AUXONNE  , a

town of eastern France, in the department of Cote d'Or, 19 m . E.S.E. of Dijon on the Paris-Lyon rail-way to Belfort . Pop . (1906) 2766 (town); 6307 (commune) . Auxonne is a quiet town situated in a wide plain on the left bank of the Saone . It preserves remains of ramparts, a stronghold of the 16th century flanked by cylindrical towers, and a sculptured gateway of the 15th century . Vauban restored these works in the latter half of the 17th century, and built the arsenal now used as a market . The church of Notre-Dame dates from the 14th century . Of the two towers surmounting its triple porch only that to the south is finished . A lofty spire rises above a third tower over the crossing . The hotel de ville (15th century) and some houses of the Renaissance period are also of architectural interest . A statue of Napoleon I. as a sub-lieutenant commemorates his sojourns in the town from 1788 to 1791 .

Auxonne has a tribunal of

commerce and a communal college . Its industries are unimportant, but it has a large trade in the vegetables produced by the numerous market gardens in the vicinity . Auxonne, the name of which is derived from its position on the Saone (ad Swum), was in the middle ages chief place of a countship, which in the first half of the 13th century passed to the dukes of Burgundy . The town received a charter in 1229 and derived some importance from the mint which the dukes of Burgundy founded in it . It was invested by the allies in 1814, and surrendered to an Austrian force in the following year .