Nantes

loire city brittany town feet anne

NANTES, a city of France, chief town of the department of Loire-Inferieure, is situated on the right bank of the Loire, 35 miles above its mouth, in 47° 13' N. lat. and 1° 33' W. long. In population (117,555 inhabitants in 1881) it is the first city of Brittany. At Nantes the Loire receives on the left hand the Sevre Nantaise, and on the right the Erdre, which forms the outlet of the canal between Nantes and Brest; and a large number of bridges spanning the various branches of the different streams join the several quarters of the city. Along the left bank of the Loire stretches an ever-extending line of factories and shipbuilding yards. In all there are 6 miles of quays, 21 miles traversing the city in its greatest breadth from east to west along the main river. The NANTES largest vessels at present come no farther than St Nazaire, but a canal is being made on the left bank which will allow vessels drawing 16 feet to come up to the city. Nantes lies 264 miles west-south-west of Paris by the Angers and Le Mans Railway, and 40 miles from St Nazaire. Other lines connect it with Rennes 9,,ia Chdteaubriant, La Roche-sur-Yon, Paimbceuf, and Pornic.

The cathedral of Nantes, commenced in 1434 in the Gothic style, is still unfinished. Its length will be, when completed, 335 feet, and the nave is 85 feet wide and 123 feet in height. The towers are 205 feet high. There are two interesting monuments in the transept, - on the right Michel Colomb's tomb of Francis II., duke of Brittany, and his second wife Marguerite de Foix (1507), and on the left that of General Lamoriciere by Paul Dubois. The former consists of a white marble base covered by a black marble slab on which rest the two effigies, the four corners being occupied by upright figures of Justice-, Fortitude, Temperance, and Prudence. Of the other churches the more interesting are St Nicolas, a modern building in the style of the 13th century, Ste Croix, which occupies the site of a-n old pagan temple, and St Jacques on the left bank of the Loire.

Between the cathedral and the Loire, from which it is separated only by the breadth of the quay, stands the castle of Nantes, founded in the 9th or 10th century. Rebuilt by Francis II. and the duchess Anne, it was flanked by Mercceur in the time of the League with huge bastions decorated with the Lorraine cross. From being the residence of the dukes of Brittany it became a state prison (Cardinal de Retz, Fouquet, and the duchess of Berri were confined within its walls), and it is now occupied by the artillery headquarters. The chapel in which the marriage of Louis XII. with Anne of Brittany was celebrated was destroyed by an explosion in 1800. Nantes possesses a fine theatre, a court-house, a prefecture, and an exchange, which includes both the tribunal and the chamber of commerce. The town-hall possesses a curious casket in gold and enamel which once, it is said, contained the heart of Anne of Brittany. The public library is in the old corn-market, and the museum of painting and sculpture finds scanty accommodation in the old cloth-market. Apart from the beautiful collection presented to the town by the duke of Feltre, the catalogue includes 1000 pictures and 130 statues. An archological museum has its quarters in the old church of the Convent of the Oratory, where Fouche, afterwards duke of Otranto, taught before the Revolution ; part of the old mint is occupied by the school of science and arts ; and not far off is the museum of natural history, comprising a complete collection of the minerals of the department. The botanic garden consists of a purely scientific portion and a landscape garden which forms one of the finest promenades of its kind. Between the Loire and the Erdre run Cours St Pierre and Cours St Andre, adorned at the two ends of the line by statues of Anne of Brittany and Arthur III., Du Guesclin and Olivier de Clisson, and separated by the Place Louis XVI., with a statue of that monarch on a column 92 feet high. The Place Royale, the great meeting-place of the principal thoroughfares of the city, contains a monumental fountain in blue Rennes granite, with a white marble statue of the town of Nantes and bronze statues of the Loire and four of its affluents - the Sevre, the Erdre, the Cher, and the Loir. A flight of steps at the west end of the town leads up from the quay to the colossal cast-iron statue of St Anne, whence a splendid view may be obtained over the valley of the Loire. Several old houses of the 15th and 16th centuries, the fish market, the railway station, and the Salorges (a vast granite building now used as a bonded warehouse) are all of interest. Besides two great hospitals - St Jacques on the left bank of the Loire, with 1600 beds, and the H6tel-Dieu, recently rebuilt in Gloriette island, with 1200 beds - Nantes contains a deaf-mute institute, a secondary school of medicine and pharmacy, a hydrographic school, a drawing school, a branch establishment of the conservatoire at Paris, and a lyceum. It is the see of a bishop, and the headquarters of the 1 1 th copper, and lead, shipbuilding yards, factories for agricultural and similar implements, oil-works, soap-works, a national tobacco factory employing 1800 hands, a stained-glass factory, manure works, and granite yards. Foodpreserving is a rapidly growing industry in all the three departments of meat, fish, and vegetables (the last largely grown in the neighbourhood). Commercially Nantes does not occupy so high a position as formerly, being now only coal from England (duty free), wood from Scandinavia, keep possession of the greater part of the trade of the lower Loire and the coast fisheries. In 1875 they had 745 vessels, of 150,000 tons aggregate burden. The commercial movement of the port was 235,000 tons; and the value of the exports and imports amounted to X5,000,000. In 1880 the movement was upwards of 400,000 tons.

Previous to the Roman occupation, Nantes (Condivicenum) was the chief town of the Nannetes, and under the conquerors it became a great commercial and administrative centre. In the middle of the 3d century Christianity was introduced by St Clair. Clotaire I. got possession of the city in 560, and placed it under the government of St Felix the bishop, who executed enormous works to cause the Loire to flow under the walls of the castle. After being several times subdued by Charlemagne, Brittany revolted under his successors, and Norninoe, proclaimed king in 842, ordered the fortifications of Nantes to be razed because it had sided with Charles the Bald. The Normans held the town from 843 to 936. About this time began the rivalry between Nantes and Rennes. Pierre de Dreux, declared duke of Brittany by Philip Augustus, made Nantes his capital, surrounded it with fortifications, and defended it valiantly against John of England. During the Breton wars of succession Nantes took part first with Montfort, but afterwards with Charles of Blois, and did not open its gates to Montfort till his success was assured and his English allies had retired. In 1560 Francis II. granted Nantes a communal constitution. In the course of the 15th and 16th centuries the city suffered from several epidemics.- Averse to Protestantism, it joined the League along with Mercceur, governor of Brittany, who helped to raise the country into an independent duchy ; and it was not till 1598 that it opened its gates to Henry IV., who here signed on May 2d of that year the famous edict which until its revocation by Louis XIV. in 1685 was the charter of Huguenot liberties in France (see vol. ix. p. 564, 579, and vol. xii. p. 338-9). It was at Nantes that Count Chalais was punished for plotting against Richelieu, that Fouquet was arrested, and that the Cellamare conspirators were executed under the regent. Having warmly embraced' the cause of the Revolution in 1789, the city was in 1793 treated with extremest rigour by Carrier, of seoyade fame. Under the empire its foreign commerce was ruined. The duchess of Berri was arrested at Nantes in 1832 while trying to stir up La Vendee against Louis Philippe. Anne of Brittany, Charles Errard, founder of the French Academy at Rome, Generals Cambronne and Lamo•iciere, and Jules Verne were born in the city.

