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 BOURGES BOURMONT 159 ing a town, the city of Paris gave him a mo- nopoly for 20 years; but he was again de- frauded by his associates, and died destitute. Catharine II. of Russia employed him in the construction of a lighthouse at St. Petersburg. Pere Joly published under the name of Bour- geois two Memoires sur let lanternes d reverbilre (Paris, 1764). BOURGES, a town of France, capital of the department of Cher, and formerly of the prov- ince of Berry, at the confluence of the Auron and Yevre, 60 m. S. S. E. of Orleans ; pop. in 1866, 30,119. Most of the old ramparts have been converted into promenades. The town has numerous interesting old houses and public Cathedral of St. fitlenne. buildings. The cathedral of St. Etieune is one of the most celebrated in France, and in the church of St. Pierre is the tomb of Jeanne la Bienheureuse, consort of Louis XII. The hotel de ville, originally the private mansion of Jacques Coeur, is an interesting building. The university of Bourges, founded in 1403, ac- quired great celebrity by the teachings of Al- ciati, Oujas, Calvin, and Theodore Beza. It has since been converted into a lyceum. Charles VII., from his temporary residence here, was called king of Bourges. Bourges is the see of an archbishop, and has excellent in- stitutions of education and art. It is renowned for its school of artillery and extensive military workshops, and is one of the great arsenals of France. It has an iron foundery, saltpetre works, and cloth manufactories. The chief 114 VOL. m. 11 trade is in sheep, wool, cloth, hats, cutlery, hosiery, porcelain, wine, and confectionery. The town is remarkable for its jewellers' and silversmiths' shops. It is the birthplace of Bourdaloue. It occupies the site of Avaricum, the ancient and flourishing capital of the Bi- turiges Cubi, which was captured by Caesar in 52 B. C., when almost all its defenders and inhabitants were slaughtered. It was subse- quently the metropolis of Aquitania, under the name of Bituriges. Destroyed by Chilperic I., it was restored by Charlemagne and enlarged by Philip Augustus. During the middle ages many councils were held here. The pragmatic sanction of Bourges, established under Charles VII. in 1438, declared the pope subordinate to a general council. BOURIGNON, Antoinette, a Flemish fanatic, born in Lille, Jan. 13, 1616, died at Franeker, Oct. 30, 1680. She was so ugly that at her birth it was proposed to kill her as a monster ; never- theless, being of a rich family, she received sev- eral offers of marriage, which she refused in or- der to devote herself to a religious life. In 1636 she fled from home in male disguise, to avoid marrying, and entered a convent at Cam- bray, where she pretended to inspiration and made a number of converts among the nuns. Attempting to escape with some of her disci- ples, she was expelled, and after the death of her father took charge of a hospital at Lille, whence she was also expelled. She then trav- elled extensively, and at Amsterdam abjured Roman Catholicism, and urged reforms in re- ligion and politics. Thence she fled to Holstein to avoid arrest, and took up her residence in the island of Nordstrand, where she gave um- brage to the authorities by the clandestine publication of her mystical writings. She af- terward wandered over various parts of En- rope, claiming to be the medium of a new reve- lation supplementary to that of the Scriptures, making proselytes, but often persecuted as a witch. Shortly before her death she was at the head of a hospital in East Friesland. La- coste, Peter Poiret, and Noels, the secretary of Jansen, were among her disciples. Her writings were published by Poiret (25 vols., Amsterdam, 1676-'84; new ed., 1717). BOURMONT, Lonls Angnste Victor de Ghaisne, count de, a French soldier, born at the chateau de Bourmont, Maine-et- Loire, Sept. 2, 1773, died there, pot. 27, 1846. At the beginning of the revolution he emigrated with his father, who was on the staff of the prince de Cond6, and after fighting for the Bourbons in La Ven- dee, he offered his services to Bonaparte. Im- plicated in the plot of the infernal machine, he was arrested, but escaped to Portugal, and Ju- not's influence reinstated him in the favor of Napoleon, who, after his distinguished military services in 1813-'14, especially at the defence of Nogent, made him general of division. Al- ternately serving Louis XVIII. and Napo- leon, he deserted the emperor on the eve of the battle of Ligny, and proceeded directly to