108-572: Aubervilliers ( French pronunciation: [obɛʁvi'lje] ) is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department , Île-de-France region , northeastern suburbs of Paris , France . Aubervilliers is one of three communes in the Plaine Saint-Denis , 7.2 km (4.5 mi) north-east of the centre of Paris . The Canal Saint-Denis traverses the commune on the western side from north to south. Aubervilliers
216-510: A Match factory at a place called La Motte, Rue du Vivier. During the Siege of Paris in 1870 the municipal government took refuge in Paris at 20 Boulevard de Strasbourg. At the beginning of 1877 a tramway arrived in the city centre. In 1879, the boyauderie (Tripe factory) owned by Mr. Jacquart was established. It was later purchased by Witt SA, a boyaudier from La Courneuve . The whole complex
324-421: A "realm of 100,000 steeples". Parishes lacked the municipal structures of post-Revolution communes. Usually, one contained only a building committee ( conseil de fabrique ), made up of villagers, which managed the buildings of the parish church, the churchyard, and the other numerous church estates and properties, and sometimes also provided help for the poor, or even administered parish hospitals or schools. Since
432-576: A better sense of the size of a typical mainland France commune than the average area since the average includes some very large communes. In Italy , the median area of communes ( comuni ) is 22 km (8.5 sq mi); in Belgium it is 40 km (15 sq mi); in Spain it is 35 km (14 sq mi); and in Germany , the majority of Länder have communes ( Gemeinden ) with
540-445: A category currently being phased out), made up of 33,327 communes (91.1 percent of all the communes of metropolitan France), and 52.86 million inhabitants, i.e., 86.7 percent of the population of metropolitan France. These impressive results however may hide a murkier reality. In rural areas, many communes have entered a community of communes only to benefit from government funds. Often the local syndicate has been turned officially into
648-537: A community of communes, the new community of communes in fact managing only the services previously managed by the syndicate, contrary to the spirit of the law which has established the new intercommunal structures to carry out a much broader range of activities than that undertaken by the old syndicates. Some say that, should government money transfers be stopped, many of these communities of communes would revert to their former status of syndicate, or simply completely disappear in places where there were no syndicates prior to
756-431: A county or a higher authority can be found. There are only a few exceptions: Furthermore, two regions without permanent habitation have no communes: In metropolitan France , the average area of a commune in 2004 was 14.88 square kilometres (5.75 sq mi). The median area of metropolitan France's communes at the 1999 census was even smaller, at 10.73 square kilometres (4.14 sq mi). The median area gives
864-589: A density of communes as France, and even there an extensive merger movement has started in the last 10 years. To better grasp the staggering number of communes in France, two comparisons can be made: First, of the original 15 member states of the European Union there are approximately 75,000 communes; France alone, which comprises 16 percent of the population of the EU-15, had nearly half of its communes. Second,
972-415: A handful of inhabitants. Communes typically are based on pre-existing villages and facilitate local governance. All communes have names, but not all named geographic areas or groups of people residing together are communes ( "lieu dit" or "bourg" ), the difference residing in the lack of administrative powers. Except for the municipal arrondissements of its largest cities, the communes are
1080-615: A local Chinese man by delinquent youths. As of 2016 4,000 ethnic Chinese live in Aubervilliers. The inhabitants of the commune are known as Albertivillariens or Albertivillariennes in French. The results of the 2017 Census conducted by INSEE shows that the upward trend in the population continues dramatically since in the last ten years the population has grown by 17.2% from 73,699 to 86,375 inhabitants. The number of dwellings have increased by 4,662 from 2007 to 2017 or 15.6%, and
1188-769: A massive merger of communes, including by such distinguished voices as the president of the Cour des Comptes (the central auditing administrative body in France). In 1971 the Marcellin law offered support and money from the government to entice the communes to merge freely with each other, but the law had only a limited effect (only about 1,300 communes agreed to merge with others). Many rural communes with few residents struggle to maintain and manage basic services such as running water, garbage collection, or properly paved communal roads. Mergers, however, are not easy to achieve. One problem
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#17327725874261296-710: A median area above 15 km (5.8 sq mi). Switzerland and the Länder of Rhineland-Palatinate and Schleswig-Holstein in Germany were the only places in Europe where the communes had a smaller median area than in France. The communes of France's overseas départements such as Réunion and French Guiana are large by French standards. They usually group into the same commune several villages or towns, often with sizeable distances among them. In Réunion, demographic expansion and sprawling urbanization have resulted in
1404-471: A multicultural city where more than 70 nationalities live. For decades major industries shaped the identity of the city. The district of Quatre-Chemins, which straddles the boundary of Aubervilliers and Pantin , was pejoratively nicknamed La Petite Prusse (Little Prussia) due to many immigrants coming to work in the Saint-Gobain glassworks - established in 1866 next to the canal. The identity of
1512-554: A population nine times larger and a land area four times larger than Alsace, is divided into just 390 municipalities ( gemeenten ). Most of the communes in Alsace, along with those in other regions of France, have rejected the central government's calls for mergers and rationalization. By way of contrast, in the German states bordering Alsace, the geo-political and administrative areas have been subject to various re-organizations from
1620-454: A revolt against his father (1025). His mother, however, supported Robert as heir to the old king, on whose death Henry was left to deal with his rebel sibling. In 1032, he placated his brother by giving him the Duchy of Burgundy as an appanage , which their father Robert II originally gave to Henry in 1016. In an early strategic move, Henry came to the rescue of his very young nephew-in-law,
1728-585: A robbery, died on August 16, 2016. In 1790 the municipal assembly of Aubervilliers had an oval seal engraved (kept in the National Archives), representing, together with the arms of France, a sun and a lion passant. While this was retained by the Commission d’héraldique urbaine de la Seine and proposed in 1942 as symbol of the commune, the municipality preferred the above arms, evoking la Compagnie des Chevaliers de l’Arc , which it had used since
1836-555: Is a suburban commune. The commune is also part of the functional area of Paris where it is located in the main population and employment centre of the functional area. This area comprises 1,929 communes. The main quarters or districts of the commune are: The town is mentioned in the Latinised form Albertivillare in 1059. It is from this that the inhabitants are known as Albertivillarien . The place name of -villiers (a variant of -villier , -villers , -viller , coming from
1944-662: Is a commune close to Paris and has numerous means of transport including: the A86 autoroute from L'Ile-Saint-Denis in the west to Drancy in the east with Exit 9 on the northern border of the commune, Route nationale N301 from Stains in the north and joining the Paris ring road in the south, the D20 from Gennevilliers in the west, the D27 from Bobigny in the east, and the D115 from Pantin in
2052-507: Is often seen as emblematic of the weakness of the early Capetians . This is not entirely agreed upon, however, as other historians regard him as a strong but realistic king, who was forced to conduct a policy mindful of the limitations of the French monarchy. A member of the House of Capet , Henry was born in Reims , the son of King Robert II (972–1031) and Constance of Arles (986–1034). In
2160-545: Is one of the 9 communes of the arrondissement of Saint-Denis . In the 2008 municipal elections, the PS came first in the first round of 9 March 2008 but lost against the list headed by the PCF . Despite the national agreements to desist in favour of the leftist list in the best position, the PS list led by Jacques Salvator was maintained in the second round and won the election with 41.48% of
2268-535: Is stable. The decade 2000–2010 saw a marked relaunching of demographics in the wake of the economic revival of the Plaine-Saint-Denis. The migration in the commune became positive (+0.4% per year from 1999 to 2010) and was combined with a natural balance growth (+1.75% per year). The increase is particularly noticeable in the western canton of la Villette in Landy. This strong recovery makes it necessary for
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#17327725874262376-436: Is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants. Ethnic Chinese from Wenzhou began arriving in Aubervilliers in the 1980s and 1990s to participate in the textile industry. In 2016 protests staged by ethnic Chinese occurred after several Chinese in Aubervilliers were attacked, including one murder of
2484-402: Is that mergers reduce the number of available elected positions, and thus are not popular with local politicians. Moreover, citizens from one village may be unwilling to have their local services run by an executive located in another village, whom they may consider unaware of or inattentive to their local needs. In December 2010 the law n° 2010-1563 regarding reform of territorial collectivities
2592-552: The Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT) which replaced the Code des communes (except for personnel matters) with the passage of the law of 21 February 1996 for legislation and decree number 2000-318 of 7 April 2000 for regulations. From 1794 to 1977 — except for a few months in 1848 and 1870-1871 — Paris had no mayor and was thus directly controlled by the departmental prefect. This meant that Paris had less autonomy than certain towns or villages. Even after Paris regained
2700-565: The National Assembly ( Assemblée Nationale ) passed a law creating the commune, designed to be the lowest level of administrative division in France, thus endorsing these independently created communes, but also creating communes of its own. In this area as in many others, the work of the National Assembly was, properly speaking, revolutionary: not content with transforming all the chartered cities and towns into communes,
2808-492: The Old Norse personal name Osbern giving Auber , the name of a Norman family). As with many communes in the outer suburbs the town had long been a rural area. Formerly known as Notre-Dame-des-Vertus , the village was on a plain which produced the best vegetables around Paris. Aubervilliers first appears in the archives in 1059 as Albertivillare , meaning "estate of Adalbert". In the following year Henry I donated it to
2916-482: The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts of 1539 by Francis I , the priest in charge of the parish was also required to record baptisms, marriages, and burials. Except for these tasks, villages were left to handle other issues as they pleased. Typically, villagers would gather to decide over a special issue regarding the community, such as agricultural land usage, but there existed no permanent municipal body. In many places,
3024-451: The Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs . In 1111 the serfs were freed in Aubervilliers. In 1182 the priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, located in Paris, granted Paris butchers the right to freely graze their cattle in the fields after the harvest was over. In 1221, Guillaume Bateste, lord of Franconville , became the first Lord of Vivier les Aubervilliers . The church, which at the beginning of
3132-721: The Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory just outside Paris . Despite the royal acquisition of a part of the County of Sens in 1055, the loss of Burgundy in 1032 meant that Henry I's twenty-nine-year reign saw feudal power in France reach its pinnacle. King Henry I died on 4 August 1060 in Vitry-en-Brie , France, and was interred in the Basilica of St Denis . He was succeeded by his son, Philip I of France , and Henry's queen Anne of Kiev ruled as regent. At
3240-696: The United States , with a territory fourteen times larger than that of the French Republic, and nearly five times its population, had 35,937 incorporated municipalities and townships at the 2002 Census of Governments, fewer than that of the French Republic. The number of barangays in the Philippines, villages of Indonesia, and muban in Thailand also have a higher number than the French communes. There have long been calls in France for
3348-461: The count of Flanders , whom Henry viewed as a threat to his throne. In 1054, and again in August 1057, Henry invaded Normandy, but lost twice at the battles of Mortemer and Varaville . Henry had three meetings with Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor —all at Ivois . In early 1043, they met to discuss the marriage of the emperor with Agnes of Poitou , the daughter of Henry's vassal. In October 1048,
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3456-444: The mairies . These abrupt changes profoundly alienated devout Catholics, and France soon was plunged into the throes of civil war , with the fervently religious regions of western France at its center. It would take Napoleon I to re-establish peace in France, stabilize the new administrative system, and make it generally accepted by the population. Napoleon also abolished the election of the municipal councils, which now were chosen by
3564-499: The overseas departments , and 83 in the overseas collectivities and New Caledonia . This is a considerably higher total than that of any other European country , because French communes still largely reflect the division of France into villages or parishes at the time of the French Revolution . (1) Within the current limits of metropolitan France, which existed between 1860 and 1871 and from 1919 to today. (2) Within
3672-716: The prefect , the local representative of the central government. Today, French communes are still very much the same in their general principles as those that were established at the beginning of the Revolution. The biggest changes occurred in 1831, when the French Parliament re-established the principle of the election of municipal councils, and in 1837 when French communes were given legal "personality", being now considered legal entities with legal capacity. The Jacobin revolutionaries were afraid of independent local powers, which they saw as conservative and opposed to
3780-624: The 13th century depended on one of the parishes of Saint Denis , soon became famous for the miraculous appearance of an image of the Virgin . In 1336 Father Jacques Du Breul, Prior of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés , reported the Miracle of the rain : A young girl busy preparing flowers to adorn the statue of the Virgin in the church saw her face streaming with tears when the rain began to fall on
3888-588: The 1960s onward. In the state of Baden-Württemberg , the number of Gemeinden or communities was reduced from 3,378 in 1968 to 1,108 in September 2007. In comparison, the number of communes in Alsace was only reduced from 946 in 1971 (just before the Marcellin law aimed at encouraging French communes to merge with each other was passed, see Current debate section below) to 904 in January 2007. Consequently,
3996-408: The Alsace region—despite having a land area only one-fifth the size and a total population only one-sixth of that of its neighbor Baden-Württemberg—has almost as many municipalities. The small Alsace region has more than double the number of municipalities compared to the large and populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia (396 Gemeinden in September 2007). Despite differences in population, each of
4104-524: The French population live in 57 percent of its communes, whilst 92 percent are concentrated in the remaining 43 percent. Alsace , with an area of 8,280 km (3,200 sq mi), and now part of the Région Grand Est, used to be the smallest of the regions of metropolitan France , and still has no fewer than 904 communes. This high number is typical of metropolitan France but is atypical when compared with other European countries. It shows
4212-790: The Low Latin villare , derived from villa - progressively meaning "farm", "village", then "town") is a characteristic appellative for agricultural domains in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. The first part is the Germanic personal name Adalbertus from which are derived the names Albert (English form) and Aubert (French form) and also became a surname. It is homonymous with a hamlet in Seine-et-Marne, Aubervilliers, and Auberville in Normandy (the others are explained by
4320-565: The National Assembly also decided to turn all the village parishes into full-status communes. The Revolutionaries were inspired by Cartesian ideas as well as by the philosophy of the Enlightenment . They wanted to do away with all the peculiarities of the past and establish a perfect society, in which all and everything should be equal and set up according to reason, rather than by tradition or conservatism. Thus, they set out to establish administrative divisions that would be uniform across
4428-479: The Oratorians of John de Bérulle then its progressive extension throughout the 17th century made Aubervilliers an important centre of French Catholic spirituality. Thinkers, "pious and famous faithful" such as Francis de Sales , Vincent de Paul , John Eudes (he stayed for two years), Jean-Jacques Ollier, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle , the philosopher Nicolas Malebranche , and the son of the great Jean Racine -
