JOIGNY  , a

town of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Yonne, 18 m . N.N.W. of Auxerre by the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranee railway . Pop . (1906), 4888 . It is situated on the flank of the hill known as the Cote St Jacques on the right bank of the Yonne . Its streets are steep and narrow, and old houses with carved wooden facades are numerous . The church of St Jean (,6th century), which once stood within the enceinte of the old castle, contains a representation (15th century) of the Holy Sepulchre in white marble . Other interesting buildings are the church of St Andre (12th, 16th and 17th centuries), of which the best feature is the Renaissance portal with its fine bas-reliefs; and the church of St Thibault (16th century), in which the stone crown suspended from the choir vaulting is chiefly noticeable . The Porte du Bois, a gateway with two massive flanking towers, is a relic of the loth century castle; there is also a castle of the 16th and 17th centuries, in part demolished . The hotel de ville (18th century) shelters the library; the law-court contains the sepulchral chapel of the Ferrands (16th century) . The town is the seat of a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, and a communal college for boys . It is industrially unimportant, but the wine of the Cote St Jacques is much esteemed .

- Joigny (Joviniacum) was probably of

Roman origin . In the loth century it became the seat of a countship dependent on that of Champagne, which after passing through several hands came in the 18th century into the possession of the family of Villeroi . A fragment of a ladder preserved in the church of St Andre commemorates the successful resistance offered by the town to the English in 1429 .