Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Angoulême
elevated plateau, 221 feet above the river, at the foot of which, in the suburb of Houmeau, there is a station of the Paris and Bordeaux railway, 66 miles north-east of the latter town. The situation of Angouleme is very delight ful, and the city itself is in general well built, although in the old quarter many of the streets are narrow and irregu lar. The chief public buildings are the cathedral of St Peter, rebuilt in 1120, but founded at a much earlier period ; the remains of the old castle in the centre of the town, the birth-place of the celebrated Margaret of Valois, sister of Francis I. ; the courthouse, and the town-hall. The town is the seat of a bishop, and has a court of primary jurisdiction, a lyceum, two normal, and several ordinary schools, an hospital, a theatre, and a public library. Angou leme is an important manufacturing city ; its paper-mills produce large quantities of paper that is highly esteemed throughout France ; and there are also distilleries, pot teries, a cannon foundry, a powder mill, linen and serge factories, as well as a considerable trade in grain, fruit, and salt. Angouleme, the ancient Iculisma, was taken by Clovis from the Visigoths in 507 ; it was repeatedly plun dered by the Normans in the 9th century, and was long subject to the counts of Angouleme, and also for a con siderable period to the kings of England; but in 1303 Philip the Fair added it to the royal domain of France. In 1360 it was again surrendered to the English, who were, however, finally expelled in 1369. During the war of the Huguenots it was twice taken by the Protestants, in 1562
and 1568. Population (1872), 25,928.