Montereau

Montereau, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine-et-Marne at the confluence of the Yonne with the Seine, 21 m. S.E. of Melun by rail. Pop. (1906), 7870. The church dates from the 13th century, with a facade of the Renaissance period. The industries include the manufacture of porcelain, fire-proof and decorative bricks, boots and shoes and agricultural machines and colours, varnish, &c. Among the iristitutions are a tribunal of commerce and a chamber of arts and manufactures.

Montereau was in the beginning of the 15th century a place of some importance. Here, on the bridge over the Yonne, Jean Sans-Peur, duke of Burgundy was assassinated in the presence of the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII., in 1419. In 1438 the town was captured by Charles VII., and during the wars of religion it was several times taken and retaken. In 1814 Napoleon gained a victory at Montereau over the Wurttemberg troops under Schwarzenberg, and in memory of this his statue has been erected on the bridge.