The city takes its name of its geographical position with the confluence of the Yonne and the Seine Rivers (Fault, also spelled faut comes from the verb faillir, "to fail" in French in its old direction is necessary to fall).
The town is split in two by the rivers, ville basse situated on the southern shore and Surville on the hill to the north. The old town centre is located in ville basse while Surville is an assembly of high rise buildings, erected after World War II, and is in many ways a typical cité in the Île-de-France. Some of these high rise buildings are in the process of being destroyed and replaced by individual houses. The old château-park in Surville (now the site of a high school Lycée André Malraux) however gives a very nice view over the confluent and the Seine-et-Marne region.
In 1359, the King of Navarre Charles II of Navarre, who held the town because of his Champagne ascent, lost it in front of the regent of France (the future king Charles V).
Plaque commemorating assassination of John the Fearless, on the bridge crossing River Yonne.
John the Fearless was killed on the bridge of the town in September, 1419 by Tanneguy du Chastel and the sire de Barbazan, during the interview which he had with the dauphin.
The collégiale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Loup contains a sword which would have belonged to John the Fearless.
The Geographer Malte-Brun reported, in La France illustrée (1882), that aurait (would have) a long time reading the following inscription about a bridge where the duke was assassinated.
In 1420, Philip the Good, the son of John the Fearless, seized the town, which remained for eight years in the hands of the Anglo-Burgundian coalition. However, at the end of a long seat, the king Charles VII, helped by Chabannes and Dunois, managed to take it again.
In 1567, during the Wars of Religion, Condé briefly seized the town.
In 1587, the inhabitants of Montereau took of party of the Catholic League, but ended up being accepted in 1590 the legitimacy of the new king Henry IV.
Statue of Napoleon, erected during the Second Empire on the bridge of Montereau.
Montereau was also the place of one of the last victories of Napoleon on February 14, 1814.
