Fleury-sur-Orne (, literally Fleury on Orne) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is part of the Communauté urbaine Caen la Mer and of the agglomeration of Caen.

Geography

The river Orne is the only watercourse to flow through the commune.

History

Until 1916 Fleury-sur-Orne was known as Allemagne (Calvados) after the Alamanni tribe which once guarded the ford across the Orne. During the First World War this name, meaning in French Germany, became inconvenient and embarrassing for the inhabitants (unlike those of Allemagne-en-Provence in Southern France). The town council therefore decided on 23 August 1916, to change the name and to call it Fleury-sur-Orne in memory of the commune of Fleury-devant-Douaumont, a commune of the Meuse (in 1914: 422 inhabitants, school, church, town hall, 13 tradesmen, 10 landholding farmers), which was destroyed in 1916. Little is known about this battle, but it seems to have been a purely cavalry contest, with neither infantry nor archers playing a significant role.

After a series of disorderly cavalry skirmishes, the rebellious barons fled. They were slaughtered as they tried to cross the Orne, at the Athis ford close to Fleury-sur-Orne. Carried downstream en masse, the bodies of the massacred knights blocked the mill of Barbillon on the level of current Ile Enchantée.

The victory allowed William to remain Duke of Normandy, thus setting the stage for his later brilliant battles and statecraft.

Population

Points of Interest

National heritage sites

The commune has two sites listed as a Monument historique.

  • Église Notre-Dame d'Allemagne-la-Basse - an eleventh century church registered as a monument in 1913.
  • house - a private dwelling built in 1717 registered as a monument in 2009.

Personalities

  • Nicole Oresme (1325 – 1382), also known as Nicolas Oresme, Nicholas Oresme, or Nicolas d'Oresme, a philosopher of the later Middle Ages, was born here.

Twin towns – sister cities

Fleury-sur-Orne is twinned with:

  • Ouonck, senegal. Since 1992
  • Waldbüttelbrunn, Germany. Since 1994
  • Karpoš, North Macedonia. Since 2012
  • Mar del Plata, Argentina. Since 2016

See also

  • Communes of the Calvados department

References

  • Official site
  • Unofficial site
  • Tourist information