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4536-716: The PLM Law of 1982, three French communes also have a special status in that they are further divided into municipal arrondissements : these are Paris, Marseille , and Lyon . The municipal arrondissement is the only administrative unit below the commune in the French Republic but exists only in these three communes. These municipal arrondissements are not to be confused with the arrondissements that are subdivisions of French départements : French communes are considered legal entities , whereas municipal arrondissements, by contrast, have no official capacity and no budget of their own. The rights and obligations of communes are governed by
4644-720: The United States and Canada, Gemeinden in Germany, comuni in Italy, or municipios in Spain. The UK equivalent are civil parishes . Communes are based on historical geographic communities or villages and are vested with significant powers to manage the populations and land of the geographic area covered. The communes are the fourth-level administrative divisions of France. Communes vary widely in size and area, from large sprawling cities with millions of inhabitants like Paris , to small hamlets with only
4752-634: The administrative splitting of some communes . The median population of metropolitan France's communes at the 1999 census was 380 inhabitants. Again this is a very small number, and here France stands absolutely apart in Europe, with the lowest communes' median population of all the European countries (communes in Switzerland or Rhineland-Palatinate may cover a smaller area, as mentioned above, but they are more populated). This small median population of French communes can be compared with Italy, where
4860-452: The benefit of poorer suburbs. Moreover, intercommunal structures in many urban areas are still new, and fragile: Tensions exist between communes; the city at the center of the urban area often is suspected of wishing to dominate the suburban communes; communes from opposing political sides also may be suspicious of each other. Two famous examples of this are Toulouse and Paris. In Toulouse, on top of there being six intercommunal structures,
4968-410: The chartered cities) suddenly became legal entities for the first time in their history. This is still the case today. During the revolution, approximately 41,000 communes were created, on territory corresponding to the limits of modern-day France (the 41,000 figure includes the communes of the departments of Savoie , Haute-Savoie and Alpes-Maritimes which were annexed in 1795, but does not include
5076-535: The city of Toulouse chartered by the counts of Toulouse). These cities were made up of several parishes (up to c. 50 parishes in the case of Paris), and they were usually enclosed by a defensive wall . They had been emancipated from the power of feudal lords in the 12th and 13th centuries, had municipal bodies which administered the city, and bore some resemblance with the communes that the French Revolution would establish except for two key points: In
5184-598: The commune are foreign or French of foreign origin, mainly from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Percentage Distribution of Age Groups in Aubervilliers and Seine-Saint-Denis Department in 2017 Source: INSEE Communes of France The commune ( French pronunciation: [kɔmyn] ) is a level of administrative division in the French Republic . French communes are analogous to civil townships and incorporated municipalities in
5292-420: The communes of the French Republic possesses a mayor ( maire ) and a municipal council ( conseil municipal ), which jointly manage the commune from the municipal hall ( mairie ), with exactly the same powers no matter the size of the commune. This uniformity of status is a legacy of the French Revolution, which wanted to do away with the local idiosyncrasies and tremendous differences in status that existed in
5400-481: The corner of Ave. de la Republique, and Fort d'Aubervilliers at the corner of Ave. de la Division Leclerc. The commune is served by: Aubervilliers is an urban commune, as it is one of the dense or intermediate density communes, as defined by the Insee communal density grid. It belongs to the urban unit of Paris , an inter-departmental conurbation comprising 407 communes and 10,785,092 inhabitants in 2017, of which it
5508-544: The country: the whole of France would be divided into départements , themselves divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons, themselves divided into communes, no exceptions. All of these communes would have equal status, they would all have a mayor at their head and a municipal council elected by the inhabitants of the commune. This was a real revolution for the thousands of villages that never had experienced organized municipal life before. A communal house had to be built in each of these villages, which would house
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#17327725874265616-464: The current extent of overseas France, which has remained unchanged since the independence of the New Hebrides in 1980. The whole territory of the French Republic is divided into communes; even uninhabited mountains or rain forests are dependent on a commune for their administration. This is unlike some other countries, such as the United States, where unincorporated areas directly governed by
5724-464: The departments of modern-day Belgium and Germany west of the Rhine , which were part of France between 1795 and 1815). This was fewer than the 60,000 parishes that existed before the revolution (in cities and towns, parishes were merged into one single commune; in the countryside, some very small parishes were merged with bigger ones), but 41,000 was still a considerable number, without any comparison in
5832-687: The destruction of the village but the abundant alms of the many pilgrims who came from all sides allowed a prompt reconstruction. On 10 November 1567 the Battle of Saint-Denis took place in the Plaine Saint-Denis between the Catholic army of Anne de Montmorency and the Protestant troops of the Prince of Condé . Henri IV stayed in Aubervilliers during the Siege of Paris in 1590. The visit by Louis XIII in 1613, then again in 1614 and 1628, allowed
