MONMOUTH (Welsh Mynwy)  , a municipal and contributory parliamentary borough, and the county town of Monmouthshire, England, 18 m . S. of Hereford, on the Great Western railway . Pop . (1901), 5095 . It is picturesquely situated at the confluence of the Wye and the Monnow, between the two rivers, and is almost surrounded by hills . Portions of the town walls remain, and there is a picturesque old gateway on the Monnow bridge; but there are only insignificant ruins of the castle, which was originally a Saxon fortress, and was twice taken by the Parliamentary forces during the Civil War . Besides the churches—that of St Mary, completed in 1882 on an ancient site, and the chapel of St Thomas, a late Norman structure—the principal buildings are the town-hall, the Rolls Hall and the free grammar-school, which was founded in 1614, and educates about 150 boys on the usual lines of a public school . A statue of Henry V., who was born in its castle, stands in the market-place . With Newport and Usk, Monmouth forms the Monmouth parliamentary district of boroughs, returning one member . Monmouth (Monemuta) from the coincidence of position is supposed to be the Blaestium of Antoninus . Situated between the Severn and the Wye its strategic importance was early recognized by the Saxons, who fortified it against the Britons, while in later years it played a leading part in Welsh border warfare . At the time of the Domesday Survey the castle was in the custody of William Fitz Baderon .

Henry III. granted it, together with the lordship of the borough, to his son

Edmund Crouchback, through whose descendants both borough and castle passed into the duchy of Lancaster . Since the 18th century the dukes of Beaufort have been lords of the borough . Monmouth was a borough by prescription as early as 1256, and was governed by a mayor in 1461, but was not incorporated until 1550 under the title of "Mayor, Bailiffs and Commonalty." This charter was confirmed in 1558, 16o6 and 1666, a recorder and town clerk being added to the constitution . In accordance with the act of 1535-1536 Monmouth as county town obtained the right of representation in parliament; the earliest returns existing are for 1553, since which date one member has been returned regularly . Wednesday and Saturday markets were confirmed to Monmouth in 1550, with the further proviso that no others were to be held within five miles of the borough . Friday is now the weekly market-day . At the same time an annual three-days' fair, which still exists, was granted on Whit-Tuesday and successive days . During the 16th and 17th centuries the manufacture of Monmouth caps was an important industry, fostered by legislation and mentioned by Fuller in his Worthies of England . See Charles Heath, The Town of Monmouth (Monmouth, 1804) . MONMOUTH, a city and the county=seat of Warren county' Illinois, in the W. part of the state, about 40 M . S. of Rock Island . Pop .

(1890), 5936; (1900), 7460, (594

foreign-born); (1910), 9128 . It is served by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the Iowa Central railways, and by electric railways to Gales-burg and to Rock Island . The city is the seat of Monmouth College (1856; United Presbyterian), which in 1908 had 28 instructors and 454 students . Among the public buildings and institutions are the county court-house, the federal building, a hospital and the Warren county library (1836) . Monmouth is situated in a good farming region, and cattle, swine and ponies are raised in the vicinity . The city has various manufactures . Monmouth was settled about 1824, first incorporated as a village in 1836, chartered as a city in 1852 and in 1882 reorganized under a general state law .