BEAUNE, a town of France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Cote-d'Or, on the Bouzoise, 23m. S.S.W. of Dijon on the main line of the P.L.M. railway. Pop. (1931) 11,131. Beaune lies in a rich wine-growing region at the foot of the hills of Cote-d'Or. It was a fortified Roman camp and the capital of a separate county united to the duchy of Burgundy, becoming in 12 2 7 the first seat of the Burgundian parlement or jours generaux and a ducal residence. On the death of Charles the Bold it sided with his daughter, Mary of Burgundy, but was besieged and taken by the forces of Louis XI. in 1478. Its rank as commune, con ceded in 1203, was confirmed in 1521. In the religious wars it at first sided with the League, but opened its gates to the troops of Henry IV., who confirmed its communal privileges. The revo cation of the Edict of Nantes dealt a severe blow to the cloth and iron industries, which had previously been a source of prosperity to the town, and it was only through its vineyards that the town regained its importance. In the i8th century there were no fewer than seven monastic buildings in Beaune, besides a Ber nardine abbey, a Carthusian convent and an ecclesiastical college. The town is of circular form, and its ancient fortifications have been in part replaced by a promenade separating it from its sub urbs. The most interesting feature is the old hospital of St. Esprit • Some buildings surrounding the main courtyard, which has an out-door pulpit and a well with 15th century iron work, have high-pitched roofs surmounted by dormer windows with decorated gables, recalling the Flemish style. The hospital possesses mural paintings (17th century) in the Salle St. Hugues and an altar-piece, the Last Judgment, attributed to Van Eyck. The principal church, Notre Dame (mainly 12th and 13th cen turies), has a fine central tower and a triple portal with handsome wooden doors. The interior contains circular chapels, old glass, and some I 5th century tapestries. Two round towers (15th cen tury) are a survival of the castle of Beaune, dismantled by Henry IV. A belfry of 1403 and several houses of the Renaissance period, some built over ancient wine-cellars, are notable. Beaune has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, and a school of agriculture and viticulture. Live stock, cereals, vegetables, oil and vinegar are marketed, and casks, ag ricultural implements and jewellery manufactured. It is the centre of the wine trade of Burgundy (q.v.).