Villers-Cotterêts is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France.
The inhabitants are called Cottereziens.
It is located 80 km (50 mi) NE of Paris via the RN2 facing Laon. Its nickname Petite villa sur la côte de Retz means Little villa by the coast of Retz, as the town is situated next to the Retz forest which covers 130 km (50 sq mi) of land.
Villers-Cotterêts is famous because of the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts 1539 sig...
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Villers-Cotterêts is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardie in northern France.
The inhabitants are called Cottereziens.
It is located 80 km (50 mi) NE of Paris via the RN2 facing Laon. Its nickname Petite villa sur la côte de Retz means Little villa by the coast of Retz, as the town is situated next to the Retz forest which covers 130 km (50 sq mi) of land.
Villers-Cotterêts is famous because of the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts 1539 signed by king Francis I of France ('François Ier') which made French the official language in the kingdom instead of regional languages like occitan and also Latin .
It was the birthplace of Alexandre Dumas, père (1802-1870), novelist.
The town was the start of Stage 4 in the 2007 Tour de France.
The local château, known as Château de Noüe was built in the 16th century for Francis I and later got 18th century régence decoration by Gilles-Marie Oppenordt. The original château was built around 950 AD and was burnt to the ground twice before being...
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