Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/245

Rh y i E V I E 223 the Revolution ; and it has only lately been restored, and the houses built against it cleared away. The museum in the town-hall is very rich in antiquities. The cathedral of St Maurice, exhibiting the finest Gothic architecture in Dauphine, was begun at the end of the 12th century in the Transitional Burgundian style, on the ruins of a church which had been finished in 1107, and it was consecrated by Pope Innocent IV. in 1251. There is neither apse nor transept, and the building (315 feet long, 118 wide, and 89 high) is a singular mixture of the Romanesque and Gothic styles. The best part is the facade, finished in 1533, which rises majestically from a terrace overhanging the Rhone. Parts of the church of St Andre-le-Bas, which was used as a chapel by the dukes of Burgundy, are as old as the 9th century, and most of it was built in 1152. The church of St Peter, at present (1888) undergoing re storation, is one of the oldest in France, dating from the 6th century ; the porch is in the most primitive Roman esque style ; and the side walls, decorated with two rows of arches resting on marble columns (9th century), are unique in France. The steeple belongs to the 12th cen tury, and the vaults w r ere rebuilt by Soufflot in the 18th century. Among the many tombs is that of St Mamert. In the square fronting the town-hall is a statue of Ponsard the dramatist, who w r as born at Vienne. The Gere sup plies the motive power to numerous factories. About one million yards of cloth are annually produced, and from 8000 to 9000 hides are dressed. The other industrial establishments include a paper-mill, an iron and copper foundry (400 men), iron-works, foundries, lapidaries workshops, glass-works, brick-works, and calcining and re fining furnaces in connexion with the lead and zinc mines in the neighbourhood. Grain is an important article of commerce. A suspension bridge connects Vienne with the right bank of the Rhone, where the village of St Colombe occupies part of the site of the ancient town. Near St Romain-en-Gal is a tower built by Philip of Valois to defend the right, or French, bank, as distinguished from the left, which belonged to the empire. The population in 1881 was 22,740 (commune 26,060), and in 1886 23,011 (commune 25,480). Vienne was originally the capital of the Allobroges, and was embellished and fortified by Julius Qesar, who made it a colony. Tiberius granted the citizens the jus Italicum, The ramparts, pierced by five gates, enclosed a lower, middle, and upper town. Vienne was the residence of a praetor, had a senate, consuls, and a garrison of five legions, and was the seat of a celebrated school. A bridge of five arches connected it with the new town on the right bank. Postumus (see vol. xx. p. 776) was proclaimed C;esar here in 259, and Vienne became the capital of a provincial empire, which under himself and his successors, Victorinus and Tetricus, lasted fourteen years. Christianity was introduced by St Crescens in the 2d century, and St Lupiciu is named as the first archbishop. The archbishops of Vienne all through the Middle Ages disputed the title of primate of Gaul with those of Lyons. Vienne was conquered by the Burgundians in 438, and sacked by the Lombards in 558 and by the Saracens in 737. It was one of the residences of Boso, king of Burgundy and Provence (879), who died and was buried here. After the fall of the second kingdom of Burgundy, Vienne became the chef-lieu of a county, for which the nobility and clergy disputed, and which was finally seized by the counts of Albon. In 1349 Humbert II. ceded Vienne with all Dauphine to France. The town was sacked in 1502 by Baron des Adrets, was clnimed by both Roman Catholics and Protestants, but declared for the League in 1590, and was compelled to surrender to the duke of Montmorency, who destroyed the citadel and ram parts. The archbishopric was suppressed in 1790. Vienne was the birthplace of St Julian (3d century); and pope Calixtus II. (Guy of Burgundy ; ob. 1124) was one of its archbishops. VIEXXE, HAUTE-, a department of France, formed in 1790 out of Limousin (three-fifths), La Marche (one-fourth), Poitou, and Berry, and formerly known as Haut-Limousin, lies between 45 26 and 46 23 X. lat. and 38 and 1 54 E. long., and is bounded by the Indre on the N., Creuse on the E., Correze on the S.E., Dordogne on the S.W., Charente on the W., and Vienne on the X.W. Haute- Vienne belongs to the central plateau of France, and drains partly to the Loire and partly to the Garonne. The highest point (2549 feet) is in the extreme south-east, and