صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[ocr errors]

mountain range of Tibet, and the fruits of their observations, | frontiers of France; but during the wars of the Fronde he passed submitted to the Geographical Society of Paris (and later in- | with great facility from one party to the other. Then exiled by corporated in De Paris au Tonkin à travers le Tibet inconnu, Mazarin to Blois in 1652 he remained there until his death published in 1892), brought them conjointly the gold medal on the 2nd of February 1660. Gaston's first wife was Marie of that society. In 1892 the prince made a short journey of (d. 1627), daughter and heiress of Henri de Bourbon, duc de Montexploration in East Africa, and shortly afterwards visited pensier (d. 1608), and his second wife was Marguerite (d. 1672), Madagascar, proceeding thence to Tongking. From this point sister of Charles III., duke of Lorraine. By Marie he left a he set out for Assam, and was successful in discovering the daughter, Anne Marie, duchesse de Montpensier (q.v.); and by sources of the river Irrawaddy, a brilliant geographical achieve-Marguerite he left three daughters, Marguerite Louise (1645ment which secured the medal of the Geographical Society of 1721), wife of Cosimo III., grand duke of Tuscany; Elizabeth Paris and the cross of the Legion of Honour. In 1897 he revisited | (1646–1696), wife of Louis Joseph, duke of Guise; and Françoise Abyssinia, and political differences arising from this trip led to a Madeleine (1648-1664), wife of Charles Emmanuel II., duke of duel with the comte de Turin, in which both combatants were Savoy. (M. P.*) wounded. While on a trip to Assam in 1901 he died at Saigon ORLEANS, LOUIS, Duke of (1372-1407), younger son of the on the 9th of August. Prince Henri was a somewhat violent French king, Charles V., was born on the 13th of March 1372. Anglophobe, and his diatribes against Great Britain contrasted Having been made count of Valois and of Beaumont-sur-Oise, rather curiously with the cordial reception which his position as and then duke of Touraine, he received the duchy of Orleans a traveller obtained for him in London, where he was given the from his brother Charles VI. in 1392, three years after his gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. marriage with Valentina (d. 1408), daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan. This lady brought the county of Asti to her husband; but more important was her claim upon Milan, which she transmitted to her descendants, and which furnished Louis XII. and Francis I. with a pretext for interference in northern Italy. When Charles VI. became insane in 1392, Orleans placed himself in opposition to his uncle Philip II., duke of Burgundy, who was conducting the government; and this quarrel was not only the dominating factor in the affairs of France, but extended beyond the borders of that country. Continued after Philip's death in 1404 with his son and successor, John the Fearless, it culminated in the murder of Orleans by one of John's partisans on the 23rd of November 1407. The duke, who was an accomplished and generous prince, was suspected of immoral relations with several ladies of the royal house, among them Isabella of Bavaria, the queen of Charles VI. He had eight children by Valentina Visconti, including his successor, Charles of Orleans, the poet, and one of his natural sons was the famous bastard of Orleans, John, count of Dunois. See E. Jarry, La Vie politique de Louis d'Orléans (Paris, 1889). ORLEANS, LOUIS, Duke of (1703-1752), only son of Duke Philip II., the regent Orleans, was born at Versailles on the 4th of August 1703. A pious, charitable and cultured prince, he took very little part in the politics of the time, although he was conspicuous for his hostility to Cardinal Dubois in 1723. In 1730 Cardinal Fleury secured his dismissal from the position of colonel-general of the infantry, a post which he had held for nine years; and retiring into private life, he spent his time mainly in translating the Psalms and the epistles of St Paul. Having succeeded his father as duke of Orleans in 1723, he died in the abbey of St Geneviève at Paris on the 4th of February 1752. His wife Augusta (d. 1726), daughter of Louis William, margrave of Baden, bore him an only son, Louis Philippe, who succeeded his father as duke of Orleans.

