is the handsome early Renaissance pilgrimage church of the Madonno della Quercia; the façade is adorned with three lunettes by Andrea della Robbia. The fine wooden roof of the interior is by Antonio da Sangallo the younger (1519–25). The adjoining monastery has a pleasing cloistered court. A mile and a quarter farther is the town of Bagnaia, with the Villa Lante, still belonging to the family of that name, with fine fountains and beautiful trees, ascribed to Vignola. The inhabitants of Viterbo are chiefly dependent on agriculture; hemp is a specialty of the district, and tobacco and various grains are largely grown, as well as the olive and the vine. There are in the vicinity numerous mineral springs; the warm sulphur spring of Bollicame, about 2 m. off, is alluded to by Dante (Inf.. xiv. 79).
Viterbo is by some identified with Surrina nova, which is only mentioned in inscriptions, while some place it at the sulphur springs, called the Bollicame, to the west of Viterbo on the line of the Via Cassia, where Roman remains exist. This might well be the site of the Roman town. Here the Via Cassia was joined by the Via Ciminia, passing east of the Lacus Ciminius, while a road branched off to Ferentum. See E. Bormann in Corp. Inscr. Lat. xi. (Berlin, 1888), p. 454; H. Nissen, Italische Landeskunde (Berlin, 1902), ii. 343. The forgeries of the Dominican Annio da Viterbo (d. 1502) were directed to prove that Viterbo was the site of the Fanum Voltumnae (see, however, Montefiascone). There are no archaeological remains in Viterbo itself, except a few courses of masonry under the bridge which connects the cathedral with the city, near the cathedral, possibly the pier of an older bridge. But the site is not unreasonably considered to be ancient, and the name to be derived from Vetus urbs; tombs, too, have been found in the neighbourhood, and it is not an unlikely assumption that here, as elsewhere, the medieval town occupies the Etruscan site. It was fortified by the Lombard king Desiderius (the decree ascribed to him, now in the municipal palace, has long been recognized as a forgery of Annio). It is the centre of the territory of the “patrimony of Peter,” which the countess Matilda of Tuscany gave to the papal see in the 12th century; in the 13th century it became a favourite papal residence. Popes Urban IV. (1261), Gregory X. (1271), John XXI. (1276), Nicholas III. (1277) and Martin IV. (1281) were elected here, and it was at Viterbo that Alexander IV. (1261), Clement IV. (1268), Adrian V. (1276) and John XXI. (1277) died. (T. As.)
VITET, LUDOVIC (1802-1873), French dramatist and politician, was born in Paris on the 18th of October 1802. He was educated at the École Normale. His politics were liberal, and he was a member of the society “Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.” On the triumph of liberal principles in 1830 Guizot created an office especially for Vitet, who became inspector-general of historical monuments. In 1834 he entered the Chamber of Deputies, and two years later was made a member of the Council of State. He was consistent in his monarchist principles, and abstained from taking any part in politics during the second empire. The disasters of 1870-71 reawakened Vitet's interest in public affairs, and he published in the Revue des deux mondes his optimistic “Lettres sur le siège de Paris.” He died in 1873.
Vitet was the author of some valuable works on the history of art, and his Monographie de l'Église Notre Dame de Noyon (1845) especially did much to awaken popular interest in architecture. In the early days of the Romantic movement he wrote some vivid dramatic sketches of the time of the League. They are: Les Barricades, scènes historiques (1826), Les États de Blois, scènes {1827), and La Mort de Henri III. (1829), all three being published together in 1844 with the title of La Ligue. The best of these is the États de Blois, in which the murder of the duke of Guise is described in the most convincing manner.
VITORIA, an episcopal city of northern Spain, and capital of the province of Álava; on the Miranda de Ebro-Alsasua section of the Northern railways, among the southern outliers of the Cantabrian mountains, and on the left bank of the river Zadorra, a left-hand tributary of the Ebro. Pop. (1900) 30,701. The city is built on a hill 1750 ft. high, and overlooks the plain of Álava. Its oldest part, the Campillo or Villa-Suso, occupies the top of the hill; some of the walls and towers by which it was formerly defended still remain. Below it is Vitoria Antigua, with narrow tortuous lanes; on the still lower level ground is the modern town, with wide streets, an arcaded market-place and shady promenades. The cathedral of Santa Maria in the Campillo dates from 1181, but has been considerably spoiled by late additions: the church of San Miguel also dates from the 12th century; it has an exceptionally beautiful altar, carved in wood by J. Velazquez and G. Hernandez, in the 16th century. The town hall and the palace of the provincial assembly contain some fine paintings and interesting relics connected with the history of Álava. Vitoria, from its favourable position on the main lines from Madrid to France and to the port of San Sebastian, is an important centre of trade in wine, wool, horses, mules and hardware; other industries are paper-making, carriage-building, cabinet-making, tanning and the manufacture of earthenware. There is a branch railway from Vitoria to Villarreal. The city is lighted by electricity; its trade and population have largely increased since 1875.
Vitoria was founded in 581 by Leovigild, king of the Visigoths; but its importance dates from the 10th century. In 1181 Sancho the Wise of Navarre granted it a charter and fortified it.
Battle of Vitoria.—For the operations which preceded the battle of Vitoria see Peninsular War. On June 21st, 1813, the French army in Spain (about 65,000 men with 150 guns), under King Joseph Bonaparte, held an extended position in the basin of Vitoria, south (with the exception of the extreme right) of the river Zadorra. The left rested on the heights of Puebla, north of the Puebla Pass, and Puebla de Arganzon, through which ran the Miranda-Vitoria-Bayonne road, Joseph's line of communication with France. Thence the line stretched to the ridge of Margarita, the troops so far being under General Gazan, with a second supporting line under D'Erlon between Arinez and Hermandad and a reserve behind Arinez. The right under Reille guarded the Bilbao-Vitoria road, occupying heights on the north bank of the Zadorra, and also the villages and bridges of Abechuco and Gamarra Mayor, as well as a ridge near Ariaga on the south bank.
There were no troops between Hermandad and Ariaga, except a mass of cavalry near Ali. The Zadorra, fordable in certain spots only, was spanned by bridges at Puebla de Arganzon, Nanclares, Villodas, Tres Puentes, Mendoza, Abechuco and Gamarra Mayor, which French guns commanded; but, for some reason, none of these had been destroyed. The faults of the French position and their occupation of it were its extension; that it was in prolongation of and (on the right especially) very close to their line of retreat, so that if the right were driven back this line could be at once seized; that the centre was not strongly held; and that all bridges were left intact.
The Allies (nearly 80,000, with 90 guns), under Wellington, had moved from the river Bayas at daylight to attack Joseph, in four columns, the right being under Hill (20,000, including Morillos's Spaniards), the right centre and left centre under Wellington (30,000) and the left under Graham (20,000, including Longa's Spaniards). As the columns marched across the intersected country between the Bayas and Zadorra, extending from near Puebla de Arganzon to the Bilbao-Vitoria road, they kept touch with each other; and as they neared the Zadorra the battle opened all along the line soon after 10 a.m. Wellington's instructions to Graham were to undertake no manœuvre which would separate his column from those on the right; but, with this proviso, to seize the Vitoria-Bayonne road if the enemy appeared decidedly in retreat. Hill after a sharp contest gained the Puebla heights, too weakly held; and pushing through the pass carried the village of Subijana de Álava. The right centre column having reached Villodas, was waiting for Hill to gain further ground, when the bridge at Tres Puentes was observed to be unguarded, probably because it was commanded from the south bank; and, the French attention being now turned towards their flanks, it was surprised and rushed by Wellington with the
