Send Gift Baskets to Corbeil-Essonnes, France

Human activity in the area dates back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras; it later became a Gallo-Roman settlement along the main road between Paris and Sens. Corbeil originated from the Latin Corbulium, which was derived from the Gaulish cor beel, which meant “holy house.” Mauger, the son of Richard I of Normandy, became the chief town of a powerful county after Aymon, Comte de Corbeil (died 957).

His parents were probably unknown, but he became archbishop of Canterbury in 1136. A Gothic church was built in the tenth century and reconstructed in the fifteenth century. A flourishing Jewish community existed in Corbeil before the expulsion of the Jews, which included scholars such as Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil and Perez ben Elijah. Lotario de Conti, who would become Pope Innocent III, was taught by Peter of Corbeil (died 1222).

In the town, two treaties of Corbeil were signed by French representatives, one between France and Aragon (1258) and one between France and Scotland (1326).

As a result of the Duke of Burgundy’s siege in 1418, Corbeil was besieged. As part of the First Civil War, the Protestants of France attacked it in 1562. Corbeil was the scene of a battle between General Alessandro Farnese and the Catholics in France in 1590.

The composer Camille Saint-Saëns lived in Corbeil for some years of his youth.

The commune of Corbeil-Essonnes was formed by merging the communes of Corbeil and Essonnes on 10 August 1951. Corbeil is home to the commune town hall (Mairie).

They are known as Corbeil-Essonnois, the people of Corbeil-Essonnes.