ORLEANS, HENRIETTA, DUCHESS OF (1644-1670), third daughter of the English king, Charles I., and his queen, Henrietta Maria, was born during the Civil War at Exeter on the 16th of June 1644. A few days after her birth her mother left England, and provision for her maintenance having been made by Charles she lived at Exeter under the care of Lady Dalkeith (afterwards countess of Morton) until the surrender of the city to the parliamentarians, when she was taken to Oatlands in Surrey. Then in July 1646 Lady Dalkeith carried the princess in disguise to France, and she rejoined her mother in Paris, where her girlhood was spent and where she was educated as a Roman Catholic. Henrietta was present at the coronation of Louis XIV., and was mentioned as a possible bride for the king, but she was betrothed, not to Louis, but to his only brother Philip. After the restoration of her brother Charles II., she returned to England with her mother, but a few months later she was again in Paris, where she was married to Philip, now duke of Orleans, on the 30th of March 1661. The duchess was very popular at the court of Louis XIV., and was on good terms with the grand monarch himself; she shared in the knowledge of state secrets, but was soon estranged from her husband, and at the best her conduct was very imprudent. In 1670, at the instigation of Louis, she visited England and obtained the signature of Charles II.'s ministers to the treaty of Dover; her success in this matter greatly delighted Louis, but it did not improve her relations with Philip, who had long refused his consent to his wife's visit to England. Shortly after returning to France, Henrietta died at St Cloud on the 30th of June 1670. She was buried at St Denis, her funeral oration being pronounced by her friend Bossuet,| and it was asserted that she had been poisoned by order of her husband. She left two daughters, Marie Louise, wife of Charles II. of Spain, and Anne Marie, wife of Victor Amadeus II. of Savoy. According to legitimist principles, the descendants of Henrietta, through her daughter Marie of Savoy, are entitled to wear the British crown.

ORLEANS, JEAN BAPTISTE GASTON, DUKE OF (1608-1660), third son of the French king Henry IV., and his wife Marie de Medici, was born at Fontainebleau on the 25th of April 1608. Known at first as the duke of Anjou, he was created duke of Orleans in 1626, and was nominally in command of the army which besieged La Rochelle in 1628, having already entered upon that course of political intrigue which was destined to Occupy the remainder of his life. On two occasions he was obliged to leave France for conspiring against the government of his mother and of Cardinal Richelieu; and after waging an unsuccessful war in Languedoc, he took refuge in Flanders. Reconciled with his brother Louis XIII., he plotted against Richelieu in 1635, fled from the country, and then submitted to the king and the cardinal. Soon afterwards the same process was repeated. Orleans stirred up Cinq-Mars to attempt Richelieu's murder, and then deserted his unfortunate accomplice. In 1643, on the death of Louis XIII., Gaston became lieutenantgeneral of the kingdom, and fought against Spain on the northern

ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE, DUKE OF (1725-1785), son of Louis, duke of Orleans, was born at Versailles on the 12th of May 1725, and was known as the duke of Chartres until his father's death in 1752. Serving with the French armies he distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1742, 1743 and 1744. and at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, retiring to Bagnolet in 1757, and occupying his time with theatrical performances and the society of men of letters. He died at St Assise on the 18th of November 1785. The duke married Louise Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, who bore him a son Philip (Égalité), duke of Orleans, and a daughter, who married the last duke of Bourbon. His second wife, Madame de Montesson, whom he married secretly in 1773, was a clever woman and an authoress of some repute. He had two natural sons, known as the abbot of St Far and the abbot of St Albin.

See L'Automne d'un prince, a collection of letters from the duke to his second wife, edited by J. Hermand (1910).

ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE JOSEPH, DUKE OF (1747-1793). called PHILIPPE EGALITÉ, son of Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, and of Louise Henriette of Bourbon-Conti, was born at St Cloud

on the 13th of April 1747. Having borne the title of duke of | suspect him, and his friends would talk about his being king. Montpensier until his grandfather's death in 1752, he became The best proof of his not being ambitious of such a doubtful duke of Chartres, and in 1769 married Louise Marie Adelaide piece of preferment is that he made no attempt to get himself de Bourbon-Penthièvre, daughter and heiress of the duke of made king, regent or lieutenant-general of the kingdom at the Penthièvre, grand admiral of France, and the richest heiress of time of the flight to Varennes in June 1791. He, on the contrary, the time. Her wealth made it certain that he would be the richest again tried to make his peace with the court in January 1792, man in France, and he determined to play a part equal to that of but he was so insulted that he was not encouraged to sacrifice his great-grandfather, the regent, whom he resembled in character himself for the sake of the king and queen, who persisted in and debauchery. As duke of Chartres he opposed the plans of remembering all old enmities in their time of trouble. In the Maupeou in 1771, and was promptly exiled to his country summer of 1792 he was present for a short time with the army estate of Villers-Cotterets (Aisne). When Louis XVI. came of the north, with his two sons, the duke of Chartres and the to the throne in 1774 Chartres still found himself looked on coldly duke of Montpensier, but had returned to Paris before the roth at court; Marie Antoinette hated him, and envied him for his of August. After that day he underwent great personal risk wealth, wit and freedom from etiquette, and he was not slow in saving fugitives; in particular, he saved the life of the count to return her hatred with scorn. In 1778 he served in the of Champcenetz, the governor of the Tuileries, who was his squadron of D'Orvilliers, and was present in the naval battle personal enemy, at the request of Mrs Elliott. It was impossible of Ushant on the 27th of July 1778. He hoped to see further for him to recede, and, after accepting the title of Citoyen Égalité, service, but the queen was opposed to this, and he was removed conferred on him by the commune of Paris, he was elected from the navy, and given the honorary post of colonel-general twentieth and last deputy for Paris to the Convention. In that of hussars. He then abandoned himself to pleasure; he often body he sat as quietly as he had done in the National Assembly, visited London, and became an intimate friend of the prince but on the occasion of the king's trial he had to speak, and then of Wales (afterwards George IV.); he brought to Paris the only to give his vote for the death of Louis. His compliance "anglo-mania," as it was called, and made jockeys as fashionable did not save him from suspicion, which was especially aroused by as they were in England. He also made himself very popular the friendship of his eldest son, the duke of Chartres, with in Paris by his large gifts to the poor in time of famine, and Dumouriez, and when the news of the desertion of Chartres by throwing open the gardens of the Palais Royal to the people. with Dumouriez became known at Paris all the Bourbons left Before the meeting of the notables in 1787 he had succeeded his in France, including Égalité, were ordered to be arrested on the father as duke of Orleans, and showed his liberal ideas, which 5th of April. He remained in prison till the month of October, were largely learnt in England, so boldly that he was believed when the Reign of Terror began. He was naturally the very to be aiming at becoming constitutional king of France. In sort of victim wanted, and he was decreed "of accusation" November he