Péronne is a commune of the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. It is the former site of the Péronne monastery, founded by the Anglo-Saxon Eorcenwald. Its site became the resting place for St. Fursa, celebrated by the famous English historian Bede. The monastery was popular with Irish monks, among them Cellanus, whose letters to Aldhelm the Bishop of Sherborne survive. So renowned was Péronne for Irish monks that the monastery became known as Perrona Scottorum. The monastery was destroyed in a Viking raid in 880. It is close to where the 1916, first 1918 and second 1918 Battles of the Somme took place during the First World War. The Museum of the Great War (known in French as the Historial de la Grande Guerre) is located in the château.

Geography

Péronne is situated in the old region of Santerre, home of the early French kings. It is located in the Somme valley. The autoroutes A1 and A16 pass close by. The national road, the N17, traverses the town.

Demography

History

On a hill, dominating the Somme river and its lakes, Péronne was a well-fortified place during the early Middle Ages. The ramparts were built in the 9th century. All that remains today of the ancient fortress is the Porte de Bretagne. Few towns have been as involved in the history of France, few towns so often devastated, as Péronne. Burned and pillaged in the time of the Normans; gravely damaged during the time of the Spanish occupation; devastated by the Germans in 1870; totally destroyed in 1917; bombarded and burned in May 1940 by the German airforce. Péronne was awarded two Croix de Guerre and the Légion d'honneur:

Places and monuments

Notable people

Twin towns — sister cities

Péronne is twinned with: