proportions are impressive. A central spire (19th century) 328 ft.
high, on the other hand, recalls the pure Gothic style of the
13th century. In the interior the choir chapels and the apse,
dating from the original erection of the building, and the fine
modern tomb of Mgr. F. A. P. Dupanloup, bishop from 1849 to
1878, are worthy of note. In the episcopal palace and the higher
seminary are several remarkable pictures and pieces of woodcarving;
and the latter building has a crypt of the 9th century,
belonging to the church of St Avit demolished in 1428. The
church of St Aignan consists of a transept and choir of the second
half of the 15th century; it contains in a gilded and carved
wooden shrine the remains of its patron saint, who occupied the
see of Orleans at the time of Attila’s invasion. The crypt dates
from the 9th to the beginning of the 11th century. The once
beautiful sculpture of the exterior has been altogether ruined;
the interior has been restored, but not in keeping with the
original style. A third church, St Euverte, dedicated to one of
the oldest bishops of Orleans (d. 391), is an early Gothic building
dating from the 13th, completely restored in the 15th century.
St Pierre-le-Puellier dates in its oldest portions from the 10th
or even the 9th century. To the west of the Rue Royale stand
the church of St Paul, whose façade and isolated tower both
bear fine features of Renaissance work, and Notre-Dame de
Recouvrance, rebuilt between 1517 and 1519 in the Renaissance
style and dedicated to the memory of the deliverance of the city.
The hôtel de ville, built under Francis I. and Henry II. and
restored in the 19th century, was formerly the residence of the
governors of Orleans, and was occupied by the kings and queens
of France from Francis II. to Henry IV. The front of the
building, with its different coloured bricks, its balconies supported
by caryatides attributed to Jean Goujon, its gable-ends
and its windows, recalls the Flemish style. There are several
niches with statues. Beneath, between the double flight of steps
leading up to the entrance, stands a bronze reproduction of the
statue of Joan of Arc, a masterpiece of the princess Mary of
Orleans, preserved in the Versailles museum. The richly-decorated
apartments of the first storey contain paintings, interesting
chimneys, and a bronze statuette (also by the princess Mary)
representing Joan of Arc mounted on a caparisoned horse and
clothed in the garb of the knights of the 15th century. The great
hall in which it is placed also possesses a chimney decorated with
three bas-reliefs of Domremy, Orleans and Reims, all associated
with her life. The historical museum at Orleans is one of the
most interesting of provincial collections, the numismatic,
medieval and Renaissance departments, and the collection of
ancient vases being of great value. The city also possesses a
separate picture gallery, a sculpture gallery and a natural
history museum, which are established in the former hôtel de
ville, a Renaissance building of the latter half of the 15th century.
The public library comprises among its manuscripts a number
dating from the 7th century, and obtained in most cases from
St Benoit on the Loire. The general hospital is incorporated with
the Hôtel Dieu, and forms one of the finest institutions of the
kind in France. The salle des fêtes, formerly the corn-market,
stands within a vast cloister formed by 15th-century arcades,
once belonging to the old cemetery. The salle des Thèses (1411)
of the university is the meeting-place of the Archaeological
Society of the city. Among the old private houses numerous at
Orleans, that of Agnes Sorel (15th and 16th century), which
contains a large collection of objects and works of art relating to
Joan of Arc, that of Francis I., of the first half of the 16th century,
that occupied by Joan of Arc during the siege of 1429, and that
known as the house of Diane de Poitiers (16th century), which
contains the historical museum, are of special interest. The
hôtel dela Vielle-Intendance, built in the 15th and 16th centuries,
served as residence of the intendants of Orleans in later times.
The “White Tower” is the last representative of the towers
rendered famous by the siege. A statue to the jurisconsult,
R. J. Pothier (1699–1772), one of the most illustrious of the
natives of Orleans, stands in front of the hôtel de ville. The
anniversary of the raising of the siege in 1429 by Joan of Arc is
celebrated every year with great pomp. After the English had
retired, the popular enthusiasm improvised a procession, which
marched with singing of hymns from the cathedral to St Paul,
and the ceremony is still repeated on the 8th of May by the clergy
and the civil and military functionaries. Orleans is the seat of
a bishopric, a prefect, a court of appeal, and a court of assizes
and headquarters of the V. army corps. There are tribunals of
first instance and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitration, a
chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France;
and training colleges for both sexes, a lycee for boys, a technical
school and an ecclesiastical seminary.
The more important industries of the town are the manufacture of tobacco (by the state), blankets, hairpins, vinegar, machinery, agricultural implements, hosiery, tools and ironware, and the preparation of preserved vegetables. Wine, wool, grain and live stock are the commercial staples of the city, round which there are important nurseries.
The site of Orleans must have been occupied very early in history by a trading post for commerce between northern and central and southern Gaul. At the time of the Roman conquest the town was known as Genabum, and was the starting-point of the great revolt against Julius Caesar in 52 B.C. In the 5th century it had taken the name Aurelianum from either Marcus Aurelius or Aurelian. It was vainly besieged in 451 by Attila, who was awed by the intercession of its bishop, St Aignan, and finally driven off by the patrician Aetius. Odoacer and his Saxons also failed to take it in 471, but in 498 it fell into the hands of Clovis, who in 511 held here the first ecclesiastical council assembled in France. The dignity which it then obtained, of being the capital of a separate kingdom, was lost by its union with that of Paris in 613. In the 10th century the town was given in fief to the counts of Paris, who in 987 ousted the Carolingian line from the throne of France. In 999 a great fire devastated the town. Orleans remained during all the medieval period one of the first cities of the French monarchy; several of the kings dwelt within its walls, or were consecrated in its cathedral; it had a royal mint, was the seat of councils, and obtained for its schools the name of university (1309), and for its soldiery an equal standing with those of Paris. Philip, fifth son of Philip VI., was the first of the dukes of Orleans. After the assassination of his successor Louis by Jean Sans-Peur, duke of Burgundy (1407), the people of Orleans sided resolutely with the Armagnacs, and in this way brought upon themselves the attacks of the Burgundians and the English. Joan of Arc, having entered the beleaguered city on the 20th of April 1429, effected the raising of the siege by means of an attack on the 7th of May on the Fort des Tourelles, in the course of which she was wounded. Early in the 16th century the town became a centre of Protestantism. After the Amboise conspiracy (1560) the states-general were convoked at Orleans, where Francis II. died. In 1562 it became the headquarters of Louis I. of Bourbon, prince of Conde, the Protestant commander-in-chief. In 1563 Francis, duke of Guise, laid siege to it, and had captured the téte-du-pont on the left bank of the Loire when he was assassinated. Orleans was surrendered to the king, who had its fortifications razed. It was held by the Huguenots from 1567 to 1568. The St Bartholomew massacre there in 1572 lasted a whole week. It was given as a lieu de súreté to the League under Henry III., but surrendered to Henry IV. in person in 1594. During the Revolution the city suffered from the sanguinary excesses of Bertrand Barère and Collot d’Herbois. It was occupied by the Prussians in 1815 and in 1870, the latter campaign being discussed below.
See E. Bimbenet, Histoire de la ville d’Orléans (Orleans, 1884–1888).
The Orleans Campaign of 1870
Orleans was the central point of the second portion of the Franco-German War (q.v.), the city and the line of the Loire being at first the rendezvous of the new armies improvised by the government of National Defence and afterwards the starting-point of the most important attempt made to relieve Paris. The campaign has thus two well-marked phases, the first ending with the first capture of Orleans on the 10th of October, and
