RETHEL  , a

town of N . France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Ardennes, on the right bank of the Aisne and the Ardennes canal, 31 m . S.W. of Mezieres by rail . Pop . (1906) 5254 . The church of St Nicholas was formed by the amalgamation of two churches, the oldest of which dates from the 13th century . Rethel has a subprefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a board of trade arbitration, a chamber of arts and manufactures and a school of agriculture, and carries on wool-spinning, the weaving of light woollen fabrics, and the manufacture of millboard and farm implements . Rethel (Castrum Retectum), of Roman origin, was from the end of the loth century the seat of a countship which passed successively to the families of Flanders, Burgundy, Cleves, Foix and Gonzaga . In 1581 it was erected into a duchy in favour of the latter . In 1663 it was sold by Charles VI. de Gonzaga to Mazarin, whose family held it till the Revolution .