CHATEAUROUX  , a

town of central France, capital of the department of Indre, situated in a plain on the left bank of the Indre, 88 m.S. of Orleans on the main line of the Orleans railway . Pop . (1906) 21,048 . The old town, close to the river, forms a nucleus round which a newer and more extensive quarter, bordered by boulevards, has grown up; the suburbs of St Christophe and Deols (q.v.) lie on the right bank of the Indre . The principal buildings of Chateauroux are the handsome modern church of St Andre, in the Gothic style, and the Chateau Raoul, of the 14th and 15th centuries; the latter now forms part of the prefecture . The hotel de ville contains a library and a museum which possesses a collection of paintings of the Flemish school and some interesting souvenirs of Napoleon I . A statue of General Henri Bertrand (1773–1844) stands in one of the principal squares . Chateauroux is the seat of a prefect and of a court of assizes . It' has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a branch of the Bank of France, a chamber of commerce, a lycee, a college for girls and training colleges . The manufacture of coarse woollens for military clothing and other purposes, and a state tobacco-factory, occupy large numbers of. the inhabitants . Wool-spinning, iron-founding, brewing, tanning, and the manufacture of agricultural implements are also carried on . Trade is in wool, iron, grain, sheep, lithographic stone and leather .

The

castle from which Chateauroux takes its name was founded about the middle of the loth century by Raoul, prince of Deols, and during the middle ages was the seat of a seigniory, which was raised to the rank of countship in 1497, and in 1616, when it was held by Henry II., prince of Conde, to that of duchy . In 1736 it returned to the crown, and was given by Louis XV. in 1744 to his mistress, Marie Anne de Mailly-Nesle, duchess of Chateauroux . CHATEAU-THIERRY, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Aisne, 59 M . E.N.E. of Paris on the Eastern railway to Nancy . Pop . (1906) 6872 . Chateau-Thierry is built on rising ground on the right bank of the Marne, over which a fine stone bridge leads to the suburb of Marne . On the quay stands a marble statue erected to the memory of La Fontaine, who was born in the town in 1621; his house is still preserved in the street that bears his name . On the top of a hill are the ruins of a castle, which is said to have been built by Charles Martel for the Frankish king, Thierry IV.,and is plainly the origin of the name of the town . The chief relic is a gateway flanked by massive round towers, known as the Porte Saint-Pierre . A belfry of the 15th century and the church of St Crepin of the same period are of some interest . The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and has a tribunal of first instance and a communal college .

The distinctive

industry is the manufacture of mathematical and musical instruments . There is trade in the white wine of the neighbourhood, and in sheep, cattle and agricultural products . Gypsum, millstone and paving-stone are quarried in the vicinity . Chateau-Thierry was formerly the capital of the district of Brie Pouilleuse, and received the title of duchy from Charles IX. in 1566 . It was captured by the English in 1421, by Charles V. in 1544, and sacked by the Spanish in 1591 .. During the wars of the Fronde it was pillaged in 1652; and in the campaign of 1814 it suffered severely . On the 12th of February of the latter year the Russo-Prussian forces were beaten by Napoleon in the neighbourhood .