Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/916

Rh 850 ORLEANS see of Orleans at the time of Attila s invasion. The crypt dates from the reign of Robert the Pious (the be ginning of the llth century). The once beautiful sculp ture of the exterior has been altogether ruined ; the interior has been restored, but not in keeping with the original style. A third church, St Euverte, consecrated to one of the oldest bishops of Orleans (ob. 391), is an early Gothic building dating from the 12th century. To the west of Rue Royale stand the church of St Paul, whose facade and isolated tower both bear fine features of Renaissance work, and Notre Dame de Recouvrance, re built between 1517 and 1519 in the Renaissance style and dedicated to the memory of the deliverance of the city. The Hotel de Ville, built in 1530, was formerly the resi dence of the governors of Orleans, and was occupied by the kings and queens of France from Francis II. to Henry IV. The front of the building, with its different coloured bricks, its balconies supported by caryatides attributed to Jean Goujon, its gable-ends, and its windows, recalls the Flemish style. There are several niches with statues. Beneath, between the double flight of steps leading up to the entrance, stands a bronze reproduction of the statue of Joan of Arc, a masterpiece of the princess Mary of Orleans, which is preserved in the Versailles museum. The richly -decorated apart ments of the first story contain paintings, inter esting chimneys, and a bronze statuette (also by the princess Mary) re presenting Joan of Arc mounted on a caparisoned horse and clothed in the garb of the knights of the 15th century. The great hall in which it is placed also possesses a copy of Ingres s picture, &quot;Joan of Arc at the Consecration of Charles VII., &quot;and a plaster model of the Bigot tower at Rouen, where the heroine was imprisoned ; the chimney is decorated with three bas-reliefs of Domremy, Orleans, and Rheims, all asso ciated with her life. The historical museum at Orleans is one of the most interesting of provincial collections ; a special section consists of all the objects tapestries, banners, pictures, statuettes relating to Joan, as well as of arms or bullets found on the battle-field of Patay ; and the numismatic, mediaeval, and Renaissance departments, and the collection of ancient vases, are all of great value. The city also possesses a separate picture gallery, a sculp ture gallery, a natural history museum, and four learned societies. The public library (50,000 volumes) comprises among its manuscripts a number dating from the 7th cen tury, and obtained in most cases from St Benoit on the Loire. At Orleans the general hospital has incorporated the almshouse for the aged, the orphan asylum, the luna tic asylum, the Hotel Uieu, the maternity hospital, and the preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy. It is one of the finest institutions in France. In the corn-ex change is embodied a vast cloister formed by 16th-century arcades, once belonging to the old cemetery. Among the private houses those of Agnes Sorel and Francis I., and that occupied by Joan of Arc during the siege of 1429, are of historical interest. The &quot;White Tower&quot; is the last representative of the towers rendered famous by that siege. Near the Quai du Chatelet a stretch of wall, dat ing at least from the 9th century, was discovered some years ago ; it is supposed to be a portion of the chdtelet or tete du pont of the Roman period. A statue has been erected in front of the town-house to the jurisconsult Pothier, one of the most illustrious of the natives of Orleans. The anniversary of Joan of Arc is celebrated every year with great pomp. After the English had raised the siege the popular enthusiasm improvised a pro cession, which marched with singing of hymns to the cathedral of St Paul ; and the ceremony is still repeated on the first days of May by the clergy and the civil and military functionaries. The population of Orleans is 57,264. Whether Genabum is to be identified with Orleans or with Gien is matter of dispute ; but Aurelianum appears as a flourishing town in the 5th century. St Aignan (as already mentioned) was bishop when, in 451, it was vainly besieged by Attila. Clovis got possession of the city in 498, and in 511 held there the first council assembled in Plaii of Orleans. France. Though the dignity which it then obtained, of being the capital of a separate kingdom, was lost by its union with that of Paris in 613, Orleans remained during all the mediaeval period one of the first cities of the French monarchy ; several of the kings dwelt within its walls, or were consecrated in its cathedral ; it had a royal mint, Avas the seat of councils, and obtained for its schools the name of university (1305), and for its soldiery an equal standing with those of Paris. It became the apanage of one of the first princes of the blood under Philip of Valois, who made it a duchy for his second son, and under Charles VI., who bestowed the duchy on his brother Louis. After the assassination of this last prince by Jean sans Peur, duke of Burgundy (1407), the people of Orleans sided resolutely with the Armagnacs, and in this way brought upon themselves the attacks of the Burgundians and the English. Joan of Arc, having entered the beleaguered city on 29th April 1429, effected the raising of the siege by 7th May by means of an attack on the Fort des Tour- nelles, in the course of which she was wounded. After the Amboise conspiracy (1560) the States-General were con voked at Orleans, where Francis II. died. In 1562 it became the headquarters of Conde, the Protestant com-