BEAUVAIS, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Oise, situated in 49° 26' N. lat. and 2' 14' E. long., about 45 miles N. of Paris, in a valley at the junction of the Avelon and the Therain. The town is irregularly built, but possesses several edifices of historical and architectural interest. Chief among these is the cathedral of Saint Pierre, begun in 1225, continued at intervals till the 16th century by various ambitious projectors, and still incomplete. Its stained glass windows are both ancient and beautiful, though they are rivalled by those of Saint Etienne, another of the older churches in the town. Contiguous to the cathedral is a basilica of the 6th century, one of the oldest buildings of the kind in France. The episcopal palace, now used as a court-house, was built in the 16th century. Among the secular buildings arc the town-house, dating from 1754, the college, which was formerly an Ursuline convent, a library with upwards of 15,000 volumes, a natural history museum, a theatre, a hospital, and barracks. The industry of Beauvais comprises, besides the weaving of tapestry, which dates from 1664, the manufacture of velvet and various kinds of cotton and woollen goods, leather, and earthenware. An extensive trade is carried on in grain and wine, and the products of the industrial establishments. Beauvais was known to the Romans as Casaromagus, and took its present name from the Gallic tribe of the Bellovaci, whose capital it was. In the 9th century it was erected into a countship, which about 1013 passed to the bishops of Beauvais, who ultimately became peers of France. In 1346 the town had to defend itself against the English, who again besieged it in 1433. The siege which it suffered in 1472 at the hands of the duke of Burgundy was rendered famous by the heroism of the women, under the leadership of Jeanne Hachette, whose memory is still celebrated by a procession on the 14th of October (the feast of Ste Angadreme), in which the women take precedence of the men. Population in 1871, 15,542.