CLERMONT, a town of northern France, in the department of Oise, on the right bank of the Breche, 41 m. N. of Paris on the Northern railway to Amiens. The town was probably founded during the time of the Norman invasions and was an important military post during the middle ages. It was several times taken and retaken during the Hundred Years' War, and the Wars of Religion. Pop. (1930) 3,89o. The hill on which the town is built is surmounted by a keep of the 14th century, a relic of the once-famous fortress. The church dates from the i4th to the i6th centuries. The hotel-de-ville, built by King Charles IV., who was born at Clermont in 1298, is the oldest in the north of France. The Promenade du Chatellier occupies the site of the old ramparts.
Clermont was at one time the seat of a countship, the lords of which were already powerful in the 11th century. Raoul de Cler mont, constable of France, died at Acre in 119r, leaving a daughter who brought Clermont to her husband, Louis, count of Blois and Chartres. Theobald, count of Blois and Clermont, died in 1218 without issue, and King Philip Augustus, having received the countship of Clermont from the collateral heirs of this lord, gave it to his son Philip Hurepel, whose daughter Jeanne, and his widow, Mahaut, countess of Dammartin, next held the countship. It was united by St. Louis to the crown, and afterwards given by him (1 269) to his son Robert, from whom sprang the house of Bourbon. In 1 524 the countship of Clermont was confiscated from the constable de Bourbon, and later (r 54o) given to the duke of Orleans, to Catherine de' Medici (1562), to Eric, duke of Brunswick (1569), from whom it passed to his brother-in-law Charles of Lorraine (1596), and finally to Henry II., prince of Conde (I 61I) . In 1641 it was again confiscated from Louis de Bourbon, count of Soissons, then in 1696 sold to Louis Thomas Amadeus of Savoy, count of Soissons, in 1702 to Francoise de Brancas, princesse d'Harcourt, and in 1719 to Louis-Henry, prince of Conde. From a branch of the old lords of Clermont were descended the lords of Nesle and Chantilly.
a city of central France, capital of the department of Puy-de-Dome, 113 m. W. of Lyons, on the P.L.M. railway. Pop. (1906) 44,113; (r 93I) 103,143. Clermont Ferrand is situated on high ground on the western border of the fertile plain of Limagne. On the north, west and south it is surrounded by hills, with a background of mountains amongst which the Puy-de-Dome stands out prominently. A small river, the Tiretaine, borders the town on the north. Since 1731 it has been composed of the two towns of Clermont and Montferrand.
Gergovia was the native centre in Auvergne but the Roman settlement known as Augustonemetum on the site of Clermont became so important as to be called later "The city of the Arverni." The present name is derived from Clarus Mons origi nally applied only to the citadel, but used for the town as early as the 9th century. During the disintegration of the Roman empire Clermont suffered from capture and pillage. Its history during the middle ages chiefly records the struggles between its bishops and the counts of Auvergne, and between the citizens and their overlord the bishop. It was the seat of seven ecclesiastical coun cils, held in the years 535, 549, 1095, III0, 1124 and 1130. In the council of 1095 Pope Urban II. proclaimed the first crusade. It figured in the wars against the English in the 14th and 15th centuries and in the religious wars of the i6th century. Les Grands lours de Clermont (1665) was associated with the trial and execution of a member of the nobility who had tyrannized the district. Before the Revolution the town possessed the abbey of Saint Allyre, founded, it is said, in the 3rd century by St. Austre monius (St. Stremoine), the apostle of Auvergne and first bishop of Clermont, and the abbey of St. Andre, where the counts of Clermont were buried. The cathedral, a Gothic edifice, was begun in the 13th century. The stained glass dates from the 13th century. The church of Notre-Dame du Port is a typical example of the Romanesque style of Auvergne, dating chiefly from the i ith and 12th centuries. The exterior of the apse with its four radiating chapels, and its black and white decoration is the most interesting part. Among the old houses one, dating from the 16th century, was the birthplace of Blaise Pascal. Montferrand has several interesting houses of the 15th and 16th centuries, and a church of the 13th, i4th and 15th centuries. Clermont has several fine squares like the one erected by Bishop Jacques d'Amboise in 1515.
Clermont-Ferrand is the seat of a bishopric and a prefecture ; it has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade arbitrators, and a chamber of commerce. It is a university town and has an important library, as well as the Mzcsee Lecoq (natural history and geology) and the Musde d'Art et d'Archeologie. The town manufactures semolina and other farinaceous foods, confec tionery, preserved fruit and jams, chemicals and heavy rubber goods, especially motor tyres. Clothing is also important. Cler mont is the chief market for the grain and other agricultural produce of Auvergne and Velay. Its waters are in local repute. On the bank of the Tiretaine there is a remarkable calcareous spring, the fountain of St. Allyre. About r miles to the west lies the famous spa of Royat.
His chief publications, besides a number of contributions to journals, are:—Palestine inconnue (1886), Etudes d'archeologie orientale (188o, etc.), Les Fraudes archeologiques (1885), Recueil d'archeologie ori entale (1885-1924) Album d'antiquites orientales (1897, etc.) .