Rouen

Rouen (pronounced {{IPA|/ʀuɑ̃/}} in French, sometimes also {{IPA|/ʀwɑ̃/}}) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, Rouen was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages. It was one of the capitals of the Anglo-Norman dynasties, which ruled both England and large parts of modern France from the 11th century to the 15th century. It is in Rouen that the English burnt Joan of Arc in 1431.

Miscellaneous

Transportation

Rouen is served by a light metro system opened in 1994.

Related Topics:
Light metro - 1994

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Education

• École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen, located at nearby Mont-Saint-Aignan
• INSA Rouen

Births

Rouen was the birthplace of:

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• Isaac Oliver (c.1560-1617), French-born English portrait miniature painter
• Samuel Bochart (1599-1667), scholar
• Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), tragedian
• Adrien Auzout (1622-1691), astronomer
• Thomas Corneille (1625-1709), dramatist, brother of Pierre Corneille
• Noel Alexandre (1630-1724), theologian and ecclesiastical historian
• Marie Champmeslé (1642-1698), actress
• René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643-1687), cleric and explorer
• Gabriel Daniel (1649-1728), Jesuit historian
• Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715), chemist
• Jean Jouvenet (1647-1717), painter
• Jacques Basnages (1653-1723), Protestant divine
• Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757), author
• Pierre Antoine Motteux (1663-1718), English translator and dramatist
• Pierre François le Courayer (1681-1776), Catholic theological writer
• François d'Agincourt (1684-1758), composer, harpsichordist and organist
• Jean Restout (1692 - 1768), painter
• Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont (1711-1780), novelist
• Jacques Duphly (1715-1789), harpsichordist and composer
• François-Adrien Boïeldieu (1775-1834), composer, mainly of operas
• Pierre Louis Dulong (1785-1838), physicist and chemist
• Théodore Géricault (1791-1824), painter, painted The Raft of the Medusa
• Armand Carrel (1800-1836), writer
• Pierre Adolphe Chéruel (1809-1891), historian
• Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), novelist, who wrote Madame Bovary
• Maurice Leblanc (1864-1941), novelist, creator of the character Arsène Lupin
• Charles Nicolle (1866-1936), bacteriologist who earned the 1928 Nobel Prize in Medicine
• Georges Guillain (1876-1961), neurologist
• Marcel Dupré (1886-1971), organist and composer
• Philippe Étancelin (1896-1981), Grand Prix motor racing
• Roger Apéry (1916?1994), mathematician
• Jacques Rivette (born 1928) film director
• Vincent Delerm (born 1976), singer-songwriter, pianist
• David Trézéguet (born 1977), French-Argentine football striker

Twin towns

Rouean is twinned with:

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• Hanover, Germany
• Norwich, United Kingdom
• Ningbo, China
• Salerno, Italy

Ecclesiastical history

The chapter of Rouen, (which consists of the archbishop, a dean, fifty canons, and ten prebendaries), have, ever since the year 1156, enjoyed the annual privilege of pardoning, on Ascension day]], some individual confined within the jurisdiction of the city for murder. On the morning of Ascension day, the chapter, having heard many examinations and confessions read, proceed to the election of the criminal who is to be pardoned; and, the choice being made, his name is transmitted in writing to the parliament, which assemble on that day at the palace. The parliament then walk in procession to the great chamber, where the prisoner is brought before them in irons, and placed on a stool; he is informed that the choice has fallen upon him, and that he is entitled to the privilege of St. Romain.

Related Topics:
1156 - Ascension - St. Romain

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After this form, he is delivered into the hands of the chaplain, who, accompanied by fifty armed men, conveys him to a chamber, where the chains are taken from his legs and bound about his arms; and in this condition he is conducted to a place named the Old Tower, where he awaits the coming of the procession. After some little time has elapsed, the procession sets out from the cathedral; two of the canons bear the shrine in which the relics of St. Romain are presumed to be preserved. When they have arrived at the Old Tower, the shrine is placed in the chapel, opposite to the criminal, who appears kneeling, with the chains on his arms. Then one of the canons, having made him repeat the confession, says the prayers usual at the time of giving absolution; after which service, the prisoner kneeling still, lifts up the shrine three times, amid the acclamations of the people assembled to behold the ceremony. The procession then returns to the cathedral, followed by the criminal, wearing a chaplet of flowers on his head, and carrying the shrine of the saint. After mass has been performed, he has a very serious exhortation addressed to him by a monk; and, lastly, he is conducted to an apartment near the cathedral, and is supplied with refreshments and a bed for that night. In the morning he is dismissed. This privilege was justified by the legend of the Gargouille, a fearsome dragon, and how St. Romain defeated him with the help of a prisoner.

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