Châlons-sur-Marne

Châlons-sur-Marne, the capital of the French department of Marne, on the right bank of the river Marne, 107 miles E. of Paris by rail. An old place, with timber houses and many spired churches, it has an interesting cathedral, dating chiefly from the 13th century, a handsome hôtel-de-ville (1772), and a fine public park, though the Germans cut down its immemorial elms for fuel. It still does a considerable trade in Champagne wine; but its manufacture of the worsted cloth known as 'shalloon' (Chaucer's chalons) is a thing of the past, and the population has dwindled from 60,000 in the 13th century to 25,854 in 1891. Near Châlons, which takes its name from the Catalauni of Latin writers, the Romans and Goths in 451 A.D. defeated Attila (q.v.) and his host of Huns. In 1856 Napoleon III. formed the celebrated camp of Châlons, 16½ miles to the north-east of the town. Hence, during the Franco-Prussian war, on the night of August 21, 1870, MacMahon withdrew his troops, and next day the town was occupied by the Germans.