5940-455: The development of pilgrimage to Notre-Dame des Virtues . Jacques Gallemant, pastor of Aubervilliers, allowed a community of Oratorians to settle in Aubervilliers in 1618. They took charge of the Church of Notre-Dame-des-Vertus [REDACTED] and developed an important pilgrimage around the statue of the Virgin of Aubervilliers. The installation from 1622 of a "House of Notre-Dame des Vertus" by
6048-492: The distinctive nature of the French commune as a geo-political or administrative entity. With its 904 communes, Alsace has three times as many municipalities as Sweden , which has a much larger territory covering 449,964 km (173,732 sq mi) and yet is divided into only 290 municipalities ( kommuner ). Alsace has more than double the total number of municipalities of the Netherlands which, in spite of having
6156-537: The district led them to ask in vain for the status of full-function commune at the end of the 19th century. The construction of the Stade de France (Stadium of France) just north of the commune in 1998 was a stimulating element in the Saint-Denis Plain. With its 750 hectares on the outskirts of Paris, The Saint-Denis Plain covers one third of Aubervilliers and extends over Saint-Denis and Saint-Ouen . Since
6264-778: The early 2000s this area, which was one of the largest industrial areas in Europe, has been changing and should receive the Campus Condorcet in the late 2010s. In 2014, the commune has been awarded "two flowers" by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom . The Franco-Chinese Friendship Association stated that from November 2015 to August 2016 over 100 ethnic Chinese in Aubervilliers had been robbed. 49-year old Chaoling Zhang (张朝林 Zhāng Cháolín ), beaten in
6372-472: The early-Capetian tradition, he was crowned King of France at the Cathedral of Reims on 14 May 1027, while his father still lived. He had little influence and power until he became sole ruler on his father's death four years later. The reign of Henry I, like those of his predecessors, was marked by territorial struggles. Initially, he joined his younger brother Robert , with the support of their mother, in
6480-399: The election in the second round (50.76%). The two cantons of Aubervilliers are now run by the communists (Jean-Jacques Karman and Pascal Beaudet). List of Successive Mayors Aubervilliers has twinning associations with: An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. An immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but
6588-415: The end of the 19th century the life of the small town was already closely linked to nascent industrialization. People from Belgium , Lorraine , Alsace , Brittany , Spain , and Italy arrived in successive waves. This capacity to absorb and mix populations is characteristic of the history of the commune. Workers come to live in the suburbs which were cheaper than in Paris. Ever since Aubervilliers has been
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#17327725874266696-411: The end of the 19th century. Until the law of 10 July 1964 the commune was part of the department of Seine . The redistribution of the former departments of Seine and Seine-et-Oise resulted in the commune becoming part of Seine-Saint-Denis after the administrative transfer effective from 1 January 1968. Aubervilliers is the only commune of the canton of Aubervilliers , created in 2015. It
6804-543: The end of the afternoon, following the storming of the Bastille , the provost of the merchants of Paris, Jacques de Flesselles was shot by the crowd on the steps of Paris City Hall. Although in the Middle Ages the provosts of the merchants symbolized the independence of Paris and even had openly rebelled against King Charles V , their office had been suppressed by the king, then reinstated but with strict control from
6912-487: The expansion of Paris radically changed the situation in Aubervilliers. Industries were established next to the canal. On 6 October 1862 Baron Hainguerlot began the operation of General Stores in Saint-Denis . In 1866 he moved to Aubervilliers. In 1866 Saint-Gobain purchased a factory manufacturing sulphuric acid from John Frédéric Boyd which was located on Rue du Landy. On 12 September 1867 Lady Lequin began operating
7020-558: The form of a law on 22 March 1890, which provided for the establishment of single-purpose intercommunal associations. French lawmakers having long been aware of the inadequacy of the communal structure inherited from the French Revolution for dealing with a number of practical matters, the so-called Chevènement law of 12 July 1999 is the most recent and most thoroughgoing measure aimed at strengthening and simplifying this principle. In recent years it has become increasingly common for communes to band together in intercommunal consortia for
7128-608: The house of Pierre L’Orfèvre, the new Lord of Vivier from then until August 1478. The image of the Virgin in lead that the king wore on his hat was a representation of the one at Aubervilliers. In 1531 the Lordship of Vivier les Aubervilliers was sold to the Montholon family which held it until 1779. The facade and tower of the church were built in the reign of Henry II . Civil wars which the Armagnacs stirred up in France led to
7236-467: The joint construction of a school (kindergarten and primary) from 2010 to 2014. In 2010 there were 31,379 immigrants in Aubervilliers (or 41.2% of the population of the commune - the highest proportion in the department), including 3,919 from the European Union, 1,418 from the rest of Europe, 11,313 from the Maghreb , and 6,810 from the rest of Africa According to demographer Michèle Tribalat, in 2005 about three-quarters of young people under 18 years old in
7344-548: The king, and so they had ended up being viewed by the people as yet another representative of the king, no longer the embodiment of a free municipality. Following that event, a "commune" of Paris was immediately set up to replace the old medieval chartered city of Paris, and a municipal guard was established to protect Paris against any attempt made by King Louis XVI to quell the ongoing revolution. Several other cities of France quickly followed suit, and communes arose everywhere, each with their municipal guard. On 14 December 1789,
