COUTANCES, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement of the department of Manche, 7 m. E. of the English Channel and 58 m. S. of Cherbourg on the Western rail way. Pop. (1931) 5,804. It is beautifully situated on the right bank of the Soulle on a protruding core of granite crowned by the celebrated cathedral of Notre Dame with its three conspicu ous towers. The cathedral of Notre Dame is mainly 13th cen tury Gothic, retaining only some pier-bases of the first church consecrated on the site c. Io9o. The slender turrets massed round the western towers and the octagonal central tower, which forms a lantern within, are conspicuous features. In the interior, which comprises the nave with aisles, transept and choir with ambulatory and side chapels, there are fine rose-windows with stained glass of the 14th century. The church of St. Pierre, re built in the Renaissance, has a graceful dome and an octagonal tower. There is an aqueduct of the 14th century to the west of the town.
Coutances, the ancient Cosedia, was one of the chief pre Roman towns in the country of the Unelli. In the 3rd century its name was changed to Constantia, in honour of the emperor Constantius Chlorus by whom it was fortified. It became the capital of the pagus Constantinus (Cotentin), and in the middle ages was the seat of a viscount, with a long list of sieges from the time of the Conqueror onwards. It has been an episcopal see since the 5th century. In the 17th century it was the centre of the revolt of the Nu-pieds, caused by the imposition of the salt tax (gabelle). Coutances is a quiet town with winding streets and pleasant boulevards bordering it on the east. The town is the seat of a bishop, a court of assizes and a sub-prefect, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce. Leather-dressing and wool-spinning are carried on and there is trade in live-stock and agricultural produce.