Bazeilles | |
|---|---|
 The CSSA Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes in Bazeilles | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Bazeilles | |
  Bazeilles  Bazeilles | |
| Coordinates:49°40′41″N4°58′38″E / 49.6781°N 4.9772°E /49.6781; 4.9772 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Grand Est |
| Department | Ardennes |
| Arrondissement | Sedan |
| Canton | Sedan-3 |
| Intercommunality | CA Ardenne Métropole |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2026) | Francis Bonne[1] |
Area 1 | 37.44 km2 (14.46 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[2] | 2,470 |
| • Density | 66.0/km2 (171/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 08053 /08140 |
| Elevation | 152–238 m (499–781 ft) (avg. 156 m or 512 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Bazeilles (French pronunciation:[bazɛj]ⓘ) is acommune in theArdennesdepartment in theGrand Est region of northernFrance.[3] On 1 January 2017, the former communes ofRubécourt-et-Lamécourt andVillers-Cernay were merged into Bazeilles.[4] On 1 January 2024, the former commune ofLa Moncelle was merged into Bazeilles.[5]
The inhabitants of the commune are known asBazeillais orBazeillaises.[6]
The commune has been awardedthree flowers by theNational Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in theCompetition of cities and villages in Bloom.[7]
Bazeilles is located some 4 km south-east ofSedan and 2 km west ofDouzy. Access to the commune is byRoute nationale 43 (N43) from Sedan in the west which passes through the north of the commune and changes to the D8043 before continuing east to Douzy. Exit
3 Balan lies within the commune which leads to the D764 that goes south to the village. The N43 also links with the beginning of the N58 in the commune which goes north. Other access roads include the D8043A fromBalan in the north-west which goes to the village then continues east to join the D8043. The D129 comes fromDaigny in the north and passes through the village before continuing south toRemilly-Aillicourt. The D17 from Balan passes through the commune just north of the village and continues east. A railway passes through the south of the commune from east to south-west with no station in the commune. The next station to the east is atCarignan and the next to the west is at Sedan. The commune has a significant sized urban are and a large industrial estate with a very largeUnilin plant[citation needed]. The rest of the commune is farmland.[8][9]
TheMeuse river forms the south-western border of the commune as it flows north-west to eventually join theHollands Diep atLage Zwaluwe (Netherlands). TheChiers river flows from the north-east forming part of the south-eastern border before joining the Meuse in the south-eastern corner of the commune. TheRuisseau de la Givinne flows from the north through the centre of the commune before joining the Meuse in the south.[8][9]
Neighbouring communes and villages[8] | |
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The nameBazeilles would have appeared in the 6th or 7th century and comes from a variation of the Latin wordBasilicatum meaning "church".
Bazeilles appears asBazeille on the 1750Cassini Map[10] and the same on the 1790 version.[11]
In the 13th century Bazeilles was a small lordship dependent on the Abbey of Mouzon and theReims Cathedral before being united with the lordship of Sedan-Balan under the yoke of Gilles II of Hierges. The new lordship of Sedan-Balan-Bazeilles become the "starting point" of the futurePrincipality of Sedan.[12]
It was possible that a small castle guarded the road to Douzy and Yvois (Carignan) and would have been in the northern part of the park of the current Chateau of Orival along the Givonne (rue du General Lebrun).
From 1560 to 1642 Bazeilles was part of the Principality of Sedan.
Related article:Battle of Sedan.
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During theBattle of Bazeilles on 1 September 1870 the commune was the scene of intense fighting between units of Frenchmarines and Bavarian regiments. Under the command of Commander Lambert and Captains Aubert, Bourgey, Delaury, Picard and theBlue Division, in the Bourgerie Inn, a few hundred men and officers resisted until their ammunition was completely exhausted. This moment of history was illustrated by the famous painting byAlphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville painted in 1873:The last cartridges and conserved in Bazeilles in theHouse of the last cartridge.
During the battle, French civilians actively participated by firing on Bavarian troops and tending to the wounded. Angered by the casualties the civilians inflicted, the Bavarian soldiers killed many of them, setting fire to houses from which the shots were fired. By midday, the whole village was on fire.[13] Captured Franc-tireur partisans, along with other civilians who were consideredunlawful combatants, were later executed. Although French propaganda showed massacres of men, women and children, an official French investigation found that only 39 civilians from Bazeilles died.[14] An additional 150 people (10% of the village population) died from injuries in the subsequent months.
Bazeilles was awarded theLegion of Honour on 9 October 1900.Bazeilles is one of the communes where is the action of the novel "La débâcle" byEmile Zola is set.
During theSecond World War and during thePhoney War, the command post of the5th Light Cavalry Division under General Jacques-Marie Chanoine was established in Bazeilles.[15] Then theBattle of France was triggered on 10 May 1940 and the Cavalry Division left forBelgium. A few days later Bazeilles was taken by the10th Panzer Division underFerdinand Schaal. Bazeilles was the initial base for theSchützen-Regiment 69 (Infantry from the 10th Panzer-Division), who, on the afternoon of 13 May 1940, launched an attack to cross theMeuse. The attempt was thwarted by the French artillery.[16] At the same time an attempt by theSchützen-Regiment 86 (the other infantry regiment of the 10th Panzer Division) in front ofWadelincourt succeeded and the Schützen-Regiment 69 then swerved then to that sector.[17]
 | Blazon: Party per fess, at 1 party per pale Or, with 3 points of flame Gules and Azure, an anchor of Or; at 2 Gules, a Legion of Honour proper. |
 |
| From | To | Name | Party | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | 1945 | Alexandre Abd-El-Nour | Independent Radicals | Doctor |
| 1973 | 1989 | André Etchegoimberry | Butcher | |
| 1995 | 2014 | Pierre Sulfourt | General Councillor (1992–2004) | |
| 2014 | 2020 | Guy Lepage | ||
| 2020 | 2026 | Francis Bonne |
In 2017 the commune had 2,394 inhabitants.
Historical population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: EHESS[19] and INSEE[20] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The commune has a number of buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:
[22][23] Only the portal remains of the old building. Now a farmhouse.[24][25][26] built for John Abraham Poupart deNeuflize, a draper from Sedan, by the King's architect Claude Jean-Baptiste Jallier de Savault. Now the training centre of the CSSA Club Sportif Sedan Ardennes.Jacques Rousseau:Bazeilles, origins and mutations, 2002.ISBN 2-84458-008-4.