7452-421: The kingdom of France. French law makes allowances for the vast differences in commune size in a number of areas of administrative law. The size of the municipal council, the method of electing the municipal council, the maximum allowable pay of the mayor and deputy mayors, and municipal campaign finance limits (among other features) all depend on the population echelon into which a particular commune falls. Since
7560-437: The kingdom. A parish was essentially a church, the houses around it (known as the village), and the cultivated land around the village. France was the most populous country in Europe at this time, with a population of approximately 25 million inhabitants in the late 18th century ( England in contrast had only 6 million inhabitants), which accounts for the large number of parishes. French kings often prided themselves on ruling over
7668-653: The law. In urban areas, the new intercommunal structures are much more a reality, being created by local decision-makers out of genuine belief in the worth of working together. However, in many places, local feuds have arisen, and it was not possible to set up an intercommunal structure for the whole of the urban area: some communes refusing to take part in it, or even creating their own structure. In some urban areas like Marseille there exist four distinct intercommunal structures! In many areas, rich communes have joined with other rich communes and have refused to let in poorer communes, for fear that their citizens would be overtaxed to
7776-552: The least money per inhabitant, whereas urban communities are given the most money per inhabitant, thus pushing communes to form more integrated communities where they have fewer powers, which they might otherwise have been loath to do if it were not for government money. The Chevènement law has been extremely successful in the sense that a majority of French communes now have joined the new intercommunal structures. On 1 January 2007, there were 2,573 such communities in metropolitan France (including five syndicats d'agglomération nouvelle ,
7884-414: The local feudal lord ( seigneur ) still had a major influence in the village's affairs, collecting taxes from tenant-villagers and ordering them to work the corvée , controlling which fields were to be used and when, and how much of the harvest should be given to him. Additionally, some cities had obtained charters during the Middle Ages, either from the king himself or from local counts or dukes (such as
7992-546: The lowest level of administrative division in France and are governed by elected officials including a mayor ( maire ) and a municipal council ( conseil municipal ). They have extensive autonomous powers to implement national policy. A commune is the smallest and oldest administrative division in France . " Commune " in English has a historical association with socialist and collectivist political movements and philosophies. This association arises in part from
8100-480: The main community of Toulouse and its suburbs is only a community of agglomeration, although Toulouse is large enough to create an Urban Community according to the law. This is because the suburban communes refused an urban community for fear of losing too much power, and opted for a community of agglomeration, despite the fact that a community of agglomeration receives less government funds than an urban community. As for Paris, no intercommunal structure has emerged there,
8208-486: The mayors. Civil marriages were established and started to be performed in the mairie with a ceremony not unlike the traditional one, with the mayor replacing the priest, and the name of the law replacing the name of God (" Au nom de la loi, je vous déclare unis par les liens du mariage. " – "In the name of the law, I declare you united by the bonds of marriage."). Priests were forced to surrender their centuries-old baptism, marriage, and burial books, which were deposited in
8316-429: The median population of communes in 2001 was 2,343 inhabitants, Belgium (11,265 inhabitants), or even Spain (564 inhabitants). The median population given here should not hide the fact that there are pronounced differences in size between French communes. As mentioned in the introduction, a commune can be a city of 2 million inhabitants such as Paris, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, or just a hamlet of 10 inhabitants. What
8424-427: The median population tells us is that the vast majority of the French communes only have a few hundred inhabitants, but there are also a small number of communes with much higher populations. In metropolitan France 57 percent of the 36,683 communes have fewer than 500 inhabitants and, with 4,638,000 inhabitants, these smaller communes constitute just 7.7 percent of the total population. In other words, just 8 percent of
8532-425: The meetings of the municipal council as well as the administration of the commune. Some in the National Assembly were opposed to such a fragmentation of France into thousands of communes, but eventually Mirabeau and his ideas of one commune for each parish prevailed. On 20 September 1792, the recording of births, marriages, and deaths also was withdrawn as a responsibility of the priests of the parishes and handed to
8640-480: The newly appointed Duke William of Normandy (who would go on to become William the Conqueror ), to suppress a revolt by William's vassals. In 1047, Henry secured the duchy for William in their decisive victory over the vassals at the Battle of Val-ès-Dunes near Caen ; however, Henry would later support the barons against William until the former's death in 1060. In 1054, William married Matilda , daughter of
8748-521: The north, cities tended to be administered by échevins (from an old Germanic word meaning judge), while in the south, cities tended to be administered by consuls (in a clear reference to Roman antiquity), but Bordeaux was administered by jurats (etymologically meaning "sworn men") and Toulouse by capitouls ("men of the chapter"). Usually, there was no mayor in the modern sense; all the échevins or consuls were on equal footing, and rendered decisions collegially. However, for certain purposes, there
