MONTARGIS  , a

town of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Loiret, 47 M . E.N.E. of Orleans by rail . Pop . (1906), 11,038 . The town is traversed by the Vernisson, by numerous arms of the Loing, and by the Briare canal, which unites with the canal of Orleans a little below it . It has a church (Ste Madeleine), dating in part from the 12th century and including a fine choir of Renaissance architecture, and still preserves portions of its once magnificent castle (12th to 15th centuries), which, previous to the erection of Fontainebleau, was a favourite residence of the royal family . A hand-some modern building contains the town-hall, public library, and museum; in the courtyard is a bronze group, " The Dog of Montargis "; the town has a statue of Mirabeau, born in the neighbourhood . Montargis is the seat of a sub-prefecture, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce and colleges for both sexes . It manufactures paper, gold chains, rubber, tar, asphalt, chemical manures, woodwork and leather . The town is an agricultural market, and its port has trade in coal, timber, sheep and farm produce . Montargis was formerly the capital of the Gatinais . Having passed in 1188 from the Courtenay family to Philip Augustus, it long formed part of the royal domain .

In 1528

Francis I. gave it as dowry to Renee d'Este, daughter of Louis XII., the famous Huguenot princess; from her it passed to her daughter Anne, and through her to the dukes of Guise; it was repurchased for the Crown in 1612 . From 1626 till the Revolution the territory was the property of the house of Orleans . Montargis was several times taken or attacked by the English in the 15th century, and is particularly noted for its successful defence in 1427 . Both Charles VII. and Charles VIII. held court in the town; it was the latter who set the famous Dog of Montargis to fight a duel with his master's murderer whom he had tracked and captured .