Compiègne, town, Oise département, Hauts-de-France région, northern France. It lies along the Oise River, at the northwest edge of the forest of Compiègne.

Of Roman origin, it was referred to in 557 as Compendium, a name derived from a word meaning “short cut” (between Beauvais and Soissons). The town flourished in the Middle Ages and was the site of assemblies and councils under the Merovingian kings. In 833 Louis the Pious was deposed there. Charles II the Bald enlarged the town and founded the Abbey of Saint-Corneille, now the home of the municipal library. Compiègne became a commune in 1153, and a monument to Joan of Arc commemorates her capture there by the Burgundians in 1430.