, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire and a prominent member of the Catholic League, who fought for Breton political independence from the House of Bourbon.
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France. It was built on the former château at the center of the domains of Diane's deceased husband, Louis de Brézé, seigneur d'Anet, Marshal of Normandy and Master of the Hunt.
Maintenon is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located 63.5 km (39.5 mi) southwest of the center of Paris.
Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, Duchess of Orléans, was the daughter of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d'Este. At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe, she became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution. She married Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, the "regicide" Philippe Égalité, and was the mother of France's last king, Louis Philippe I. She was sister-in-law to Marie Thérèse Louise, Princess of Lamballe, and was the last member of the Bourbon-Penthièvre family.
La Ferté-Vidame is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.
The House of Bourbon-Penthièvre was an illegitimate branch of the House of Bourbon, thus descending from the Capetian dynasty. It was founded by the duc de Penthièvre (1725–1793), the only child and heir of the comte de Toulouse, the youngest illegitimate son of Louis XIV of France and the marquise de Montespan, and his wife, Marie Victoire de Noailles, the daughter of Anne Jules de Noailles, duc de Noailles.
Louis Alexandre de Bourbon was the son and heir of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, great grandson of Louis XIV by the king's legitimised son, Louis Alexandre de Bourbon. He was known as the Prince of Lamballe from birth. He pre-deceased his father, and died childless.
Marie Victoire Sophie de Noailles, Countess of Toulouse, was a French noble and courtier. Her second spouse was Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Count of Toulouse, the youngest legitimized son of King Louis XIV of France and his maîtresse-en-titre, Madame de Montespan.
The House of Bourbon-Montpensier or Maison de Bourbon-Montpensier was a semi royal family. The name of Bourbon comes from a marriage between Marie de Valois, comtesse de Montpensier (1375–1434) who married Jean de Bourbon - the duc de Bourbon. The second name of Montpensier, comes from the title of the family.
Maria Teresa Felicitas d'Este was a Princess of Modena by birth and Duchess of Penthièvre by marriage. She was the mother-in-law of Philippe Égalité and thus grandmother to the future Louis-Philippe of France.
The Royal Chapel of Dreux situated in Dreux, France, is the traditional burial place of members of the House of Orléans. It is an important early building in the French adoption of Gothic Revival architecture, despite being topped by a dome. Starting in 1828, Alexandre Brogniart, director of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, produced fired-enamel paintings on large panes of plate glass for King Louis-Philippe I, an important early French commission in Gothic Revival taste, preceded mainly by some Gothic features in a few jardins paysagers.
Louis Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Rambouillet was a French nobleman who died before his fourth birthday. He was never in the line of succession to the France's throne because he belonged to the illegitimate Bourbon-Penthièvre branch of the royal dynasty through the liaison of Louis XIV with a maîtresse-en-titre. He was known as the Duc de Rambouillet.
Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Châteauvillain was a French Duke and nobleman. He died in Paris at the age of 6. He was the duc de Châteauvillain from birth.
Baron André de Maricourt was a French historian.