Varennes-en-Argonne
Encyclopedia
Varennes-en-Argonne or simply Varennes is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Meuse
Meuse
Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 department in Lorraine
Lorraine (région)
Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

 in north-eastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Population (1999): 691.

Geography

Varennes-en-Argonne lies on the river Aire
Aire (Aisne)
The Aire is a river in northern France, right tributary of the Aisne. Its source is near the village Saint-Aubin-sur-Aire. Its course crosses the départements of Meuse and Ardennes. It flows through the towns of Pierrefitte-sur-Aire, Clermont-en-Argonne, Varennes-en-Argonne and Grandpré, finally...

 to the northeast of Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....

, near Verdun.

History

It was the scene of the Flight to Varennes
Flight to Varennes
The Flight to Varennes was a significant episode in the French Revolution during which King Louis XVI of France, his wife Marie Antoinette, and their immediate family attempted unsuccessfully to escape from Paris in order to initiate a counter-revolution...

: In June 1791 Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....

, with his immediate family, made a dash for the nearest friendly border, that of Austrian Belgium (Queen Marie-Antoinette being a sister to the Austrian emperor, Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...

). But in Varennes Louis and his family were arrested, by Citizen Drouet
Jean-Baptiste Drouet (French revolutionary)
Jean-Baptiste Drouet was a French politician of the 1789 Revolution, chiefly noted for the part he played in the arrest of King Louis XVI during the Flight to Varennes.-Early life, Varennes, and in the Convention:...

, the local postmaster, who had been alerted by a message received from nearby Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....

. It is said that at Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould
Sainte-Menehould is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France.The town and its several restaurants pride themselves on serving a local specialty called pied de cochon or pig's trotters....

, where the escaping party had spent the previous night, a merchant alerted the town authorities of their presence after recognizing the King's face on a coin, as Louis tried to buy something from a shop. Once more France's king, queen, and dauphin (crown prince) returned to the Tuileries in humiliating captivity, and Louis and Marie-Antoinette were subsequently executed on the guillotine.

See also

  • Communes of the Meuse department
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