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SAUMUR , a See also: town of western See also: France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Maine-et-See also: Loire, 28 m
.
S.E. of See also: Angers on the railway to See also: Tours
.
Pop
.
(1906) 14,747
.
Saumur is well situated on the See also: left See also: bank of the Loire, which here receives the Thouet, and on an See also: island in the See also: river
.
A large See also: metal See also: bridge connects the Tours-Angers railway with that of Montreuil-Bellay, by which Saumur communicates with See also: Poitiers and See also: Niort
.
Two See also: stone
See also: bridges (764 and 905 ft. long) unite the town on the island with the two See also: banks of the river
.
Several of the Saumur churches are interesting
.
St See also: Pierre, of the 12th century, has a 17th-century See also: facade and a See also: Renaissance See also: nave; and Notre-See also: Dame of Nantilly, often visited by See also: Louis XI., who rebuilt portions of it, has a remarkable though greatly damaged facade, a doorway and choir of the 12th century, and a nave of the 11th
.
Both these churches contain curious tapestries, and in the latter, fixed in the
See also: wall, is the copper See also: cross of Gilles de See also: Tyr, keeper of the See also: seals to St Louis
.
St See also: Jean is a small See also: building in the purest See also: Gothic See also: style of See also: Anjou
.
St Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, in the Gothic style of the 12th century, has a See also: fine See also: modern See also: spire
.
Notre-Dame of Ardilliers, of the 16th century, was enlarged in the following century by See also: Richelieu and Madame de See also: Montespan
.
The hotel de See also: vine, containing a mnseum and library, is an elegant 16th century edifice; and the whole town is See also: rich in examples of the domestic architecture of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries
.
The See also: house known as the Maison de la Reine Cecile (15th century) was built by Rene, duke of Anjou
.
The See also: castle, built between the 11th century and the 13th, and remodelled in the 16th, is used as an See also: arsenal and powder See also: magazine
.
There is also an interesting See also: alms-house, with its See also: chambers in See also: part dug out in the See also: rock
.
The famous cavalry school of Saumur was founded in 1768 and is used for the See also: special training of See also: young See also: officers appointed to cavalry regiments on leaving the cadet school of St Cyr
.
Other public institutions are the sub-prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a branch of the Bank of France, colleges for both sexes and a horticultural garden, with a school of vines
.
Saumur prepares and carries on a large See also: trade in the sparkling See also: white wines grown in • the neighbourhood, as well as in
See also: brandy, grain, See also: flax and See also: hemp; and it manufactures enamels and rosaries and carries on liqueur-distilling
.
The Saumur caves along the Loire and on both sides of the valley of the Thouet must have been occupied at a very remote See also: period
.
The Tour du Tronc (9th century), the old stronghold of Saumur, served as a place of See also: refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding See also: district during See also: foreign invasions (whence perhaps the name Saumur, from Salons Murus) and became the nucleus of a monastery built by monks from St Florent le Vieil
.
On the same site See also: rose the castle of Saumur two See also: hundred years later
.
The town See also: fell into the hands of Foulques Nerra, duke of Anjou, in 1025, and passed in the 13th century into the possession of the See also: kings of France
.
The See also: English failed to capture it during the Hundred Years' War
.
After the See also: Reformation the town became the metropolis of Protestantism in France and the seat of a theological seminary
.
The school of Saumur, as opposed to that of See also: Sedan, represented the more liberal See also: side of French Protestantism (See also: Cameron, See also: Amyraut, &c.)
.
In 1623 the fortifications were dismantled; and the revocation of the edict of See also: Nantes reduced the population by more than one See also: half
.
In See also: June 1793, the town was occupied by the Vendeans, against whom it soon afterwards became a See also: base of operations for the republican army
.
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