Last modified: 2006-12-23 by ivan sache
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![[Flag of Chateau-Landon]](../images/f/fr-77-cl.gif)
Flag of Château-Landon - Image by Pascal Vagnat, 5 October 2002
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The municipality of Château-Landon (3,000 inhabitants) is located 80 km
south-east of Paris, on a rocky hill dominating
the river Fusain.
Due to its geographical location, the hill hosted a Gaul
oppidum which was seized by Julius Caesar in 52 BC. In 507,
St. Séverin, a monk from the Agaune abbey in Switzerland, was
called in Lutèce (Paris) to heal King of France Clovis from a
"pernicious fever". He succeded but died on his way back in
Château-Landon, then called Castrum Nantonis. A Royal
abbey devoted to St. Séverin was later founded in
Château-Landon. In 1068, the town was incorporated into the
Kingdom of France, and its name was changed to Château-Landon
in the XIIth century to celebrate a local lord called Landulphus.
Foulques le Réchin, born in Château-Landon in 1043, was
later appointed Count of Anjou. His
grand-son Jeffrey the Handsome married Mathilde, the daughter of King
of England Henry I Beauclerc. Their son became King of England as
Henri II Plantagenet, and Château-Landon is proud to be one of
the cradles of the Plantagenet dynasty. Château-Landon
was extremely wealthy in the Middle-Ages and was elected one of the
17 French "clothier towns" (ville drapière).
The city is divided into two parts, the fortified city, which had
administrative and military functions; and the new city, which was
dedicated to trade and fairs. The main architectural interest in the
city is the 57 m high bell tower of the Church Notre-Dame (XVth
century).
The stone of Château-Landon, resistant to frost, was used to
build several famous monuments in Paris, such as the Cathedral
Notre-Dame, the Panthéon and the National Library. Quarries
are still in activity in the neighbouring city of Souppes-sur-Loing.
The actor and theater director Charles Dullin (1885-1949), founder of the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris, established his theater school from 1921 to 1939 in Nérouville, a hamlet depending on Château-Landon.
Ivan Sache, 5 October 2002
The flag of Château-Landon is horizontally divided yellow-black with the municipal coat of arms placed in the middle and surmonted with the name of the city in counterchanged colours.
Pascal Vagnat & Ivan Sache, 5 October 2002