St Quentin

St Quentin, a town in the French dept. of Aisne, stands on the Somme, by rail 95 miles NE. of Paris and 33 S. of Cambrai. The church of St Quentin is a remarkably fine Gothic structure, dating from the 12th to the 15th century, and containing a much more ancient crypt. The town-hall (15th and 16th centuries) is also a fine specimen of Gothic. The town is a centre of the cotton industries, which give employment to 130,000 hands in the making of calicoes, tulle, cretonnes, jacquets, muslin, merino, cambric, gauze, and so forth. Further, vast quantities of embroidery are prepared, and machinery, hats, paper, sugar, soap, and beer are manufactured. The French historian Martin was born here in 1810. Pop. (1856) 26,887; (1896) 48,868. St Quentin and its vicinity have been the scene of two memorable battles. The Spaniards under the Duke of Savoy and Ferdinand Gonzaga, assisted by an English contingent under the Earl of Pembroke and Egmont in command of the Flemings, inflicted a crushing defeat upon the French under Constable Montmorency, on 10th August 1557 (St Lawrence's Day), a victory which Philip II. commemorated in the Escorial (q.v.). Shortly afterwards the town, after a brilliant defence by Coligny, capitulated to the Spanish army. On 19th January 1871 the Germans under Von Goeben put to rout the army of Faidherbe, capturing nearly 10,000 prisoners.