DEOLS, a suburb of the French town of Chateauroux, in the department of Indre. Pop. 0930, 2,424. Deols lies to the north of Chateauroux, from which it is separated by the Indre. It preserves a fine Romanesque tower and other remains of the church of a famous Benedictine abbey, the most important in Berry, founded in 917 by Ebbes the Noble, lord of Deols. A gateway flanked by towers survives from the old ramparts of the town. The parish church of St. Stephen ( i5th and i6th cen turies) has a Romanesque facade and a crypt containing the ancient Christian tomb of St. Ludre and his father St. Leocade, who according to tradition were lords of the town in the 4th cen tury. The pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Ludre gave importance to Deols, which under the name of Vicus Dolensis was in exist ence in the Roman period. In 468 the Visigoths defeated the Gauls there, the victory carrying with it the supremacy over the district of Berry. In the middle ages the head of the family of Deols enjoyed the title of prince and held sway over nearly all Lower Berry, of which the town itself was the capital. In the loth cen tury Raoul of Deols gave his castle to the monks of the abbey and transferred his residence to Chateauroux. The abbey church was burnt by the Protestants during the religious wars and in 1622 the abbey was suppressed by the agency of Henry II., prince of Conde and of Deols.