again showed his liberalism in the lit de justice, on the 3rd of October. He was tried on the 6th of November which Brienne had made the king hold, and was again exiled to and was guillotined on the same day, with a smile upon his lips Villers-Cotterets. The approaching convocation of the states- and without any appearance of fear. No man ever was more general made his friends very active on his behalf; he circulated blamed than Orleans during the Revolution, but the faults in every bailliage the pamphlets which F. J. Sieyès had drawn of ambition and intrigue were his friends', not his own; it was up at his request, and was elected in three-by the noblesse his friends who wished him to be on the throne. Personally of Paris, Villers-Cotterets and Crépy-en-Valois. In the estate he possessed the charming manners of a polished grand seigneur: of the nobility he headed the liberal minority under the guidance debauched and cynical, but never rude or cruel, full of gentle of Adrien Duport, and led the minority of forty-seven noblemen consideration for all about him but selfish in his pursuit of who seceded from their own estate (June 1789) and joined the pleasure, he has had to bear a heavy load of blame, but it is Tiers État. The part he played during the summer of 1789 is ridiculous to describe the idle and courteous voluptuary as being one of the most debated points in the history of the Revolution. a dark and designing scoundrel, capable of murder if it would The court accused him of being at the bottom of every popular serve his ambition. The execution of Philippe Égalité made movement, and saw the "gold of Orleans " as the cause of the the friend of Dumouriez, who was living in exile, duke of Orleans. Reveillon riot and the taking of the Bastille, as the republicans AUTHORITIES. Baschet, Histoire de Philippe Égalité; Journal later saw the "gold of Pitt in every germ of opposition to of Mrs Grace Dalrymple Elliott (1859); A. Nettement, Philippethemselves. There can be no doubt that he hated the queen, Egalité (Paris, 1842); Laurentie, Histoire des ducs d'Orléans (Paris, 1832); G. Peignot, Précis historique de la maison d'Orléans (Paris, and bitterly resented his long disgrace at court, and also that he 1830); L. C. R(ousselet), Correspondance de Louis-Philippe Joseph sincerely wished for a thorough reform of the government and d'Orléans avec Louis XVI (Paris, 1800); Rivarol, Portrait du duc the establishment of some such constitution as that of England; d'Orléans et de Madame de Genlis; Tournois, Histoire du Louis and no doubt such friends as Adrien Duport and Choderlos Philippe Joseph duc d'Orléans (Paris, 1842). de Laclos, for their own reasons, wished to see him king of France. The best testimony for the behaviour of Orleans during this summer is the testimony of an English lady, Mrs Grace Dalrymple Elliott, who shared his heart with the comtesse de Buffon, and from which it is absolutely certain that at the time of the riot of the 12th of July he was on a fishing excursion, and was rudely treated by the king on the next day when going to offer him his services. He indeed became so disgusted with the false position of a pretender to the crown, into which he was being forced, that he wished to go to America, but, as the comtesse de Buffon would not go with him, he decided to remain in Paris. He was again accused, unjustly, of having caused the march of the women to Versailles on the 5th of October. La Fayette, jealous of his popularity, persuaded the king to send the duke to England on a mission, and thus get him out of France, and he accordingly remained in England from October 1789 to July 1790. On the 7th of July he took his seat in the Assembly, and on the 2nd of October both he and Mirabeau were declared by the Assembly entirely free of any complicity in the events of October. He now tried to keep himself as much out of the political world as possible, but in vain, for the court would❘

