The name of the town derives from the Latin: Noviomagus Lexoviorum ("Noviomagus of the Lexovii"). The town was originally known in Celtic as Novio Magos ("New Field", "New Market"), which was Latinized as Noviomagus. Owing to the large number of similarly named cities, however, it was necessary to specify where this one was located. The local French demonym Lexoviens derives from the Latin as well.
History
Antiquity
Lisieux was the capital of the Lexovii. In his work, Commentaries on the Gallic War, Caesar mentions a Gallic oppidum, a term which refers to Celtic towns located on the tops of hills. The oppidum has been pinpointed to a place referred to as le Castellier,[3] located 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) to the southwest of the town. However the Gallo-Roman city was in fact located where Lisieux is to be found today.
Middle Ages
Lisieux was an important center of power in medieval times. The bishopric of Lisieux controlled most of the Pays d'Auge by the 12th century. King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine are thought to have married at Lisieux in 1152, and the town remained powerful for several centuries afterwards, until, in the 14th century, the triple scourges of the Plague, war and resulting famine devastated Lisieux and reduced its influence. The main judge of Joan of Arc, Pierre Cauchon, became a bishop of Lisieux after Joan's death, and is buried in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral.
4th century: Presence of the Germanic laeti, auxiliaries of the Roman Army, who settled in Lisieux with their families. Their graves have been discovered in the “Michelet” necropolis, some of which contain artefacts typical of northern Germania.
1432: Pierre Cauchon, the supreme judge during the trial of Joan of Arc at Rouen became the bishop of Lisieux. He commissioned the building of the side chapel of the cathedral, in which he is now buried.
1590: During the Eighth War of Religion, Henri IV had to fight to win back his kingdom. When he arrived at Lisieux he took the town without force, after the garrison had fled the town.
1897: Sister Thérèse of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face, died in the Carmelite monastery at Lisieux. In 1925, she would be canonized as "St. Thérèse of Lisieux".
1907: The first helicopter flight, piloted by Paul Cornu.
1937: Monseigneur Eugenio Pacelli, papal legate and future Pope Pius XII, visited Lisieux.
6/7 June 1944: An Allied bombardment killed 800 people and destroyed two thirds of the town.
23 August 1944: Liberation by the Allied troops.
1960: Lisieux merged with the Saint-Jacques commune.
2 June 1980: Pope John-Paul II visited Lisieux.
Geography
Lisieux is situated on the confluence of the river Touques and many of its tributaries: the rivers Orbiquet, Cirieux and Graindain.
The town is in the heart of the Pays d'Auge, of which it is the capital. Lisieux is therefore surrounded by Normandy's typical hedged farmland, where there is a mix of livestock farming (mostly milk cows) and cider apple cultivation (from which cider and calvados are made, not forgetting pommeau).
The table below shows the temperatures and precipitation for the year 2007 provided by the Caen-Carpiquet weather station:[5]
Month
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Average max. temperature (°C)
10.1
11.1
11.8
17
17.3
20.1
21.3
21
19.3
15.3
11.5
7.9
Average min. temperature (°C)
4.7
5.5
3.5
6.3
9.4
11.5
12.9
12.6
10.3
7.3
5.2
1.9
Average temperature (°C)
7.4
8.3
7.6
11.6
13.3
15.8
17.1
16.8
14.8
11.3
8.3
4.9
Precipitation (average height in mm)
45
83
90
23
91
83
135
49
56
39
44
81
The table below shows the record minimum and maximum temperatures:[6]
Month
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Max. recorded temp. (°C)
16.1
20.8
24.4
26.4
30.4
34.1
36.6
38.9
33.5
27.6
19.9
17.2
Year of max. temp.
1993
1960
1946
1984
1953
2001
1952
2003
1961
1985
1982
1989
Min. recorded temp.(°C)
−19.6
−16.5
−7.4
−5.7
−0.8
1
4.7
4
1.8
−3.7
−6.8
−11
Year of min. temp.
1985
1956
1965
1978
1955
1962
1962
1974
1948
1997
1989
1948
Transport
The town of Lisieux is served by a bus network called Lexobus, with 6 routes. The town is also linked to surrounding towns and villages by a network of buses; Bus Verts du Calvados.
