Joigny

Joigny, a town of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Yonne, 18 m. N.N.W. of Auxerre by the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway. Pop. (1906), 4888. It is situated on the flank of the hill known as the Côte St Jacques on the right bank of the Yonne. Its streets are steep and narrow, and old houses with carved wooden façades are numerous. The church of St Jean (16th century), which once stood within the enceinte of the old castle, contains a representation (15th century) of the Holy Sepulchre in white marble. Other interesting buildings are the church of St André (12th, 16th and 17th centuries), of which the best feature is the Renaissance portal with its fine bas-reliefs; and the church of St Thibault (16th century), in which the stone crown suspended from the choir vaulting is chiefly noticeable. The Porte du Bois, a gateway with two massive flanking towers, is a relic of the 10th century castle; there is also a castle of the 16th and 17th centuries, in part demolished. The hôtel de ville (18th century) shelters the library; the law-court contains the sepulchral chapel of the Ferrands (16th century). The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a communal college for boys. It is industrially unimportant, but the wine of the Côte St Jacques is much esteemed.

Joigny (Joviniacum) was probably of Roman origin. In the 10th century it became the seat of a countship dependent on that of Champagne, which after passing through several hands came in the 18th century into the possession of the family of Villeroi. A fragment of a ladder preserved in the church of St André commemorates the successful resistance offered by the town to the English in 1429.