[ocr errors]

ORLEANS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ROBERT, DUKE OF (1869), eldest son of the comte de Paris, was born at York House, Twickenham, on the 6th of February 1869. The law of exile against the French princes having been abrogated in 1871, he returned with his parents to France. He was first educated by a private tutor, and then followed the courses of the municipal college at Eu. In 1882 he entered the Collège Stanislas, Paris, and took a first prize in a competitive Latin translation. On the death of the comte de Chambord, the comte de Paris became head of the Bourbons; and in 1886 he and his son were exiled from France. Queen Victoria appointed the duke of Orleans a supernumerary cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. After passing his examinations he received a commission in the 4th battalion of the 60th Rifles, then quartered in India. In January 1888 the duke went out to India, accompanied by Colonel de Parseval as military governor and adviser. At Bombay he was received by the duke of Connaught and Lord Reay, and at Calcutta he became the guest of the viceroy, the marquess of Dufferin, who organized for the duke and his cousin, Prince Henry of Orleans, a grand tiger-shooting expedition in Nepaul. The duke now reported himself to the commander-in

chief,afterwards Earl Roberts,and joined his regiment at Chakrata. | the risky operations of the banker John Law (1717), whose After seeing service, the duke ceased his connexion with the bankruptcy led to such a disastrous crisis in the public and Indian army in February 1889, and returned to England. On private affairs of France. attaining his majority, he entered Paris (February 7, 1890), and proceeding to the mairie, expressed his desire, as a Frenchman, to perform his military service. This act caused great excitement, and he was arrested in conformity with the law of 1886, which forbade the soil of France to the direct heirs of the families which had reigned there. He was tried, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment; but he was liberated by President Carnot after a few months' nominal incarceration (June 4), and conducted to the Swiss frontier. This escapade won for him the title of "Le Premier Conscrit de France." After the comte de Paris's funeral (September 12, 1894) the duke received his adherents in London, and then removed to Brussels, as being nearer France. On the 5th of November 1896 the duke married the archduchess Maria Dorothea Amalia of Austria, the ceremony taking place at Vienna. It was alleged that some of his followers were implicated in the conspiracies against the French Republic in 1899. A letter which the duke wrote in 1900, approving the artist whose caricatures were grossly insulting to Queen Victoria, excited great indignation both in England and in many French circles, and estranged him from many with whom he had formerly been upon friendly terms; but after Queen Victoria's death it was allowed to become known that this affair had been forgotten and forgiven by the British royal family. The duke of Orleans made several long exploring journeys, being particularly interested in polar discoveries. In 1905 he published Une croisière au Spitzberg, and, later, another account of his travels, under the title A travers la Banquise.

There existed a party of malcontents who wished to transfer the regency from Orleans to Philip V., king of Spain. A conspiracy was formed, under the inspiration of Cardinal Alberoni, first minister of Spain, and directed by the prince of Cellamare, Spanish ambassador in France, with the complicity of the duke and duchess of Maine; but in 1718 it was discovered and defeated. Dubois, formerly tutor to the duke of Orleans, and now his all-powerful minister, caused war to be declared against Spain, with the support of the emperor, and of England and Holland (Quadruple Alliance). After some successes of the French marshal, the duke of Berwick, in Spain, and of the imperial troops in Sicily, Philip V. made peace with the regent | (1720).

ORLEANS, PHILIP I., DUKE OF (1640-1701), son of the French king Louis XIII., was born at St Germain-en-Laye on the 21st of September 1640. In 1661 he was created duke of Orleans, and married Henrietta, sister of Charles II. of England; but the marriage was not a happy one, and the death of the duchess in 1670 was attributed to poison. Subsequently he married Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Louis, elector palatine of the Rhine. Having fought with distinction in Flanders in 1667, Monsieur, as Orleans was generally called, returned to military life in 1672, and in 1677 gained a great victory at Cassel and took St Omer. Louis XIV., it was said, was jealous of his brother's success; at all events Orleans never commanded an army again. He died at St Cloud on the 8th of June 1701, leaving a son, Philip, the regent Orleans, and two daughters: Anne Marie (1669-1728), wife of Victor Amadeus II., duke of Savoy; and Elizabeth Charlotte (1676-1744), wife of Leopold, duke of Lorraine. His eldest daughter, Marie Louise (1662-1689), wife of Charles II. of Spain, died before her father. (M. P.*)

On the majority of the king, which was declared on the 15th of February 1723, the duke of Orleans resigned the supreme power; but he became first minister to the king, and remained in office till his death on the 23rd of December 1723. The regent had great qualities, both brilliant and solid, which were unfortunately spoilt by an excessive taste for pleasure. His dissolute manners found only too many imitators, and the regency was one of the most corrupt periods in French history. See J. B. H. R. Capefigue, Histoire de Philippe d'Orléans, régent de France (2 vols., Paris, 1838); A. Baudrillart, Philippe V. et la cour de France, vol. ii. (Paris, 1890); and L. Wiesener, Le régent, l'abbé Dubois et les Anglais (3 vols., Paris, 1891-1899). (M. P.)

ORLEANS, a city of north central France, chief town of the department of Loiret, on the right bank of the Loire, 77 m. S.S.W. of Paris by rail. Pop. (1906), town, 57,544; commune, 68,614. At Les Aubrais, a mile to the north, is one of the chief railway junctions in the country. Besides the Paris and Orleans railway, which there divides into two main lines-a western to Nantes and Bordeaux via Tours, and a southern to Bourges and Toulouse via Vierzon-branches leave Les Aubrais eastwards for Pithiviers, Châlons-sur-Marne and Gien, north-west for Châteaudun and Rouen. The whole town of Orleans is clustered together on the right bank of the river and surrounded by fine boulevards, beyond which it sends out suburbs along the various roads. It is connected with the suburb of St Marceau on the left bank by a handsome stone bridge of nine arches, erected in the 18th century. Farther up is the railway bridge. The river is canalized on the right, and serves as a continuation of the Orleans Canal, which unites the Loire with the Seine by the canal of the Loing.

