This article is about the town in France. For the needle lace originating here, see Alençon lace.
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The name of Alençon is first recorded in a document dated in the seventh century. During the tenth century, Alençon was a buffer state between Normandy and the Maine regions.
In 1049–1051, William Duke of Normandy, later known as William the Conqueror and king of England, laid siege to the town, which had risen in support of the CountofAnjou along with two other towns of the Bellême estates, Domfront (then in Maine) and Bellême (held directly from King Henry I of France). According to Duke William's chaplain and panegyrist, William of Poitiers, the defenders of the fortress refused to surrender and mockingly waved animal hides from the castle walls, referencing William's lineage as the grandson of a tanner. In response to this, William had 32 prisoners of the town's hands and feet cut off, prompting a sudden surrender. Upon hearing of this event, the town of Domfront also surrendered.[6][7]
Alençon was occupied by the English during the Anglo-Norman wars of 1113 to 1203.
The city became the seat of a dukedom in 1415, belonging to the sons of the King of France until the French Revolution, and some of them played important roles in French history: see Duke of Alençon. The French Revolution caused relatively little disorder in this area, although there were some royalist uprisings nearby.
A long-standing local fabric industry gave birth to the town's famous point d'Alençon lace in the 18th century. The economic development of the nineteenth century was based on iron foundries and mills in the surrounding region. In the first half of the twentieth century the city developed a flourishing printing industry.
On 17 June 1940, the German Army occupied Alençon. On 12 August 1944 Alençon was the first French city to be liberated by the French Army under General Leclerc, after minor bomb damage.
After the war the population sharply increased and new industries settled. Many of these were related to plastics and the town is now a major plastics educational centre.
In the seventeenth century, Alençon was chiefly noted for its lace called point d'Alençon.
Today, Alençon is home to a prosperous plastics industry, and, since 1993, to a plastics engineering school.
MPO Fenêtres is a local PVC window company established in Alençon in 1970, is one of the first company in Alençon with around 170 employees (2009) and a turnover of 28 million euros in 2008. It is also the oldest French PVC window company still in business.
Le Château des Ducs is a Castle built in the Middle ages.[21]
Municipal Library was a former Jesuit chapel built in 1620, it became the city's library in the 18th century.[22] It was registered as a Monument in 1926.[22]
Prout sawmill and steam engine is a former sawmill, built in 1874, it was registered as a monument in 1995.[23]
Café la Renaissance, built in 1855 the cafe, its interior decor is inspired by the second French Renaissance, it was registered as a monument in 2009.[24]
Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Chapel is a seventeenth century chapel, it was registered as a monument in 1975.[25]
Saint-Pierre church in the Montsor district is a church that was built in 1880, it features Mosaics made by the Facchina workshop, it was registered as a monument in 2006.[27]
The Wheat Market was built in 1812, featuring a 1000 m² glass dome, with a circumference of 110 metres, it was registered as a monument in 1975.[28][29]
Psychiatric hospital was built in 1774, and initially built as a hospital for the sick, the destitute, the prisoners and the mentally ill.[30] after the revolution it was turned into a prison, then becoming a hospice, before finally becoming a psychiatric hospital.[30] It was registered as a monument in 1974.[30]
Le Grand Cerf is a nineteenth century hotel, that was registered as a monument in 2008.[31]
Hotel Libert is a hotel dating back to the 18th century, registered as a monument in 1947.[32]
Hotel Radigue is a hotel dating back to the 18th century, registered as a monument in 1960.[33] The hotel was mentioned in the Honoré de Balzac novel La Vieille Fille.[33]
Hôtel de la préfecture , formerly known as the Hôtel de Guise is a hotel dating back to the seventeenth century, registered as a monument in 1903.[34]
The Town Hall dates back to the 17th century and was registered as a monument in 1926.[35]
Saint-Pierre de Montsort Presbytery is a former hotel that might have served as a presbytery, it was built in 1639 and was listed as a monument in 1958.[36]
Saint-Léonard Lodging house is a seventeenth century house, designated as a monument in 1975.[37]
Pesche Pharmacy is a nineteenth century building with neo-classical decor very characteristic of the 1820s-1830s, it was listed as a monument in 1987.[38]
Tribunal de commerce is a fifteenth century building used as a court house for Commercial matters, it was registered as a monument in 1958.[39]
City Ramparts remains of the old sixteenth century ramparts, reworked on in the nineteenth century, they were listed as a monument in 1971.[40]
House of Ozé a fifteenth century house, built entirely from granite.[41] The house was registered as a monument in 1903, and now acts as the Tourist office for the Commune.[41][42]
There are a further eleven private buildings and houses listed as monuments with the commune.[20]
Alençon is linked by the A28 autoroute (motorway/freeway) with the nearby cities of Le Mans to the south (Sarthe) and Rouen (Seine-Maritime) to the north. The A88 autoroute links the A28 just north of Alençon to the coastal port of Caen.
The Alençon railway station offers regional services towards Caen, Le Mans and Tours.[43] A comprehensive town bus system operates from 7:00 to 19:00.
Marie-Azélie Guérin Martin[9] (1831–1877), the mother of St. Thérèse of Lisieux who, along with her husband Louis Martin,[8] is one of the few married couples ever to be beatified by the Catholic Church.
^The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, ed. and trans. E. van Houts, 2 vols (Oxford, 1992–95) vol. 2 p. 125
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