Soissons

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Categories: Communes of Aisne | Capitals of former nations | Subprefectures in France | Roman towns and cities in France

Image:Panorama soissons.jpg

Soissons : Panoramic view of the city from the top of the cathedral.

Coordinates: 49°22′54″N, 03°19′25″E

Administration
Commune of Soissons Town hall of Soissons
Location
Coordinates	49°22′54″N, 03°19′25″E
Country	France
Region	Picardie
Department	Aisne (sous-préfecture)
Arrondissement	Soissons
Canton	Chief town of 2 cantons
Intercommunality	Communauté d'agglomération du Soissonnais
Mayor	Édith Errasti (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	38 m–130 m (avg. 55 m)
Land area^¹	12.32 km²
Population^² (1999)	29,453
- Density	2,390/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	02722/ 02200
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Soissons is a town and commune in the Aisne département, Picardie, France, located on the Aisne River, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital of the Suessiones.

1 History
2 Sights
3 Miscellaneous
4 See also
5 External links
6 References

History

Soissons enters written history under its Celtic name (as later borrowed in Latin), Noviodunum, meaning "new hillfort". At Roman contact, it was a town of the Suessiones, mentioned, by Julius Caesar (B. G. ii. 12). Caesar (B.C. 57), after leaving the Axona (modern Aisne), entered the territory of the Suessiones, and making one day's long march, reached Noviodunum, which was surrounded by a high wall and a broad ditch. The place surrendered to Caesar.

From 457 to 486, under Aegidius and his son Syagrius, Noviodunum was the capital of the "Kingdom of Soissons," until it fell to the Frankish king Clovis I in the Battle of Soissons.

Part of the Frankish territory of Neustria, the Soissons region, and the Abbey of Saint-Médard, built in the 8th century, played an important political part during the rule of the Merovingian kings (A.D. 447-751). After the death of Clovis I in 511, Soissons was made the capital of one of the four kingdoms into which his states were divided. Eventually, the kingdom of Soissons disappeared in 613 when the Frankish lands were amalgamated under Clotaire II.

In 744 the Synod of Soissons met at the instigation of Pippin III, and Saint Boniface, the Pope's missionary to pagan Germany, secured the condemnation of the Frankish bishop Adalbert and the Irish missionary Clement.