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Nantes

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Tweet 9th Edition of Encyclopedia Britannica - free ninth edition online encyclopedia Britannica » Volume 17 [MOT - ORM]: Anatomy to Newton Nantes loire city brittany town feet anne NANTES, a city of France, chief town of the department of Loire-Inferieure, is situated on the right bank of the Loire, 35 miles above its mouth, in 47° 13' N. lat. and 1° 33' W. long. In population (117,555 inhabitants in 1881) it is the first city of Brittany. At Nantes the Loire receives on the left hand the Sevre Nantaise, and on the right the Erdre, which forms the outlet of the canal between Nantes and Brest; and a large number of bridges spanning the various branches of the different streams join the several quarters of the city. Along the left bank of the Loire stretches an ever-extending line of factories and shipbuilding yards. In all there are 6 miles of quays, 21 miles traversing the city in its greatest breadth from east to west along the main river. The largest vessels at present come no farther than St Nazaire, but a canal is being made on the left bank which will allow vessels drawing 16 feet to come up to the city. Nantes lies 264 miles west-south-west of Paris by the Angers and Le Mans Railway, and 40 miles from St Nazaire. Other lines connect it with Rennes 9,,ia Chdteaubriant, La Roche-sur-Yon, Paimbceuf, and Pornic. The cathedral of Nantes, commenced in 1434 in the Gothic style, is still unfinished. Its length will be, when completed, 335 feet, and the nave is 85 feet wide and 123 feet in height. The towers are 205 feet high. There are two interesting monuments in the transept, - on the right Michel Colomb's tomb of Francis II., duke of Brittany, and his second wife Marguerite de Foix (1507), and on the left that of General Lamoriciere by Paul Dubois. The former consists of a white marble base covered by a black marble slab on which rest the two effigies, the four corners being occupied by upright figures of Justice-, Fortitude, Temperance, and Prudence. Of the other churches the more interesting are St Nicolas, a modern building in the style of the 13th century, Ste Croix, which occupies the site of a-n old pagan temple, and St Jacques on the left bank of the Loire. Between the cathedral and the Loire, from which it is separated only by the breadth of the quay, stands the castle of Nantes, founded in the 9th or 10th century. Rebuilt by Francis II. and the duchess Anne, it was flanked by Mercceur in the time of the League with huge bastions decorated with the Lorraine cross. From being the residence of the dukes of Brittany it became a state prison (Cardinal de Retz, Fouquet, and the duchess of Berri were confined within its walls), and it is now occupied by the artillery headquarters. The chapel in which the marriage of Louis XII. with Anne of Brittany was celebrated was destroyed by an explosion in 1800. Nantes possesses a fine theatre, a court-house, a prefecture, and an exchange, which includes both the tribunal and the chamber of commerce. The town-hall possesses a curious casket in gold and enamel which once, it is said, contained the heart of Anne of Brittany. The public library is in the old corn-market, and the museum of painting and sculpture finds scanty accommodation in the old cloth-market. Apart from the beautiful collection presented to the town by the duke of Feltre, the catalogue includes 1000 pictures and 130 statues. An archological museum has its quarters in the old church of the Convent of the Oratory, where Fouche, afterwards duke of Otranto, taught before the Revolution ; part of the old mint is occupied by the school of science and arts ; and not far off is the museum of natural history, comprising a complete collection of the minerals of the department. The botanic garden consists of a purely scientific portion and a landscape garden which forms one of the finest promenades of its kind. Between the Loire and the Erdre run Cours St Pierre and Cours St Andre, adorned at the two ends of the line by statues of Anne of Brittany and Arthur III., Du Guesclin and Olivier de Clisson, and separated by the Place Louis XVI., with a statue of that monarch on a column 92 feet high. The Place Royale, the great meeting-place of the principal thoroughfares of the city, contains a monumental fountain in blue Rennes granite, with a white marble statue of the town of Nantes and bronze statues of the Loire and four of its affluents - the Sevre, the Erdre, the Cher, and the Loir. A flight of steps at the west end of the town leads up from the quay to the colossal cast-iron statue of St Anne, whence a splendid view may be obtained over the valley of the Loire. Several old houses of the 15th and 16th centuries, the fish market, the railway station, and the Salorges (a vast granite building now used as a bonded warehouse) are all of interest. Besides two great hospitals - St Jacques on the left bank of the Loire, with 1600 beds, and the H6tel-Dieu, recently rebuilt in Gloriette island, with 1200 beds - Nantes contains a deaf-mute institute, a secondary school of medicine and pharmacy, a hydrographic school, a drawing school, a branch establishment of the conservatoire at Paris, and a lyceum. It is the see of a bishop, and the headquarters of the 1 1 th copper, and lead, shipbuilding yards, factories for agricultural and similar implements, oil-works, soap-works, a national tobacco factory employing 1800 hands, a stained-glass factory, manure works, and granite yards. Foodpreserving is a rapidly growing industry in all the three departments of meat, fish, and vegetables (the last largely grown in the neighbourhood). Commercially Nantes does not occupy so high a position as formerly, being now only coal from England (duty free), wood from Scandinavia, keep possession of the greater part of the trade of the lower Loire and the coast fisheries. In 1875 they had 745 vessels, of 150,000 tons aggregate burden. The commercial movement of the port was 235,000 tons; and the value of the exports and imports amounted to X5,000,000. In 1880 the movement was upwards of 400,000 tons. Previous to the Roman occupation, Nantes (Condivicenum) was the chief town of the Nannetes, and under the conquerors it became a great commercial and administrative centre. In the middle of the 3d century Christianity was introduced by St Clair. Clotaire I. got possession of the city in 560, and placed it under the government of St Felix the bishop, who executed enormous works to cause the Loire to flow under the walls of the castle. After being several times subdued by Charlemagne, Brittany revolted under his successors, and Norninoe, proclaimed king in 842, ordered the fortifications of Nantes to be razed because it had sided with Charles the Bald. The Normans held the town from 843 to 936. About this time began the rivalry between Nantes and Rennes. Pierre de Dreux, declared duke of Brittany by Philip Augustus, made Nantes his capital, surrounded it with fortifications, and defended it valiantly against John of England. During the Breton wars of succession Nantes took part first with Montfort, but afterwards with Charles of Blois, and did not open its gates to Montfort till his success was assured and his English allies had retired. In 1560 Francis II. granted Nantes a communal constitution. In the course of the 15th and 16th centuries the city suffered from several epidemics.- Averse to Protestantism, it joined the League along with Mercceur, governor of Brittany, who helped to raise the country into an independent duchy ; and it was not till 1598 that it opened its gates to Henry IV., who here signed on May 2d of that year the famous edict which until its revocation by Louis XIV. in 1685 was the charter of Huguenot liberties in France (see vol. ix. p. 564, 579, and vol. xii. p. 338-9). It was at Nantes that Count Chalais was punished for plotting against Richelieu, that Fouquet was arrested, and that the Cellamare conspirators were executed under the regent. Having warmly embraced' the cause of the Revolution in 1789, the city was in 1793 treated with extremest rigour by Carrier, of seoyade fame. Under the empire its foreign commerce was ruined. The duchess of Berri was arrested at Nantes in 1832 while trying to stir up La Vendee against Louis Philippe. Anne of Brittany, Charles Errard, founder of the French Academy at Rome, Generals Cambronne and Lamo•iciere, and Jules Verne were born in the city. Nanteuil, Robert [next] [back] Nanking Citing this material Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information. Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document. <a href="http://www.libraryindex.com/encyclopedia/pages/cpxlet3eqk/nantes-loire-city-brittany.html">Nantes</a> User Comments Name Email Your email address will be altered so spam harvesting bots can't read it easily. Hide my email completely instead? 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