VERDUN, a garrison town of north-eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Meuse, on the main line of the Eastern railway between Paris and Metz, 42 m. N.N.E. of Bar-le-Duc. Pop. (1931) 13,552.
Verdun (V erodunum), an important town at the time of the Roman conquest, was made a part of Belgica Prima. The bishop ric, held by St. Vanne (498-525), dates from the 3rd century. Verdun was destroyed during the period of the barbarian inva sions, and recovered only at the end of the 5th century. Clovis seized the town in 502, and it afterwards belonged to the kingdom of Austrasia. In 843 the famous treaty was signed here by the sons of Louis the Pious. (See GERMANY : History.) In the loth century Verdun was conquered by Germany and put under the temporal authority of its bishops. Together with Toul and Metz, the town and its domain formed the territory of the Trois Eveches. In the iith century the burghers began a struggle with their bishops, which ended in their obtaining certain rights in the 12th century. In 1552 Henry II. of France took possession of the Trois-Eveches, which finally became French by the Treaty of Westphalia. In 1792, the citizens opened their gates to the Prus sians. In 1870 the Prussians invested and bombarded it three times, till it capitulated in the beginning of November. (For the
part played by Verdun in the World War of 1914-18 see WORLD WAR.) It was the greatest centre of resistance to the German in vasion and advances of 1914-18, and was reduced to ruins as a result. (See VERDUN, BATTLES OF.) Verdun stands on the Meuse, here canalized, and was a great fortress. The chief quarter of the town lay on the slope of the left bank of the river and was dominated by the citadel which oc .cupied the site of the old abbey of St. Vanne founded in the loth century. The whole town was surrounded by a bastioned enceinte, pierced by four gates; that to the north-east, the Porte Chaussee, 15th-17th century, with two crenelated towers, was little dam aged in the war of 1914-18. The cathedral of Notre-Dame in process of restoration, stands on the site of two previous churches of the Romanesque period, the first of which was burnt down in 1047. There are double transepts and, till the 18th century when the western apse was replaced by a façade, there was an apse at each extremity. To the south-west of the cathedral is a fine I5th century cloister. The hotel-de-ville (17th century) has been restored.