FALAISE, a town of north-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Calvados, on the right bank of the Ante, 19 m. S. by E. of Caen by road. Pop. (1931) 4,281 The castle, now partly in ruins, was formerly the seat of the dukes of Normandy and the birthplace of William the Conqueror. It stands on a high crag overlooking the town, and consists of a square mass defended by towers and flanked by a small donjon and a lofty tower added by the English in the 15th century; the rest of the castle dates chiefly from the 12th century. Near the castle, in the Place de la Trinite, is an equestrian statue in bronze of William the Conqueror, to whom the town owed its prosperity. From 1417, when the town succumbed to Henry V. of England, till 145o, when it was retaken by the French, Falaise was in the hands of the English. Falaise has populous suburbs, one of which, Guibray, is celebrated for its annual fair for horses, cattle and wool, which has been held in August since the 11th century. The town is the seat of a subprefecture and has tribunals of first in stance and commerce, a chamber of arts and manufacture and a board of trade-arbitrators. Tanning (from at least the 11th cent.) and some cotton manufactures are carried on.