Langres

Langres crowns a high spur between the valleys of the Marne and the Bonnelle. Its walls enclosed an ancient episcopal city, whose cathedral of Saint-Mammès served a powerful cathedral chapter of canons. The city's position on the plateau made its fortifications a prominent landmark above the surrounding countryside.

The cathedral chapter long elected the bishop and managed the life of the church. The Concordat of 1516 changed that arrangement, taking the election of bishops from the canons and diminishing the chapter’s power and prestige in the years that followed. Langres was also the birthplace of Denis Diderot, born in 1713 to a family of cutlers. He would become a leading figure of the Enlightenment and an editor of the great French Encyclopédie.