Eu is a commune in the Seine-Maritimedepartment in the Normandyregion in northern France. Eu is located near the coast in the eastern part of the department, near the border with Picardy. Its inhabitants are known in French as the Eudois. The name of the commune is related to that of the river on which it stands. Before being called the Bresle, this small river was known in the Middle Ages under the name of Ou, which then became Eu. Eu is chiefly known for its nearby national forest, the Eu Forest, the Renaissance style Château d’Eu and its college.
Eu is situated at the junction of the RD 1015, the RD 925, the RD 940 and the RD 1314 roads, in the steep-sided valley of the river Bresle, whose mouth is 4 km (2.5 mi) away to the north-west in Le Tréport. Eu station has rail connections to Beauvais and Le Tréport.
In 1050, William, Duke of Normandy, the future William the Conqueror and king of England, married Matilda, the daughter of the Count of Flanders, at the chapel of the castle in Eu. The chapel is the only part of this castle which still stands today.
In 1180, Laurence O’Toole, the archbishop of Dublin and papal legate, fell ill at Eu on his way to meet King Henry II of England. He died there. He was beatified in 1186 and canonised in 1225 as St Laurence, becoming the patron saint of the town. The collegiate church was named for the Virgin Mary and for him, Notre-Dame et Saint-Laurent, and still holds some of his preserved relics. In the 12th century, King Richard I of England, who was also Duke of Normandy, built the city walls.
In 1430, Joan of Arc as a prisoner of the English spent a night there, during her journey to Rouen.
The county remained an independent fief of the French crown until 1472, when it was inherited by John, Count of Nevers. In 1477 it was incorporated into the Burgundian territories of Charles the Bold. However, later that year Charles was killed in battle; King Louis XI of France took the opportunity to seize Charles’ French fiefs, including Eu, and incorporated them in the French royal domain.
[responsivevoice_button voice="Deutsch Female" buttontext="Diesen Beitrag vorlesen"](Latest update: 9 March 2020) From May 23 to 26, 2019, the European elections took place. By far the biggest surprise is that, despite Brexit, the United Kingdom took part in the elections because the country voted to leave the EU by a very small majority, but ultimately was not able to find the exit in time. The motto "Brexit means Brexit" is obviously not as easy to implement as the Brexiteers falsely propagated before the referendum, because the political camps define the exit very differently, making the in...
