Chateau-Thierry
CHATEAU-THIERRY, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Aisne, 59 m. E.N.E. of Paris on the Eastern railway to Nancy. Pop. (1906) 6872. Château-Thierry is built on rising ground on the right bank of the Marne, over which a fine stone bridge leads to the suburb of Marne. On the quay stands a marble statue erected to the memory of La Fontaine, who was born in the town in 1621; his house is still preserved in the street that bears his name. On the top of a hill are the ruins of a castle, which is said to have been built by Charles Martel for the Frankish king, Thierry IV., and is plainly the origin of the name of the town. The chief relic is a gateway flanked by massive round towers, known as the Porte Saint-Pierre. A belfry of the 15th century and the church of St Crépin of the same period are of some interest. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. The distinctive industry is the manufacture of mathematical and musical instruments. There is trade in the white wine of the neighbourhood, and in sheep, cattle and agricultural products. Gypsum, millstone and paving-stone are quarried in the vicinity. Château-Thierry was formerly the capital of the district of Brie Pouilleuse, and received the title of duchy from Charles IX. in 1566. It was captured by the English in 1421, by Charles V. in 1544, and sacked by the Spanish in 1591. During the wars of the Fronde it was pillaged in 1652; and in the campaign of 1814 it suffered severely. On the 12th of February of the latter year the Russo-Prussian forces were beaten by Napoleon in the neighbourhood.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
