1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/St Maixent

ST MAIXENT, a town of western France, in the department of Deux-Sevres, on the Sévre Niortaise, 15 m. N.E. of Niort by rail. Pop. (1906), 4102. The town has a fine abbey church built from the 12th to the 15th century, but in great part destroyed by the Protestants in the 16th century and rebuilt from 1670 to 1682 in the flamboyant Gothic style. The chief parts anterior to this date are the nave, which is Romanesque, and a lofty 15th-century tower over the west front. The crypt contains the tomb of Saint Maxentius, second abbot of the monastery, which was founded about 460. The town has a communal college, a chamber of arts and manufactures, and an infantry school for non-commissioned officers preparing for the rank of sub-lieutenant. It was the birthplace of Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, defender of Belfort in 1870–1871, and has a statue to him. The industries include dyeing and the manufacture of hosiery, mustard and plaster. The prosperity of the town was at its height after the promulgation of the 'edict of Nantes, when it numbered 12,000 inhabitants.