belongs to the treeless but well-watered plateau of Mille- vaches, formed of granite, gneiss, and mica. To the north west of the Millevaches are the Ambazac (2300 feet) and Blond (1690 feet) Hills, both separating the valley of the Vienne from that of the Gartempe, a tributary of the Creuse. The Vienne traverses the department from east to west, passing Eymoutiers, St Leonard, Limoges, and St Junien, and receiving on the right the Maude and the Taurion. The Isle, which flows into the Dordogne, with its tributaries the Auvezere and the Dronne, and the Tar- doire and the Bandiat, tributaries of the Charente, all rise in the south of the department. The altitude and inland position of Haute- Vienne, its geological character, and the northern exposure of its valleys make the winters long and severe ; but the climate is milder in the west and north-west. The annual rainfall at Limoges is 36 inches. Of the total area of 1,360,000 acres 439,215 are cultivated, 4263 are occupied by vineyards, 75,333 by chestnut trees, and 163,135 by dry underwood. The crops in 1884 were wheat 1,242,271 bushels, meslin 34,298, rye 2,482,557, barley 13,300, oats 318,026, buckwheat 1,529,368, maize 65,579, potatoes 6,710,723, beetroot 189,000 tons, colza seed 1845 tons, hemp seed 1921, hemp 1200, linseed 93, flax 46, hay 387,192, clover 31,527, lucerne 3153, wine 111,430 gallons (average for preceding ten years 141,020 gallons). The live stock included 8371 horses of a shapely and powerful breed, 684 mules, 4975 asses, 146,131 cattle, 507,443 sheep of native and 43,593 of improved breed, 104,263 pigs, and 9642 goats. There were 36,601 beehives (104^ tons of honey and 34^ tons of wax). The department is on the whole unproductive. The chestnut is here characteristic, as the apple in Normandy, and with the potato and turnip it forms the chief food of the people. The brooks are fringed by fine meadows, and the hills are covered with heaths or forests of beech, hornbeam, oak, birch, and chestnut. The mineral wealth consists of iron, copper, tin, wolfram, antimony, serpentine, fine-grained granite, gneiss, garnets, emeralds, and a kind of por phyry, which takes a fine polish. There are inexhaustible supplies of china clay, in which an export trade is carried on with Russia and America. 5800 workmen are employed in porcelain manufac tories, 650 in paper and pasteboard mills (annual product, 100,000), 560 in wool and cotton spinning mills and manufactories of flannel, druggets, woollen cloaks, and carpets, 600 in shoe-making (annual product, 100,000), 600 in manufactories of sabots, 340 in glove manufactories, 370 in tan -yards, 325 in leather-dressing works, 130 in coach-building and wheelwrights shops, 125 in cabinet work shops, 325 in printing works, and 100 in distilleries (annual pro duct, 480,000). In 1878 1153 tons of iron were produced, and there are forges, foundries, copper-works, and manufactories of agricultural and other implements. Porcelain, china clay, woven goods, boots and shoes, sabots, gloves, leather, cattle, horses, wood, chestnuts, hemp, and paper are exported ; corn, wine, coal, raw materials, and various manufactured articles are imported. There are in Haute-Vienne 234 miles of railway, and 234 of national and 3191 of other roads. This department, with that of Correze, forms the diocese of Limoges ; it belongs to the district of the Limoges court of appeal and army corps, has its academy at Poitiers, and is divided for purposes of administration into 4 arrondissements (Limoges, population of town 63,707 in 1886; Bellac, 4015; Rochechouart, 1829 ; and St Yrieix, 3556), 27 cantons, and 203 communes. The population in 1881 was 349,332 and in 1886 363,182, an increase of 117,982 since 1801. Limoges is the chef- lieu. St Yrieix has an early Gothic church of the 12th century, kaolin mines, porcelain manufactories, and tan-yards. St Junien (5454) has an interesting bridge and houses of the 13th century, and numerous manufactories of gloves, paper, porcelain, sabots, and woven goods. St Leonard (3427), the birthplace of Gay-Lussac, possesses a remarkable church of the llth and 12th centuries, tan- yards, paper-mills, and copper-works. At Chains (1675) Richard Cceur de Lion died. VIERZON, a town of France, in the department of Cher, 124 miles by rail to the south of Paris. The Cher and the Yevre unite at the foot of the hill on which lie the communes of Vierzon-Ville (population 10,514 in 1886) and Vierzon-Village (6995) ; Vierzon-Bourgneuf (1498) is on the left bank of the Cher. The three com munes together have a population of 19,007. Vierzon has several large manufactories for the production of agri-