VIENNE, a river of central France, 219 m. long, a left-hand tributary of the Loire. Rising on the plateau of Millevaches at a height of 2,789 ft., the Vienne flows westward through the hilly country of the crystalline rocks of the Central Plateau of France. The first large town on its banks is Limoges, below its confluence with the Taurion (right). The river next reaches St. Junien, turns abruptly northwards to Confolens and passes on to the Jurassic rocks to flow through a picturesque and wider valley. Passing
Chauvigny, it proceeds to the confluence of the Clain (left), on which stands Poitiers, just above Chatellerault. Below that town it receives the Creuse (right), which rises on the Millevaches Plateau and is 159 m. long. From near Chatellerault, past Chinon, to its junction with the Loire the Vienne flows across Cretaceous strata. There is little river-traffic on the Vienne below its conflu ence with the Creuse (3o m.). (See LoIRE.)