8856-523: The number of communes in the process – the Gemeinden of West Germany were decreased from 24,400 to 8,400 in the space of a few years – France only carried out mergers at the margin, and those were mostly carried out during the 19th century. From 41,000 communes at the time of the French Revolution, the number decreased to 37,963 in 1921, to 36,569 in 2008 (in metropolitan France). Thus, in Europe, only Switzerland has as high
8964-400: The number of vacant units has increased from 1,713 in 2007 to 1,997 in 2017. Between 1982 and 1999 43,000 people reported that they would come to live in Aubervilliers (68.1% of the population in 1999) and, as the population decreased by 4,589 during the period, it can be concluded that nearly 48,000 people left Aubervilliers. We can deduce from these figures that only a third of the population
9072-631: The only partially successful statute enacted in 1966 and enabling urban communes to form urban communities or the more marked failure of the Marcellin law of 1971, the Chevènement law met with a large measure of success, so that a majority of French communes are now involved in intercommunal structures. There are two types of these structures: In exchange for the creation of a community, the government allocates money to them based on their population, thus providing an incentive for communes to team up and form communities. Communities of communes are given
9180-481: The parched crops. In 1338 King Philip VI of France and his queen went to Aubervilliers to visit the image. From 1340 to 1792 people went there in droves each year from Paris and its surroundings. In 1402 Michel de Laillier, Lord of Ermenonville , became Lord of Vivier les Aubervilliers. In 1429 the town was occupied by the English but was retaken by Michel de Laillier in 1436. Louis XI went there in November 1474 to
9288-403: The place of the former communes, which are represented by a delegated mayor and a delegated council. Between 2012 and 2021, about 820 communes nouvelles have been established, replacing about 2,550 old communes. The expression "intercommunality" ( intercommunalité ) denotes several forms of cooperation between communes. Such cooperation first made its appearance at the end of the 19th century in
9396-560: The poet Louis Racine participated in a pilgrimage there and returned. At the end of the 17th century and in the first half of the 18th century, the House of Oratorians of Aubervilliers became a "stronghold" of the Jansenist dissent . In 1649, during the Fronde , Aubervilliers fell into misery. Crops were destroyed, death reigned and population declined. There were 125 deaths in 1652 in a population of about 1,500 inhabitants. Nevertheless,
9504-495: The provision of such services as refuse collection and water supply. Suburban communes often team up with the city at the core of their urban area to form a community charged with managing public transport or even administering the collection of local taxes. The Chevènement law tidied up all these practices, abolishing some structures and creating new ones. In addition, it offered central government finance aimed at encouraging further communes to join in intercommunal structures. Unlike
9612-489: The revolution, and so they favored a powerful central state. Therefore, when they created the communes, they deprived them of any legal "personality" (as they did with the départements ), with only the central state having legal "personality." By 1837 that situation was judged impractical, as mayors and municipal councils could not be parties in courts. The consequence of the change, however, was that tens of thousands of villages which had never had legal "personality" (contrary to
9720-417: The right to elect its own mayor in 1977, the central government retained control of the Paris police. In all other French communes, the municipal police are under the mayor's supervision. French communes were created at the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789–1790. Before the revolution, France's lowest level of administrative division was the parish ( paroisse ), and there were up to 60,000 of them in
9828-727: The rising of the Paris Commune (1871) which could have more felicitously been called, in English, "the rising of the City of Paris". There is nothing intrinsically different between "town" in English and commune in French. The French word commune appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia , for a large gathering of people sharing a common life; from Latin communis , 'things held in common'. As of January 2021, there were 35,083 communes in France , of which 34,836 were in metropolitan France , 129 in
9936-406: The same as those designed at the time of the French Revolution more than 200 years ago, with the same limits. Countless rural communes that had hundreds of inhabitants at the time of the French Revolution now have only a hundred inhabitants or fewer. On the other hand, cities and towns have grown so much that their urbanized area is now extending far beyond the limits of their commune which were set at
10044-540: The scene of a bloody battle between French troops and the Prussians who took and re-took it several times. The French soldiers were overpowered by numbers and were eventually forced to abandon it. On 13 May 1821 the Canal Saint-Denis opened. In 1832, an outbreak of cholera decimated the population. In 1840 a factory was set up to manufacture soap from resin. The Fort d'Aubervilliers was built in 1843 - it
10152-616: The small town was reborn although until the 19th century it was populated by farmers. Proximity to the Paris markets promoted Market gardening , especially on the Plain of Vertus which was famous for its onions and a wide range of vegetables. The existence of the Mazier farm at 70 Rue Heurtault is attested by a document in 1699. On 12 August 1787 the first meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Aubervilliers took place. In 1789 there
10260-450: The south-east. The Paris ring road is just outside the southern border of the commune and there are two access routes to it: by the Porte d'Aubervilliers and by the Porte de la Villette . These roads provide easy access to the network of roads and motorways around Paris as well as Le Bourget and Charles de Gaulle airports. The Canal Saint-Denis once had important river ports and there
