SEDAN, a town of France, the chef-lieu of an arrondissement in the department of Ardennes, lies on the right bank of the Meuse, 13 miles east-south-east of Mezieres by the railway to Thionville (Lorraine), and is surrounded by heights of about 1000 feet. Since its fortifications were declasses, a process of embellishment has been going on. Place Turenne takes its name from the statue of the illustrious marshal, who was born in the town in 1611. The public buildings include a Protestant church, a synagogue, a museum, and a college. The manufacture of fine black cloth has long been, and still continues to be, the staple industry, employing in the town and neighbourhood more than 10,000 workmen, and producing to the value of 40,000,000 francs 'annually. Several spinning-mills have been erected by Alsatian refugees since 1871. Considerable activity is also displayed in various departments of metal-working, especially in the surrounding villages. The population was 13,807 in 1872, and 19,240 in 1881 (19,556 in the commune).
Sedan was in the 13th century a dependency of the abbey of Monzon, the possession of which was disputed by the bishops of Liege and Rheims. United to the crown of France by Charles V., it was ceded by Charles VI. to Guillaume de Braquemont, who sold it to the La Marcks. For two centuries this powerful family managed to continue masters of the place in spite of the bishops of Liege and the dukes of Burgundy and Lorraine ; and in the person of Henri Robert they adopted the title "prince of Sedan." In the 16th century the town was an asylum for many Protestant refugees, who laid the basis of its industrial prosperity, and it became the seat of a Protestant seminary. The last heiress of the La Marck family brought Sedan and the duchy of Bouillon to Henri de la, Tour d'Auvergne, viscount of Turenne. When the new duke attempted to maintain his independence, Henry IV. captured Sedan in three days ; and the second duke (eldest brother of the great marshal), who had several times revolted against Louis XIII., was at last, after his share in the conspiracy of CinqMars, obliged to surrender his principality. Sedan thus became part of the royal domain in 1641. On 1st September 1870 the fortress was the centre of the most disastrous conflict of the Franco-German War. Shut in by the Germans, who had occupied the surrounding heights, the whole French army, after a terrific contest, was obliged to capitulate, - the emperor, 39 generals, 230 staff-officers, 2600 officers, and 83,000 men becoming prisoners of war. The village of Bazeilles was the scene of the heroic stand made by the marines under Martin des Pallieres. It now contains the great ossuary, and a monument to the memory of the marines ; and the house which has been rendered famous by Neuville's painting, "Les Dernieres Cartouches," is a museum of objects found on the battlefield.