The main railway station, Lisieux station, which is the connecting station between the Paris-Cherbourg and Paris-Trouville/Deauville main lines, is served by Transport express régional (regional express) trains on the TER Normandie routes. The station appeared in the film Un singe en hiver by Henri Verneuil. There is another station on the line to Deauville: Le Grand-Jardin station.
To reach the town by car, the D613 (formerly route nationale 13) from Paris to Cherbourg crosses the town from east to west. The second main road serving Lisieux is the D579, leading to Deauville to the north and the department of Orne to the south. Lisieux benefits from a bypass, built in the 1990s, running to the south of the town, easing traffic in the town-centre, particularly on boulevard Sainte-Anne.
Since the Middle Ages Lisieux has been the seat of one of the seven Roman Catholicdioceses of Normandy under the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical province of Rouen. The bishopric was abolished in 1801 before being recreated and merged with that of Bayeux in 1855, under the new name of "Bayeux and Lisieux".
Devotion to Sainte-Thérèse also known as St. Teresa of the Child Jesus who lived in the nearby Carmelite convent has made Lisieux France's second-most important site of pilgrimage, after the Pyrenean town of Lourdes. Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux died in 1897, she was canonized in 1925 and named a doctor of the church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.
Administration
Mayors of Lisieux
List of everyone who has held the position of Mayor of Lisieux:[7]
As of 2017[update], Lisieux is Calvados' third largest commune in terms of population, after Caen and Hérouville-Saint-Clair.[8] Its functional urban area of 55,168 inhabitants is the second largest of the department, after Caen. The inhabitants of Lisieux are known as Lexoviens.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1793
10,118
—
1800
10,171
+0.07%
1806
10,937
+1.22%
1821
10,403
−0.33%
1831
10,257
−0.14%
1836
11,473
+2.27%
1841
11,378
−0.17%
1846
11,968
+1.02%
1851
11,754
−0.36%
1856
12,993
+2.02%
1861
13,121
+0.20%
1866
12,617
−0.78%
1872
18,341
+6.43%
1876
18,396
+0.07%
1881
16,039
−2.70%
1886
16,267
+0.28%
1891
16,260
−0.01%
1896
16,349
+0.11%
Year
Pop.
±% p.a.
1901
16,084
−0.33%
1906
16,239
+0.19%
1911
15,948
−0.36%
1921
15,341
−0.39%
1926
15,192
−0.20%
1931
15,362
+0.22%
1936
16,032
+0.86%
1946
12,746
−2.27%
1954
15,342
+2.34%
1962
21,156
+4.10%
1968
23,830
+2.00%
1975
25,521
+0.98%
1982
24,940
−0.33%
1990
23,703
−0.63%
1999
23,166
−0.25%
2007
22,700
−0.25%
2012
21,170
−1.39%
2017
20,318
−0.82%
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
It is possible to visit the chapel and exterior of the Carmel or monastery where Thérèse lived, but the remainder of the building is closed to visitors.[11]
Château de Saint-Germain-de-Livet
Château de Saint-Germain-de-Livet from the southChâteau de Saint-Germain-de-Livet from the entrance
As its name indicates, the Château de Saint-Germain-de-Livet is situated in the commune of Saint-Germain-de-Livet. It is to be found opposite the village church which dates from the 19th century. The château has been owned by the town of Lisieux since 1958 when it was donated by the Riesener family.
From an architectural point of view the château comprises a half-timbered manor dating from the 15th century and a glazed brick and stone building from the Pré-d'Auge dating from the end of the 16th century.
The chateau combines medieval and Renaissance elements and is surrounded by a moat and a peacock garden.
Lisieux Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Pierre) is a rare monument which survived the 1944 allied bombardment. Even though the cathedral has been around since the 6th century, the church of today must have been constructed between 1160 and 1230 by Bishop Arnoul.[citation needed]
From the outset, the architect designed quadripartite rib vaults and flying buttresses, making it one of Normandy's first Gothic buildings. The nave is fairly austere and is inspired by the Gothic style of the Île de France, whereas the most recent parts of the building were constructed in the 18th century (the chevet, the lantern tower and the western façade) in Norman style.
^François Neveux, Bayeux et Lisieux, villes épiscopales de Normandie à la fin du Moyen Age (Éditions Lys, 1996)
^These figures, cited on the French wikipedia page for Lisieux, are drawn from the Internet site for the nearby town of Caen Caen and from France's National Meteorology site LaMeteo.org (both in French).
.JPG)