Owing to its position on the northernmost point of the Loire Orleans has long been the centre of communication between the Loire basin and Paris. The chief interest of the place lies in its public buildings and the historical events of which it has been ORLEANS, PHILIP II., DUKE OF (1674-1723), regent of France, the scene. Proceeding from the railway station to the bridge son of Philip I., duke of Orleans, and his second wife, the over the Loire, the visitor crosses Orleans from north to south princess palatine, was born on the 2nd of August 1674, and had and passes through the Place du Martroi, the heart of the city. his first experience of arms at the siege of Mons in 1691. His In the middle of the square stands an equestrian statue of Joan of marriage with Mlle de Blois, the legitimized daughter of Louis Arc, in bronze, resting on a granite pedestal surrounded by XIV., won him the favour of the king. He fought with distinc-bas-reliefs representing the leading episodes in her life. In 1855 tion at Steinkerk, Neerwinden and Namur (1692-1695). During it took the place of an older statue executed in the beginning of the next few years, being without employment, he studied the century, which was then transferred to the left bank of the natural science. He was next given a command in Italy (1706) Loire at the end of the bridge, a few paces from the spot where a and in Spain (1707-1708) where he gained some important simple cross marks the site of the Fort des Tourelles captured by successes, but he cherished lofty ambitions and was suspected of Joan of Arc in 1429. From the Place du Martroi, the Rue Jeanne wishing to take the place of Philip V. on the throne of Spain. d'Arc leads to the cathedral of Ste Croix. This church, begun in Louis XIV. was angry at these pretensions, and for a long time 1287, was burned by the Huguenots in 1567 before its completion. held him in disfavour. In his will, however, he appointed him Henry IV., in 1601, laid the first stone of the new structure, the president of the council of regency of the young King Louis XV. building of which continued until 1829. It consists of a vestibule, (1715). After the death of the king, the duke of Orleans went to a nave with double aisles, a corresponding choir, a transept and the parlement, had the will annulled, and himself invested with an apse. Its length is 472 ft., its width at the transept 220 ft. absolute power. At first he made a good use of this, counselling and the height of the central vaults 112 ft. The west front has economy, decreasing taxation, disbanding 25,000 soldiers and two flat-topped towers, each of three storeys, of which the first restoring liberty to the persecuted Jansenists. But the inquisi- is square, the second octagonal and the third cylindrical. The torial measures which he had begun against the financiers led to whole front is Gothic, but was designed and constructed in the disturbances. He was, moreover, weak enough to countenance 18th century and exhibits all the defects of the period, though its

|

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 de la Vieille-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

[ocr errors]

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 lycée 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 ecclesiástical 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 29th 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 statesgeneral were convoked at Orleans, where Francis II. died. In 1562 it became the headquarters of Louis I. of Bourbon, prince of Condé, the Protestant commander-in-chief. In 1563 Francis, duke of Guise, laid siege to it, and had captured the tête-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 sûrelé 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, 18841888). 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 startingpoint 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

the second with the second and final capture on the night of the | Orleans in great disorder. Being still without any real offensive 4th of December,

Shortly after the fall of the empire the government of National Defence, having decided that it must remain in Paris in spite of the impending siege, despatched a delegation to Tours to direct the government and the war in the provinces. This was originally composed (10-15 September) of two aged lawyers, Crémieux and Glais-Bizoin, and a naval officer, Vice-Admiral Fourichon, who had charge of both the war and the marine ministries. A retired general, de la Motte-Rouge, was placed in command of the "territorial division of Tours." He found, scattered over the south and west of France, a number of regular units, mostly provisional regiments, squadrons and batteries, assembled from the depôts, and all exceedingly ill supplied and equipped; but of such forces as he could muster he constituted the 15th corps. There were also ever-growing forces of mobiles, but these were wholly untrained and undisciplined, scarcely organized in battalions and for the most part armed with old-pattern weapons.

