This article is about Orléans, France; for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation).

Orléans is a city and commune in north-central France, about 200 km (130 miles) south-west of Paris. It is the préfecture (capital) of the Loiret département and of the Centre région. Population (1999): 113,126.

Joan of Arc is sometimes called the Maid of Orléans.

History

Orléans was founded during the Roman Empire as the city of Aureliani. In 451, Attila the Hun made an attempt to capture and sack the city, only to be driven off by the last-minute arrival of an army under the combined command of Theodorid, king of the Visigoths, and the Roman general Aetius.

Orléans is about as far as the English went when they tried to invade France in the Hundred Years' War.

Miscellaneous

Births

Orléans was the birthplace of:

• Étienne Dolet (1509-1546), scholar and printer
• Isaac Jogues (1607-1646), Jesuit missionary
• Robert-Joseph Pothier (1699-1772), jurist
• Stanislas Julien (1797?-1873), orientalist
• Gustave Lanson (1857-1934), historian
• Charles Péguy (1873-1914), poet and essayist
• Raoul Blanchard (1877-1965), geographer

Twin towns

• Dundee, in Scotland.
• Treviso, in Italy
• Münster, in Germany
• Kristiansand, in Norway
• Wichita, Kansas, in the United States
• Tarragona, in Spain
• Saint-Flour , in France
• Utsunomiya, in Japan
• Lugoj, in Romania
• Kraków, in Poland
• Parakou, in Benin

See also

• Duke of Orléans
• River Loire
• Orleanist

External link

• Orleans city official web site : http://www.orleans.fr/