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[German Version] central city of the French Département Indre-et-Loire and an episcopal see, with a population of 137,000. In the early modern period, it was a prosperous mercantile town with a silk industry. Its two major churches, the cathedral of St. Gatien (13th–16th cent.) and the basilica of St. Martin (12th/13th cent.) recall Gatianus (2nd half of the 3rd cent.), its first bishop, and Martin of Tours, who lived in the community of ascetics at Marmoutier outside Toulouse before being appoint…

[German Version] is a French city on the Loire (Département Loiret). The Gallo-Roman foundation became the seat of a bishopric in the 4th century, as civitas Aurelianorum. In 451 Bishop Aignan saved Orléans from siege by Attila. In Merovingian times the city was several times the meeting place of councils. Under Charlemagne the scholar Theodulf was bishop of Orléans. At the end of the 10th century, the city was the starting-point for the rule of the Capetians. In 1022 the son of Hugo Capet, Robert II, had the Orléans her…

[German Version] I. City and Bishopric – II. University I. City and Bishopric The cradle of the present capital of France was the Île de la Cité (Lutetia), settled in the 3rd century bce by the Celtic tribe of the Parisii. After putting down a rebellion by the Gauls in 52 bce, the Romans under Julius Caesar built their administrative center on the island in the Seine; in the years that followed, they built a forum and thermae on the hill of Ste. Geneviève on the left bank. In the administrative structure of the Roman Empire, however, Sens, not P…

[German Version] (eastern France). Three territorial designations – Austrasia, Lotharingia, and Lorraine (Ger. Lothringen) – characterize the historical development of this border region between France and the German Empire. At the beginning of the 6th century, a new kingdom (Austrasia) arose from the Roman province of Belgica I that extended, over the course of three centuries, from Reims to Thuringia. The later Lorraine was surrounded by three political powers: Burgundy, Alemania, and Champagne.…

[German Version] (c. 440–533), bishop. Scant biographical information on Remigius may be gleaned from two hagiographically overlaid lives of saints. The first vita, which was written shortly after his death, was used by Gregory of Tours, while the second, written by Hincmar of Reims (9th cent.), has more to say about its author. Four letters by Remigius have been preserved, which headed the compilation of Epistulae Austrasicae around 600. He was born into a family of senatorial rank; his brother Principius was bishop in the neighboring town of Soissons, and wa…

[German Version] Reims, French city of 180,000 in Champagne (Marne), settled by Celts ( Remi); under the Romans, it was the capital of the province of Belgica Secunda. At the end of the 5th century, it was already the site of an episcopal see (Remigius of Reims). In 999 Pope Silvester II granted the bishops of Reims the privilege of crowning the kings of France (until 1825). The 13th-century cathedral of Reims is a noted example of Gothic architecture (Church architecture: I, 2.c). Reims was confirmed as an archbishopric in the concordat of 1817. There has been a university in Reims since 1959. G…

[German Version] Lyon is a French city at the confluence of the Saône with the Rhône. Originally a Celtic settlement, in 43 bce it became a Roman colony and eventually the administrative center of the three Gallo-Roman provinces. By the end of the 4th century, the ecclesiastical province of Lyon coincided with the Roman province Lugdunensis Prima. The establishment of the earliest Christian community in Gaul is associated with Pothinus (died 177) and Irenaeus of Lyon, originally from Smyrna. After the Merovingian kin…

[German Version] (Apr 25, 1214, Poissy – Aug 25, 1270, Carthage), king of France; eldest son of Louis VIII (reigned 1223–1226) and Blanche of Castile (1188–1252). Louis became king of France at the age of twelve, initially under the guardianship of his mother, who remained coregent even after 1234. Louis's foreign policy was determined by three great spheres of influence: Byzantium (Constantinople/Byzantium), Islam, and the Mongol Empire. The alliance of the French king with the Mongols against Is…

[German Version] Metz, a French city in Lorraine, became the capital of Austrasia under King Sigebert I (561–575); the see city of St. Arnulf (617–639) became the burial place of the Carolingian dynasty. Records speak of bishops going back to the end of the 3rd century. In the 8th century, Chrodegang, scion of a noble senatorial family, became a leader in reforming the Frankish church. Since the 11th century, the territorial domain of the bishop extended into Alsace and eastward to the Wormsgau. U…

[German Version] (c. 1520 – Oct 1557), Reformed theologian. After studying theology at Leuven, Poullain was ordained to the priesthood in 1540. In the same year, Emperor Charles V commended him to a living in the diocese of Namur. In October of 1543 he was a guest in the home of M. Bucer and formed ties with G. Farel and Calvin. After 1544 he served the French congregation in Straßburg (Strasbourg) established by Calvin. In a treatise on the Lord’s Supper published in 1547, he took Bucer’s mediati…