Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/808

Rh 778 M O N M O N MONTAUBAN, chief town of the department of Tarn- et-Garonne, France, is situated on a slight eminence be tween the right bank of the Tarn and its tributary streams the Tescou and Lagarrigue, 128 miles by rail east-south east of Bordeaux. It is connected with the suburb of Ville-Bourbon on the left bank of the Tarn by a remark able brick bridge of the 14th century, which is 672 feet in length, and consists of seven pointed arches resting on piers, themselves pierced by pointed arches. The cathe dral, built in 1739, contains the Vow of Louis XIII., one of the finest paintings of Ingres, a native of Montauban, and at the end of the Carmelite walk a monument was erected to his memory in 1871. In the town-house, once occupied as a palace by the counts of Toulouse and by the Black Prince, are the paintings bequeathed by Ingres, an archaeological collection, and a very curious library containing the bequests of several celebrated collectors. Montauban possesses a Protestant theological college. The town has some trade in corn, wine, and grapes. The manu facture of corn-dressers, coarse cloth, pens, and earthen and china ware are the principal industries ; and there are also corn and woollen mills. The population in 1881 was 28,335. Montauban was only a village in the time of the Romans. In the 8th century a monastery was founded there by the Benedictines, who exercised lordship over the neighbouring population. A considerable impetus was in the 12th century given to its prosperity by a decree of the counts of Toulouse offering freedom to all serfs taking up their residence in the town. Montauban was twice besieged by Simon de Montfort in the Albigensian wars, and was sacked in 1207. By the treaty of Bretigny (1360) it was ceded to the English ; but shortly afterwards they were expelled by the inhabitants. In 1560 the bishops and magistrates embraced Pro testantism, expelled the monks, and demolished the cathedral. About ten years later it became one of the Huguenot strongholds, and formed a small independent republic. It was the headquarters of the Huguenot rebellion of 1621, and was vainly besieged by Louis XIII. for eighty-six days ; nor did it submit until after the fall of Rochelle in 1629, when its fortifications were destroyed by Richelieu. In the same year the plague cut off over 6000 of its inhabitants. MONTBELIARD, chief town of an arrondissement in the department of Doubs, France, is situated 1020 feet above the sea at the confluence of the Allaine and the Lusine, tributaries of the Doubs, and on the canal between the Rhine and the Rhone, about 40 miles north-east of Besangon. Once a fortified city, it still retains the old castle of the counts of Montbeliard. A bronze statue of Cuvier, the most illustrious native of Montbeliard, and several fine foun tains adorn the town, which also possesses a museum of natural history and antiquities, and a Protestant normal school. Since 1 870 a considerable impetus has been given to its prosperity by the arrival of Alsatian immigrants. The industries embrace watchmaking, the manufacture of .graving tools, iron wire, files, watch-springs, and pumps, cotton spinning and weaving, printing, and tanning. The chief exports are cheese, leather, and wood. The popu lation in 1881 was 8784, of which the great majority were Protestants. After belonging to the Burgundians and Franks, Montbeliard was, by the treaty of Verdun (843), added to Lorraine. In the llth century it became the capital of a countship, which formed part of the second kingdom of Burgundy, and latterly of the German empire. From the end of the 14th century until 1793 it belonged to the house of Wiirtemberg. It resisted the attacks of Charles the Bold, King Louis XII., and the duke of Guise, but was taken in 1676 by Marshal Luxembourg, who razed its fortifications. In 1871 the battle of Hericourt between the French and Germans had its com mencement within its walls. MONT-DORE-LES-BAINS, a village of France in the department of Puy de Dome, 17 miles as the crow flies .south-west of Clermont Ferrand, 3432 feet above the sea, on the right bank of the Dordogne not far from its source. The Monts Dore, from which it takes its name, close the valley towards the south ; their culminating peak, Puy de Sancy (6188 feet), is the highest eminence of central France. The mineral springs of Mont Dore were known to the Romans. The eight now used yield 94,600 gallons in twenty-four hours. Bicarbonate of soda, iron, and arsenic are the principal ingredients of the water ; to the two last it owes its efficacy in cases of pulmonary consumption, bronchitis, asthma, and nervous and rheumatic paralysis. From the elevation and exposure of the valley, which opens to the north and runs up towards mountains never quite free from snow, the climate of Mont-Dore-les-Bain.s is severe, and the season is consequently short. About 5000 patients visit the place between 15th June and 15th September, when a casino and theatre are opened. The chief building is the solid but sombre bath-house (hot baths). The surrounding country, with its fir woods, pastures, waterfalls, and mountains, is very attractive. In the &quot; park &quot; at Mont-Dore-les-Bains, which forms a little promenade along the Dordogne, relics from the old Roman baths have been collected, but the ancient establishment must have been on a larger scale than the present one. A pantheon erected about the time of Augustus existed till the 16th century. The population in 1881 was 1438. MONTE CARLO. See MONACO. MOXTE CASINO (or CASSINO). The Benedictine monastery known as the abbey of Monte Cassino is a huge square building of three stories, built on the usual Benedict ine plan (see ABBEY) on the summit of a picturesque isolated hill, about 3| miles to the north-east of the town of Cassino (Casinum) or San Germano (population about 5000), which lies midway between Rome and Naples in the valley of the Garigliano. The most prominent architectural feature is the large church (1727), richly decorated in the interior with marbles, mosaics, and paintings. The library and archivio have been spoken of elsewhere (vol. xiv. pp. 531, 548). The date of Benedict s withdrawal from Subiaco to Cassino is 529. At that time Cassino was the site of a temple of Apollo and of a grove sacred to Venus. The result of the saint s preaching was that the natives demolished both, chapels to St Martin and John the Baptist being built in their stead, while farther up the hill a monastery began to rise. About 589 the monks were driven from it to Rome by the Lombards of Benevento, and it lay waste for more than a century, until resuscitated by Gregory II. (719). In 787 it received fresh privileges from Charlemagne ; in 884 it was burnt by the Saracens, and was not restored until about seventy years later. From 1322 to 1366 the abbot held episcopal rank ; under the house of Anjou he bore the title of Abbas abbatum, and ranked as first baron of the realm. In 1504 the abbey was sacked by the troops of Gonzalo de Cordova. In 1866 it shared the fate of all other religious houses in Italy ; it is now inhabited by a few monks, and used as a seminary, having about 200 pupils. MONTECUCULI, RAIMONDO, COUNT OF (1608-1680), a prince of the empire and duke of Melfi, a famous Austrian general, was born at the castle of Montecuculi in Modena, in 1608. At the age of nineteen he began his career in a regiment of infantry under his uncle, Ernest, count of Montecuculi ; and during the Thirty Years War he found many opportunities of displaying his military genius in the imperial service. In 1631, having been severely wounded, he was made prisoner while retreating after the battle of Breitenfeld. Soon after his release he was promoted to the rank of major ; and he distinguished himself at the siege of Nordlingen in 1634, and at the storming of Kaiserslautern in 1635. As colonel, he took part in much hard fighting in Pomerania and in Bohemia; and in 1639 at Melnik, where he tried to prevent the Swedes from crossing the Elbe, he was taken prisoner a second time, being compelled on this occasion to spend more than two years in Stettin. The time was not lost, for he devoted it to a thorough study of military science. In 1642 he was again at work in the imperial army, and for eminent services in Silesia he was made a major-general of cavalry. After a brief visit to Italy, during which he entered the service of the duke of Modena, he returned to Germany, and became councillor