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  Nomcommune Orléans<br><br><small>Orléans and the Loire River </small>
  Région Centre (capital)
  Map Orleans dotpng
  Département Loiret ('' Préfecture '')
  Arrondissement Orléans
  Canton Chief town of 6 cantons
  Insee 45234cp=45000
  Maire Serge Grouard ( UMP )
  Mandat 2001 - 2008
  Intercomm Agglomération Orléans Val De Loire
  lat Long
  Alt Moy 116 malt mini=90 m
  Alt Maxi 124 mhectares=2,748
  Km&2 2748
  Sans 113,126
  Date-sans 1999
  Dens 4,117


Orléans (Latin, meaning golden) is a city and Commune in north-central France , about 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Paris . It is the '' Préfecture '' (capital) of the Loiret '' Département '' and of the Centre '' Région ''. Population (1999): 113,126.


HISTORY

Orléans was founded as a Gallic ''civitas'' (city state) of the Celtic Carnutes tribe, called Cenabum (known erroneously as ''Genabum''). It was refounded in 275 by the Roman Emperor Aurelian who gave it his name, '''Aurelianum''', "the city of Aurelianus". 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 Theodoric , king of the Visigoths , and the Roman general Aëtius .

It was the capital of the Merovingian king (27 November 511 - 25 June 524) Clodomir (Clodmer) (b. 495 - d. 524) of what was since known as the Kingdom Of Burgundy .

The Siege Of Orléans in 1428 - 1429 marked a turning point in the Hundred Years' War . Joan Of Arc made her reputation here by lifting the siege nine days after she arrived.


University and other education

The schools of Orléans early acquired great prestige; in the 6th century ; in the 15th, Johann Reuchlin ; in the 16th, religious reformer Calvin and Théodore De Bèze , the Protestant Anne Du Bourg , the publicist François Hotmann , the jurisconsult Pierre De L'Etoile ; in the 17th, Molière (perhaps in 1640), and the savant lexicographer Du Cange ; in the 18th, the jurisconsult Pothier .


MISCELLANEOUS

Friedrich Schiller gave his influential 1801 play about Joan Of Arc the title '' The Maid Of Orléans ''.

New Orleans (originally ''La Nouvelle-Orléans'') is named after the city of Orléans.


Births

Orléans is the ''patrie'' (birthplace) of:


Twin cities

The city is twinned with:

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SEE ALSO



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