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Coordinates: 50°01′00″N 1°59′00″E / 50.016667°N
1.983333°E / 50.016667;
1.983333
Longpré-les-Corps-Saints is a commune
in Somme department in Picardie in northern France.
Geography
Situated on the D3 and D216 junction and on the banks of the Somme
River, surrounded by peat fen, some 12 miles (19 km)
southeast of Abbeville.
The railway from Paris to Boulogne-sur-Mer has a station
here.
An earlier local railway [1] , once
carried freight and some passengers. It opened in
1872 and closed in 1993.
Population
Population history
| 1962 |
1968 |
1975 |
1982 |
1990 |
1999 |
2006 |
| 1858 |
1902 |
1857 |
1641 |
1519 |
1561 |
1691 |
| Starting in 1962: Population
without duplicates |
History
Les Corps Saints is named after the thousands of supposedly holy
relics (the bones of saints, pieces of the ‘true cross’ etc)
brought back by Crusaders
from the Holy Land. The
region was quite wealthy, thanks to the exploitation of the peat, found here in abundance.[2]
A collegial church was established here, and by the 13th century
had attrached the attention of Popes, notably Innocent III and Gregory IX who granted
it their protection. It was called at that time “Longpré
-les-Corps-Saints”. The relics would be promenaded though
the streets, a practise which still goes on nowadays.
The crypt, all that remains of the first church
Longpré was burnt down twice by the English during the Hundred Years War, the first time just
before the Battle of Crécy, the second time before
the Battle of Agincourt.
Pope Eugene IV
had the badly-damaged church rebuilt in 1437,[3].
Old columns forming part of the present church grounds
During the Wars of Religion, to avoid the
Huguenots, the inhabitants of Longpré ran
way. The clergy of the collegial church, the canons, took
refuge at Saint-Vulfran’s abbey in Abbeville. Afterwards, the
collegial chapter was restored, but it was never as great as in its
earlier days. By the time of the French Revolution, there were only 10
canons.
Plaque commemorating five French soldiers
On 28 December 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans
fought and killed 8 and wounded 15 combatants and civilians. 60
French prisoners were taken
From the 28th May to the 6th June 1940, French troops were
engaged in defending the town against the panzers of General Rommel. The
town was reduced to rubble. 90% of the town was destroyed and the
spire of the church
collapsed.
Places of
interest
Eroded stonework of the church
- The church
- The 1870 war memorial, listing 5 dead
- The 1914-1918 war memorial, listing 42 French dead.
- The British war cemetery 1914-1918 contains the remains of 78
British & Commonwealth troops and one French soldier.
- Memorial to the Battle of France, June 1940
See also
References
- ^
Source:Fcvnet
- ^
page 286, Tome I de « Histoire des Cathédrales, Abbayes,
Châteaux-forts et Villes de la Picardie et de l'Artois »,
Paul Roger, Editions Duval et Herment, Amiens, 1842 (Réimpression
Editions La Découvrance, 2003) - ISBN :
2-84265-206-1
- ^
Document conservé aux Archives Départementales
External
links