In these circumstances the relative unimportance of the provincial war, the senility of the directors, the want of numbers, equipment and training in the troops available outside the walls of Paris-the rôle of the delegation was at first restricted to the establishment of a cordon of weak posts just out of reach of the German cavalry, with the object of protecting the formation of new corps and divisions in the interior. At the time of the investment of Paris part of the provincial forces were actually called in to reinforce the garrison. Only Reyau's weak cavalry division was sent out from Paris into the open country. On their side the Germans had not enough forces left, after investing the capital with the III. and IV. Armies and Metz with the I. and II., to undertake a long forward stride to the Loire or the Cher. The only covering force provided on the south side of their Paris lines was the I. Bavarian corps, which had also to act as the reserve of the III. Army, and the cavalry divisions (6th, 4th, 2nd), whose chief work was the collection of supplies for the besiegers.

Shortly after this, near the end of September, francs-tireurs and small parties of National Guards became very active in Beauce, Perche and Gâtinais, and the German 4th cavalry division between Etampes and Toury was reinforced by some Bavarian battalions in consequence. But no important assemblies of French troops were noted, and indeed Orleans was twice evacuated on the mere rumour of the German advance. Moltke and every other German soldier gave no credence to rumours of the formation of a 15th corps behind the Loire-Trochu himself disbelieved in its existenceand the cavalry divisions, with their infantry supports, went about their ordinary business of gathering supplies.

In reality, however, the Delegation, unready as were its troops, was on the point of taking the offensive. In deference to popular clamour, a show of force in Beauce was decided upon. This was carried out by a force of all arms under Reyau on the 5th of October. It succeeded only too well. Prince Albert of Prussia, commander of the 4th cavalry division, which engaged Reyau at Toury, was so much impressed that he gave back 20 m. and sent alarming reports to army headquarters, which thereupon lost its incredulity and announced in army orders that the French "Army of the Loire" was advancing from Orleans. Von der Tann, the commander of the I. Bavarian corps, was ordered to take up a defensive position at Montlhéry and to send out a detachment to cover Prince Albert's retreat. The 22nd infantry division was added to his command, and the 2nd and 6th cavalry divisions warned to protect his flanks. Thus the Germans were led to pay attention to the existence of the 15th corps when that corps was not only itself incomplete but also unsupported by the 16th, 17th and other still merely potential formations.

The preparations of the Germans were superfluous, for the demonstration ended in nothing. Reyau drew away leisurely towards Fontainebleau forest, and only a part of the 15th corps was sent up from Bourges to Orleans. Further, the fears of a sortie from Paris, which had occupied the German headquarters for some time, having for a moment ceased, Moltke on the 7th ordered von der Tann, with the I. Bavarian corps, 22nd division, and the three cavalry divisions, to advance. Next day these orders expanded. Orleans and, if possible, Tours itself were to be captured.

The punishment for the military promenade in Beauce was at hand. The main body of the 15th corps, which had not been required to take part in it, was kept back at Bourges First and Vierzon, and only the miscellaneous troops capture of Orleans. actually in Beauce were available to meet the blow they had provoked. On the 10th von der Tann attacked Reyau, who had returned from Fontainebleau towards Orleans, at Artenay. Had it not been that von der Tann believed that the 15th corps was in front of him, and therefore attacked deliberately and carefully, Reyau's resistance would have been even more brief than it was. The French were enormously outnumbered, and, after a brave resistance, were driven towards

intentions, the Delegation and La Motte-Rouge decided, the same night, to evacuate Orleans. On the 11th, therefore, von der Tann's advance had to deal with no more than a strong rearguard on the outskirts of Orleans. But he was no longer on the plain of Beauce; villas, hedges and vineyards, as well as the outskirts of the great forest of Orleans, gave excellent cover to the French infantry, all of which showed steadiness and some battalions true heroism, and the attack developed so slowly that the final positions of the defenders were not forced till close upon nightfall. The Germans lost at least 1000 men, and the harvest of prisoners proved to be no more than 1500. So far from pressing on to Tours, the Germans were well content with the occupation of Orleans.

