DECIZE  , a

town of central France, in the department of Nievre, on an island in the Loire, 24 M . S.E. of Nevers by the Paris-Lyon railway . Pop . (1906) 3813 . The most important,of its buildings is the church of Saint Are, which dates in part from the 11th and 12th centuries; there are also ruins of.a castle of the counts of Nevers . The town has a statue of Guy Coquille, the lawyer and historian, who was born there in 1523 . Decize is situated at the starting-point of the Nivernais canal . The coal mine of La Machine, which belongs to the Schneider Company of Le Creusot, lies four miles to the north . The industries of Decize and its suburbs on both banks of the Loire include the working of gypsum913 and lime, and the manufacture of ceramic products and glass . Trade is in horses from the Morvan, cattle, coal, iron, wood and stone . Under the name of Decetia the place is mentioned by Julius Caesar as a stronghold of the Aedui, and in 52 B.C. was the scene of a meeting of the senate held by him to settle the leadership of the tribe and to reply to his demand for aid against Vercingetorix . In later times it belonged to the counts of Nevers, from whom it obtained a charter of franchise in 1226 .