RENNELL, JAMES (1742–1830), British geographer, was born on the 3rd of December 1742, near Chudleigh in Devonshire. His father, an officer in the Artillery, was killed in action shortly after the birth of his son. He entered the navy as a-midshipman in 1756, and was present at the attack on Cherbourg (1758), and the disastrous action of St Cast in the same year. At the end of the Seven Years' War, seeing no chance of promotion, he entered' the service of the East India Company, and was appointed surveyor of the Company's dominions in Bengal (1764), with the rank of captain in the Bengal Engineers. To this work he devoted the next thirteen years. In 1766 he received a severe wound in an encounter with some Sannyasis, or religious fanatics, from which he never thoroughly recovered; and in 1777 he retired as major on a pension of £600 a year. The remaining fifty-three years of his life were spent in London, and were devoted to geographical research chiefly among the materials in the East India House. His most valuable works include the Bengal Atlas (1779), the first approximately correct map of India (1783), the Geographical System of Herodotus (1800), the Comparative Geography of Western Asia (1831), and important studies on the geography of northern Africa—in introductions to the Travels of Mungo Park and Hornernann—and the currents of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. He also contributed papers to Archaeologia on the site of Babylon, the island of St Paul's shipwreck, and the landing-place of Caesar in Britain. He was elected F.R.S. in 1781; and he received the Copley medal of the Royal Society in 1791, and the gold medal of the Royal Society of Literature in 1825. While in India he had married (1772) Jane Thackeray, a great-aunt of the novelist. He died on the 29th of March 1830, and was buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey.
See Sir Clements Markham Major James Rennell and the Rise of Modern English Geography (London, 1895).
RENNES, a town of western France, formerly the capital of
Brittany and now the chief town of the department of Ille-et-Vilaine. Pop. town, 62,024; commune, 75,640. Rennes is
situated at the meeting of the Ille and the Vilaine and at the
junction of several lines of railway connecting it with Paris
(232 m. E.N.E.), St Malo (51 m. N.N.W.), Brest (155 mx
W.N.W.). A few narrow winding streets with old houses are
left in the vicinity of the cathedral, but the town was for the
most part rebuilt on a regular plan after the seven days' fire of
1720. Dark granite was used as building material. The old
town or Ville-Haute, where the chief buildings are situated,
occupies a hill bounded on the south by the Vilaine, on the
west by the canalized Ille. The Vilaine flows in a deep hollow
bordered with quays and crossed by six bridges leading to the
new town or Ville-Basse on its left bank. The cathedral of
Rennes was rebuilt in a pseudo-Ionic style between 1787 and
1844 on the site of two churches dating originally from the
4th century. The west facade with its twin towers was finished
in 1700 and is in the Renaissance style. The interior is richly
decorated, a German altar-piece of the 15th century being
conspicuous for its carving and gilding. The archbishop's
palace occupies in part the site of the abbey dedicated to St
Melaine, whose church is the sole specimen of 11-13th century
architecture among the numerous churches in the town.
A colossal statue of the Virgin was placed above its dome in
1867. The Mordelaise Gate, by which the dukes and bishops
used to make their state entry into the town, is a curious example
of 15th-century architecture, and preserves a Latin inscription
of the 3rd century, a dedication by the Redones to the emperor
Gordianus. The finest building in Rennes is the old parliament
house (now the law-court), designed by Jacques Debrosse in
the 17th century, and decorated with statues of legal celebrities,
carving, and paintings by Jean Jouvenet and other well-known
artists. The town hall was erected in the first half of the 18th
century. It contains the library and the municipal archives,
which are of great importance for the history of Brittany. In
the Palais Universitaire, a modern building occupied by the
university, there are scientific collections and important galleries of painting and sculpture, the chief work being the “ Perseus delivering Andromeda ” of Paul Veronese. About 2 m. from
the town is the castle (16th century) of La Prévalaye, a hamlet
famous for its butter.
Rennes is the seat of an archbishop and a prefect, headquarters of the X. army corps and centre of an académie (educational division). Its university has faculties of law, science and letters, and a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy, and there are training colleges, a lycée and schools of agriculture, dairying, music, art, architecture and industry (École pratique). The town is also the seat of a court of appeal, of a court of assizes, of tribunals of first instance and commerce, and of a chamber of commerce, and has a branch of the Bank of France. Tanning, iron-founding, timber-sawing and the production of furniture and wooden goods, flour-milling, flax-spinning and the manufacture of tenting and other coarse fabrics, bleaching and various smaller industries are carried on. Trade is chiefly in butter made in the neighbourhood, and in grain, flour, leather, poultry, eggs and honey.
Rennes, the chief city of the Redones, was formerly (like some other places in Gaul) called Condate (hence Condat, Condé), probably from its position at the confluence of two streams. Under the Roman empire it was included in Lugdunensis Tertia, and became the centre of various Roman roads still recognizable in the vicinity. The name Urbs Rubra given to it on the oldest chronicles is explained by the bands of red brick in the foundations of its first circuit of walls. About the close of the 10th century Conan le Tort, count of Rennes, subdued the whole province, and his son and successor Geoffrey first took the title duke of Brittany. The dukes were crowned at Rennes, and before entering the city by the Mordelaise Gate they had to swear to preserve the privileges of the church, the nobles and the commons of Brittany. During the War of Succession the city more than once suffered siege, notably in 1356–57, when Bertrand du Guesclin saved it from capture by the English under Henry, first duke of Lancaster. The parlement of Brittany, founded in 1551, held its sessions at Rennes from 1561, they having been previously shared with Nantes. During the troubles of the League Philip Emmanuel, duke of Mercoeur, attempted to make himself independent at Rennes (1589), but his scheme was defeated by the loyalty of the parlement. Henry IV. entered the city in state on the 9th of May 1598. In 1675 an insurrection at Rennes, caused by the taxes imposed by Louis XIV. in spite of the advice of the parlement, was cruelly suppressed by Charles, duke of Chaulnes, governor of the province. The parlement was banished to Vannes till 1689, and the inhabitants crushed with forfeits and put to death in great numbers. The fire of 1720, which destroyed eight hundred houses, completed the ruin of the town. At the beginning of the Revolution Rennes was again the scene of bloodshed, caused by the discussion about doubling the third estate for the convocation of the states-general. In January 1789, Jean Victor Moreau (afterwards general), led the law-students in their demonstrations on behalf of the parlement against the royal government. During the Reign of Terror Rennes suffered less than Nantes, partly through the courage and uprightness of the mayor, Jean Leperdit. It was soon afterwards the centre of the operations of the Republican army against the Vendeans. The bishopric, founded in the 5th century, in 1859 became an archbishopric, a rank to which it had previously been raised from 1790 to 1802. In 1899 the revision of the sentence of Captain Alfred Dreyfus was carried out at Rennes.
See Orain, Rennes et ses environs (Reims, 1904).
RENNEVILLE, RENE AUGUSTE CONSTANTIN DE (1650–1723),
French writer, was born at Caen in 1650. In consequence
of his Protestant principles, he left France for Holland in 1699,
and on his return three years later he was denounced as a spy
and imprisoned in the Bastille, where he remained until 1713.
During his imprisonment he wrote on the margins of a copy
of Auteurs déguisés (Paris, 1690) poems which he called Otia
bastiliaca. These were rediscovered by Mr James Tregaski in
1906. Renneville was set at liberty through the intercession of
Queen Anne, and made his way to England, where he published