The defeated enemy disappeared into Sologne, whither the assailants could not follow. Rumours of all sorts began to assail the German commander, who could not collect reliable news by means of the agencies under his own control because of the fluctuating but dense cordon of mobiles and francs-tireurs all around him. Moltke and Blumenthal wished him to strike out southward towards the arsenals of Bourges, the depôts of vehicles at Châteauroux and the improvised government offices at Tours. But he represented that he could not maintain himself nine or ten marches away from his nearest supports, and he was therefore allowed to stay at Orleans. The 22nd division and the 4th cavalry division, however, were withdrawn from him, and under these conditions von der Tann became uneasy as to his prospects of retaining even Orleans. His uneasiness was emphasized by reports of the appearance of heavy masses of French troops on the Loire above and below Orleansreports that were true as regards the side of Blois, and more or less false as regards the Gien country. This news was obtained by the III. Army headquarters on the 19th of October, and next day von der Tann was ordered "not to abandon Orleans unless threatened by a greatly superior force." Such a threat soon became pronounced. A new directing influence was at work at Tours in the person of Léon Gambetta, who arrived there by balloon from Paris and took control of the Delegation on the 11th. With de Freycinet (who was appointed deputy minister of war) as his most valued assistant, Gambetta at once became not merely the head of the government in the provinces, but the actual director of the war, in virtue of the fact that he was the very incarnation of the spirit of resistance to the invader. De la Motte-Rouge was replaced at the head of the 15th corps by General d'Aurelle de Paladines, under whom at the same time the embryo 16th corps was placed. The new commander with practically dictatorial powers occupied himself first of all with the organization and training of his motley troops. The Delegation indeed planned an advance from Gien on Fontainebleau, but this was given up on d'Aurelle's representations, and the 15th corps drew back to a strong position at Salbris in front of The Camp Bourges. There by dint of personal ascendancy, relentless drilling and a few severe courts-martial, d'Aurelle produced an enormous improvement in the quality of his troops. Gambetta reinforced the troops at Salbris to the figure of 60,000, for the camp there was not merely a rendezvous but a school, the atmosphere of which profoundly affected even troops that only spent three or four days within its bounds. Meantime the 16th corps was formed at Blois and Vendôme, covered by a screen of francs-tireurs and National Guards. On October 23 a large force was sent over to the 16th corps from Salbris. This step was the first in a new plan of campaign.

of Salbris.

A few days before it was taken, there had occurred an incident which led Moltke to a fresh misunderstanding of the situation towards the Loire. As mentioned above, the 22nd infantry and 4th cavalry divisions had been withdrawn from dup.

Château

von der Tann's command and ordered back to Paris, and on their way thither they were told to clear the country round Châteaudun and Chartres. General von Wittich, therefore, with the 22nd division and some cavalry, appeared before Châteaudun on the 18th of October. The little town was strongly held and repulsed the first attack. Wittich then prepared a second assault so carefully that sunset was at hand when it was made. It would seem indeed that at this period, when the Germans were hoping for a speedy return to their fatherland, the spirit of the offensive in all ranks had temporarily died away. The assailants carried the edge of the town, only to find themselves involved in a painful struggle in the streets. House-to-house fighting went on long after dark, but at last the inhabitants gave way, and the Germans punished the town for its unconventional resistance by subjecting it to what was practically a sack. After this von Wittich passed on to Charters, which, making his preparations more carefully, he was able to occupy after a few shells had been fired. These events, and the presence of a French force at Dreux, as a matter of fact signified nothing, for the 15th and 16th corps were still on the Loire and at Salbris, but they 1 In 1879 the government added the cross of the Legion of Honour to the town arms of Châteaudun.

« السابقةمتابعة »