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LEFT VENDEE, LA, WAR OF 180 square miles; pop. about 450,000. The department, which owes its name to a small affluent of the Charente, is traversed from E. to W. by a range of hills, called in the E. the Plateau de Gatin, and in the W. the Collines Nan- taises, and is watered in the N. by the affluents of the Loire, and in the S. by the Lay and the affluents of the Charente. Of its three divisions the W. is the Marais, occupied by salt marshes and lakes; the N. the Bocage, covered with plantations; in the S. and middle is the Plaine, an open and fertile tract. The coast line, 93 miles in length, presents few deep indentations, the chief being the safe Bay of Aiguillon. VENDEE, LA, WAR OF, the Royalist resistance to the French Revolution, which occurred chiefly in Vendee and Brittany. It broke out in Vendee, in March, 1793 ; gained a victory at Saumur, in June, 1793; but under La Rochejac- juelin was decisively defeated by the Re- publican forces under Westermann and Marceau at Le Mans, Dec. 12, 1793. The struggle still went on in Brittany, under the name of the War of the Chouans ; but was suppressed by General Hoche in 1796; and finally by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800. The principal Ven- dean leaders were La Roche jacquelin, Cathelineau, Charette, and Stofflet. VENDEMIAIRE (vQng-da.-myav'), the first month in the French Republican calendar, beginning Sept. 22 or 23, and ending Oct. 21 or 22; so called from its being the vintage season. VENDETTA, a particular case of the wider custom of blood-feud, by which avery member of a stock, or body of men between whom blood relationship sub- sists, is bound to aid in taking ven- geance (on the offender if possible, or on the stock to which he belongs) for a personal injury done to any of his kinsmen. The vendetta which exists in Corsica, and to a less extent in Sicily, Sai'dinia, and Calabria, is the practice of taking vengeance on the murder of a relative; and this duty is imposed pri- marily on the next of kin, but in a less degree on all the relatives of the mur- dered individual. If the murderer suc- ceeds in eluding his pursuers, then ven- geance may be taken on any of his rela- tives. Between 1770 and 1800, when the vendetta was at its height, some 7,000 murders are said to have occurred in Corsica owing to this practice of private vengeance, A law prohibiting the car- rying of arms did much to put a stop to the vendetta, but the law is now repealed with the result that the number of mur- ders is on the increase. VENEER VENDOME (vorifjT-dom'), a town of France; in the department of Loir-et- Cher; on the Loir; 42 miles N. N. E. of Tours and 111 S. W. of Paris. Above it rise the picturesque ruins of the castle of the Dukes of Vendome, destroyed at the Revolution, and within the town is a fine 15th-century abbey church, with early Gothic tower and spire. Gloves and paper are made. Pop. about 10,000. VENDOME, an ancient countship of France; erected into a duchy by Francis I., for behoof of Charles de Bourbon, through whom it fell to his grandson, Henry IV., who again conferred it on Cesar, the eldest of his sons, by Gabrielle d'Estrees. Cesar's eldest son, Louis, Duke of Vendome, married Laura Mancini, one of Mazarin's nieces, and had by her three sons, the eldest of whom was the famous soldier, Louis-Joseph, Duke of Vendome, called till his father's death the Due de Penthievre. He was born in Paris, July 1, 1654, and saw his first service in the Dutch campaign of 1672. He next served with distinction under Turenne in Germany and Alsace, again in the Low Countries under Luxembourg, in Italy under Cacinat, and received in 1695 the command of the army in Cata- lonia. He shook off his indolence, and closed a series of brilliant successes by the capture of Barcelona (1697). After five years of sloth and sensuality he su- perseded Villeroi in Italy, much to the delight of the soldiers. He fought an undecided battle with Prince Eugene at Luzzara (Aug. 15), then burst into the Tjrrol, returning to Italy to check the united Savoyards and Austrians. On Aug. 16, 1705, he fought a second in- decisive battle with Prince Eugene at Cassano, and at Calcinate he crushed the Austrians (April 19, 1706). That sum- mer he was recalled to supersede Villeroi in the Low Countries under nominal com- mand of the Duke of Burgundy. The defeat at Oudenarde (July 11, 1708) cost him his command, but in 1710 he was sent to Spain to aid Philip V. His ap- pearance turned the tide of disaster; he brought the king back to Madrid, and defeated the English at Brihuega, and next day the Austrians at Villaviciosa. After a month of gluttony beyond even his wont, he died in Vinaroz, in Valen- cia, June 11, 1712. Saint-Simon hated Vendome, and has gibbeted to all eter- nity his sloth, his gluttony, and his shameless debauchery. VENEER, beautifully grained or figured woods which are, owing to their cost, rarely used in the form of solid boards, but cut into slices.