BAZAS  , a

town of south-western France, in the department of Gironde, 382 m . S.S.E. of Bordeaux by rail . Pop . (1906) town, 2505; commune, 4684 . The town, which was the seat of a bishop from at least the beginning of the 6th century till 1790, has a Gothic church (formerly the cathedral) dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries . There are remains of ramparts (15th and 16th centuries) and several old houses of the 16th century . The vineyards of the vicinity produce white wine . The town is capital of an arrondissement, and carries on tanning, &c., and trade in the well-known Bazadais cattle . Bazas (Cossio) was capital of the ancient > ribe of the Vasates, and under the Romans one of the twelve cities of Novempopulana . In later times it was capital of the district of Bazadais . It was the scene of much bloodshed during the religious wars of the 16th century .