{{otherplaces}}
{{French commune|
name=Abbeville|image=[[Image:Abbeville église Rouvroy 2.jpg|250px]]|
région=[[Picardie]] |
département=[[Somme]]<br/>(''[[sous-préfecture]]'')|
arrondissement=Abbeville|
canton=[[Canton of Abbeville|Abbeville]]|
insee= 80001|
cp= 80100|
maire= Joël Hart|
gentilé= Abbevillois|
devise= ''Fidelis''|
mandat= |
intercomm= |
lat_long= {{coor dms|50|6|0|N|1|50|0|E|type:city}} |
alt moy= 8 m|
alt mini= 2 m|
alt maxi= 76 m|
hectares=2,642 |
km²=26.42 |
sans= 24,567|
date-sans=1999|
dens=929.9 |
date-dens=1999}}
[[Image:AbbevilleCollégialeStVulfran2004-04-27.jpg|thumb|200px|St Vulfran Collegiate Church]]
[[Image:Abbeville Beffroi 2005-09-29.jpg|thumb|200px|Beffroi]]
'''Abbeville''' ('''Abbegem''' in Flemish) is a city in the [[Picardie]] ''[[Région in France|région]]'', in the [[North]] of [[France]].

==Location==
Abbeville is located on the [[Somme River]], 20 kilometres from its modern mouth in the [[English Channel]], and 45 kilometres northwest of [[Amiens]]. In the medieval period, it was the lowest crossing point on the Somme and it was nearby that [[Edward III of England|Edward III's]] army crossed shortly before the [[Battle of Crécy]] in [[1346]].

==Administration==
Abbeville was the chief town of the [[Provinces of France|former province]] of [[Ponthieu]]. Today, it is one of the three ''[[sous-préfecture]]s'' of the [[Somme]] ''[[départements of France|département]]''.

It is twinned with the town of [[Burgess Hill]] in [[West Sussex]].

==Prehistory ==
The name Abbeville has been adopted to name a category of early stone tools. These stone tools are also known as [[handaxes]]. Various handaxes were found near Abbeville by [[Jacques Boucher de Perthes]] during the [[1830]]'s and he was the first to describe the stones in detail, pointing out in the first publication of its kind, that the stones were chipped deliberately by early man, so as to form a tool. These earliest stone tools found in Europe were chipped on both sides so as to form a sharp edge, are now known as [[Abbevillian]] handaxes or [[bifaces]]. The earlier form of stone tools, not found in Europe is known as [[Oldewan]] choppers. A more refined and later version of handaxe production was also found in the Abbeville/Somme River district. The more refined handaxe became known as the [[Acheulean]] industry, named after [[Saint Acheul]], today a suburb of [[Amiens]].

==History==
Abbeville first appears in history during the [[9th century]]. At that time belonging to the [[abbey]] of [[Saint-Riquier]], it was afterwards governed by the [[Ponthieu|Counts of Ponthieu]]. Together with that county, it came into the possession of the [[Alençon]] and other French families, and afterwards into that of the [[Crown of Castile|House of Castile]], from whom by marriage it fell in [[1272]] to King [[Edward I of England]]. French and English were its masters by turns till [[1435]] when, by the [[treaty of Arras]], it was ceded to the [[Duke of Burgundy]]. In [[1477]] it was annexed by King [[Louis XI of France]], and was held by two illegitimate branches of the royal family in the 16th and 17th centuries, being in [[1696]] reunited to the crown. In 1514, the town saw the marriage of [[Louis XII of France]] to [[Mary Tudor (queen consort of France)|Mary Tudor]], the daughter of [[Henry VII of England]].

Abbeville was fairly important in the [[18th century]], when the Van Robais Royal Manufacture (one of the first major factories in France) brought great prosperity (but some class controversy) to the town. [[Voltaire]], among others, wrote about it. He also wrote about a major incident of intolerance in which a young impoverished lord, the [[Chevalier de la Barre]], was executed there for impiety (supposedly because he did not [[salute]] a procession for [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]], though the story is far more complex than that and revolves around a mutilated cross.) On 12th September 1939 in Abbeville took place a conference in which France and Great Britain decided not to help Poland in its fight against Germany.


Historical population:
:1901: 18,519
:1906: 18,971
:1990: 24,588

==Sights==
The city was very picturesque until the early days of [[the Second World War]], when it was bombed mostly to rubble in one night by the Germans. The town overall is now mostly modern and rebuilt. Several of the town's attractions remain, including:
* [[Saint Wulfram|St. Vulfran]]'s church, erected in the [[15th century|15th]], [[16th century|16th]] and [[17th century|17th]] centuries. The original design was not completed. The [[nave]] has only two bays and the choir is insignificant. The facade is a magnificent specimen of the flamboyant [[Gothic style]], flanked by two Gothic towers.

==See also==
{{commons|Abbeville|Abbeville}}
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Abbeville}}
* [[Abbevillian]]

==References==
* {{1911}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ville-abbeville.fr/ Official website] (in French)

[[Category:Communes of Somme]]
[[Category:Subprefectures in France]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in France]]

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