Beauvais was known to the
Romans by the Gallo-Roman name of
Caesaromagus (
magos is
Common Celtic for "field"). The post-Renaissance
Latin rendering is
Bellovacum from the
Belgic tribe, the
Bellovaci, whose capital it was. In the ninth century, it became a county (
comté), which, in about 1013, passed to the bishops of Beauvais, who became peers of France from the twelfth century. At the coronations of kings, the
Bishop of Beauvais wore the royal mantle and went, with the
Bishop of Langres, to raise the king from his throne to present him to the people.
De Bello Gallico II 13 reports that as
Julius Caesar was approaching a fortified town called Bratuspantium in the land of the
Bellovaci, its inhabitants surrendered to him when he was about 5
Roman miles away. Its name is
Gaulish for "place where judgements are made", from *
bratu-spantion. Some say that Bratuspantium is Beauvais. Others theorise that it is
Vendeuil-Caply or Bailleul sur Thérain. From 1004 to 1037, the Count of Beauvais was
Odo II, Count of Blois. In a charter dated 1056/1060,
Eudo of Brittany granted land "in pago Belvacensi" (Beauvais, Picardy) to the Abbey of
Angers Saint-Aubin (see
Albinus of Angers). In 1346, the town had to defend itself against the English, who again besieged it in 1433. The
siege that it endured in 1472 at the hands of the
Duke of Burgundy was rendered famous by the heroism of the town's women, under the leadership of
Jeanne Hachette, whose memory is still celebrated by a procession on 27 June (the feast of
Sainte Angadrême), during which women take precedence over men. Beauvais was extensively damaged during World War I, and again in World War II during the German advance on Paris in June 1940. Much of the older part of the city was all but destroyed, and the cathedral was badly damaged before being liberated by British forces on 30 August 1944. Beauvais experienced significant rioting during the
Nahel Merzouk protests in 2023. == Geography ==