BRESSUIRE  , a

town of western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Deux-Sevres, 48 m . N. of Niort by rail . Pop . (1906) 4561 . The town is situated on an eminence overlooking the Dolo, a tributary of the Argenton . It is the centre of a cattle-rearing and agricultural region, and has important markets; the manufacture of wooden type and woollen goods is carried on . Bressuire has two buildings of interest: the church of Notre-Dame, which, dating chiefly from the 12th and 15th centuries, has an imposing tower of the Renaissance period; and the castle, built by the lords of Beaumont, vassals of the viscount of Thouars . The latter is now in ruins, and a portion of the site is occupied by a modern chateau, but an inner and outer line of fortifications are still to be seen . The whole forms the finest assemblage of feudal ruins in Poitou . Bressuire is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance . Among the disasters suffered at various times by the town, its capture from the English and subsequent pillage by French troops under du Guesclin in 1370 is the most memorable .