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Craonne

commune in Aisne, France

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ839780 ↗
Source-derived summary

Craonne (French pronunciation: [kʁa(ɔ)n]) is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France, northwest of Reims.

History

It was the site of the Napoleonic Battle of Craonne in 1814. The former town was totally destroyed by the French artillery during the Nivelle Offensive in World War I, inspiring the song La Chanson de Craonne. It had an arboretum. The town that exists today was rebuilt from the 1920s.

Geography

The river Ailette forms part of the commune's northern border.

Editorial summary

“Craonne” enters the record as commune in Aisne, France. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Craonne, commune and Aisne can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1814—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Craonne, commune and Aisne.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Craonne” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Craonne, commune and Aisne provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q839780. VIAF identifies the subject as 238141972. Authority coordinates are 49.440, 3.787. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1814.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Craonne”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Craonne primary sources, Craonne archive and Craonne research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Craonne”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Craonne” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.