10368-482: The suburbs of Paris fearing the concept of a "Greater Paris", and so disunity still is the rule in the metropolitan area, with the suburbs of Paris creating many different intercommunal structures all without the city. Henry I of France Henry I (4 May 1008 – 4 August 1060) was King of the Franks from 1031 to 1060. The royal demesne of France reached its smallest size during his reign, and for this reason he
10476-508: The time of his death, he was besieging Thimert , which had been occupied by the Normans since 1058. Henry I was betrothed to Matilda , the daughter of Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor , but she died prematurely in 1034. Henry then married Matilda of Frisia , but she died in 1044. Casting further afield in search of a third wife, Henry married Anne of Kiev on 19 May 1051. They had: Henry and Anne of Kiev are additionally said to have been
10584-609: The time of the revolution. The most extreme example of this is Paris, where the urbanized area sprawls over 396 communes. Paris in fact was one of the very few communes of France whose limits were extended to take into account the expansion of the urbanized area. The new, larger, commune of Paris was set up under the oversight of Emperor Napoléon III in 1859, but after 1859 the limits of Paris rigidified. Unlike most other European countries, which stringently merged their communes to better reflect modern-day densities of population (such as Germany and Italy around 1970), dramatically decreasing
10692-559: The two Henries met again and signed a treaty of friendship. Their final meeting took place in May 1056 and concerned disputes over Theobald III and the County of Blois . The debate over the duchy became so heated that Henry accused the emperor of breach of contract and subsequently left. In 1058, Henry was selling bishoprics and abbacies, ignoring the accusations of simony and tyranny by the Papal legate Cardinal Humbert . In 1060, Henry rebuilt
10800-506: The vote against the list of the incumbent mayor, Pascal Beaudet (PCF), the UMP , and the MoDem . In March 2011 in the cantonal elections (Canton of Aubervilliers-Est) Pascal Beaudet (PCF, PG, GU, ZIP, Federated) again led the first round (30.9%) in the context of a record abstention rate (72.3%). The Socialist candidate continued again in the second round, as in 2008 but this time Pascal Beaudet won
10908-580: The world at the time, except in the empire of China (but there, only county level and above had any permanent administration). Since then, tremendous changes have affected France, as they have the rest of Europe: the Industrial Revolution , two world wars , and the rural exodus have all depopulated the countryside and increased the size of cities. French administrative divisions, however, have remained extremely rigid and unchanged. Today about 90 percent of communes and departments are exactly
11016-531: Was a list of grievances, complaints and remonstrances written by Mesme Monard, the parish priest, and one of the leaders against the Oratorians . On 24 January 1790 the election of the first mayor of Aubervilliers took place: Nicolas Lemoine was elected. In 1792 the boundary of the commune of Aubervilliers was delineated. During the Napoleonic Wars , the Plain of Aubervilliers was, in 1814 and 1815,
11124-428: Was adopted, which created the legal framework for the communes nouvelles (lit. "new communes"). A commune nouvelle can be created by merger of a number of communes at the request of the municipal councils of all the communes or at the initiative of the state representative in the department (the prefect ). The municipal council of the new commune can decide to create communes déléguées (lit. "delegated communes") in
11232-640: Was bought in 1921 by the Wanner establishment who manufactured insulating materials: ceramic, plaster, and cork tiles. On 18 June 1897 a grease manufacturing factory (industrial oils and greases) was established on Chemin Haut de St Denis at Aubervilliers and remained in operation until the Second World War . In 1898 a tram depot was built at the corner of the Avenue de la République No. 30 and Rue du Midi. At
11340-419: Was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes. On that occasion, a small part of the commune of Aubervilliers was annexed to the city of Paris. At the same time, the commune of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Aubervilliers, Saint-Denis , and Saint-Ouen . Aubervilliers received a small part of the territory of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis. The Industrial Revolution and
11448-1053: Was one échevin or consul ranking above the others, a sort of mayor, although not with the same authority and executive powers as a modern mayor. This "mayor" was called provost of the merchants ( prévôt des marchands ) in Paris and Lyon; maire in Marseille, Bordeaux, Rouen , Orléans , Bayonne and many other cities and towns; mayeur in Lille ; premier capitoul in Toulouse; viguier in Montpellier ; premier consul in many towns of southern France; prêteur royal in Strasbourg ; maître échevin in Metz ; maire royal in Nancy ; or prévôt in Valenciennes . On 14 July 1789, at
11556-517: Was part of the Thiers wall , a structure authorised in 1840 by Adolphe Thiers to protect Paris and, where appropriate, to subdue its rebellions forming an elongated belt around Paris. It was used for the repression of the Paris Commune . The grounds of the fort and its surroundings are part of Aubervilliers commune. In 1861 the Central Market was created. On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris
11664-542: Was the Paris-Hirson railway and an industrial railway for Saint-Denis/Aubervilliers which served the Plaine Saint-Denis . The RER railway passes through the north of the commune and the station of La Courneuve-Aubervilliers, located just north of the commune on the N301 road, serves Aubervilliers. There are also two Metro stations on the south-western border on Avenue Jean-Jaures: Aubervilliers-Pantin-Quatre Chemins at
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