CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE, a town of France, capital of the department of Marne, is situated mainly on the right bank of the river, here crossed by a fine stone bridge, 107 miles E. of Paris on the railway to Strasburg, and 25 S. of Rheims by another line, in 48° 57' 2Γ r N. lat. and 4° 21' 27* E. long. It occupies a considerable area for its population, and is rather irregularly laid out; many of its streets are broad, and it has fine public walks. Among its principal buildings may be mentioned the cathedral of St Etienne, originally founded in the 12 th century on the site of an earlier church, but in several portions dating only from the 17th; the churches of Nôtre Dame, St Alpin, St Jean, and St Louis, belonging respectively to the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries; the town-house, which was erected in 1771; the prefecture, formerly the palace of the count of Artois; the barracks of St Pierre, on the site of the Benedictine abbey; the public library; and the industrial school. The town is the seat of a bishopric, and has tribunals of primary instance and commerce, a communal college, two theological seminaries, a normal school, a theatre, a museum, a botanical garden, and societies of agriculture, commerce, arts, and sciences. To the east of the town lies a large public park of 19 acres, known as the Jard, which was stripped of its trees during the war of 1870-1; and beyond the river is the Church of St Prudentienne, annually in the month of May the rendezvous of about 50,000 pilgrims. Châlons has long been an important industrial centre. As early as the 14th century, it was famous for its woollen cloth, which was known by the name of the town, afterwards corrupted into “shalloon and in the 18th it maintained an extensive manufacture of linen goods of various ...kinds. Besides these industries, it now carries on tanning and shoemaking, and the manufacture of cotton cloth and hosiery, while at the same time it is one of the principal seats of the champagne wine trade. The annual export amounts on an average to 1,000,000 bottles, and the cellars of Jacquesson et Fils have storage room for 3,000,000. About six miles east of the town is the beautiful church of Nôtre Dame de ΓEpine, which was built in the 15th century, and restored in 1860. Population in 1872, 16,436.
Ch âlons-sur-Marne occupies the site of the chief town of the Catalauni, which became signalized by the defeat of Attila in the terrible conflict of 451. In 643 it was laid waste by Herbert of Vermandois, in 931 by Ralph of Burgundy, and in 947 by Robert of Vermandois; but in the four following centuries it attained great prosperity as a kind of independent state under the supremacy of its bishops, who held a most influential position in the kingdom, and obtained the title of grand-vassals of the crown. In 1214 the men of Châlons appeared in the first rank in the battle of Bouvines; and in the 15th century their descendants maintained their honour by twice (in 1430 and 1434) repulsing the English from their walls. In the 16th century the town sided with Henry IV., who in 1589 transferred thither the parliament of Paris, which shortly afterward was bold enough to burn the bulls of Gregory XIV. and Clement VIII. In 1814 the Prussians took possession of the town after the expulsion of Macdonald, and in 1815 it was captured by Chernicheff. In 1856 Napoleon established a large camp, known as the Camp of Chalons, about 16 miles north of the town by the railway to Rheims. It was situated in the immediate neighbourhood of Grand Mourmelon and Petit Mourmelon, and occupied an area of 12,000 hectares or 29,650 acres. The troops were principally accommodated in tents, but also partly in wooden barracks. At the outbreak of the Franco-German war, the camp was occupied by the sixth army corps, under Canrobert, and it was afterwards held by MacMahon. On 22d August 1870, the town of Chalons was occupied by the Prussians, and in the course of the war it formed an important point of communication.
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