Rouen

ROUEN, a city of France, capital of the department of Seine Inferieure and the ancient capital of the province of Normandy, on the Seine, 87 m. N.W. of Paris by rail. Pop. (1931) 115,283.

History.

Ratuma or Ratumacos, the Celtic name of Rouen, was modified by the Romans into Rotomagus, and by the writers of mediaeval Latin into Rodomum, of which the present name is a corruption. Under Caesar and the early emperors the town was the capital of the Veliocasses, and it did not attain to any eminence till it was made the centre of Lugdunensis Secunda at the close of the 3rd century, and a little later the seat of an archbishop. Rouen owed much to its first bishops—from St. Mello, the apostle of the region, who flourished about 26o, to St. Remigius, who died in 772.

Under Louis le Debonnaire and his successors, the Normans several times sacked the city, but after the treaty of St. Clair-sur Epte in 912, Rouen became the capital of Normandy and the principal residence of the dukes. In 1087 William the Conqueror, mortally wounded at Mantes, died at Rouen. The succeeding Nor man kings of England tended to neglect Rouen in favour of Caen and afterwards of Poitiers, Le Mans and Angers; but it maintained an importance during the 12th century indicated by the building of churches, notably that of St. Ouen. In 1203 Rouen was the scene of the murder of Arthur of Brittany at the hands of King John of England. Ostensibly to avenge the crime, Philip Augustus invaded Normandy and entered the capital unopposed. Philip confirmed its communal privileges and built a new castle.

A

convention between the merchants of Rouen and those of Paris relating to the navigation of the Seine was followed by treaties with London, with the Hanseatic towns and with Flanders and Champagne. In 13o2 the seat of the exchequer or sovereign court, afterwards the parlement, of Normandy was definitely fixed at Rouen. A stubborn resistance was offered to Henry V. of Eng land who, after a long siege, occupied the town in 1419. The pros perity of Rouen continued under the English domination, and dur ing this period the greater part of the church of St. Ouen was constructed. In 1431 Joan of Arc was tried and burnt in the city. From that year the French began attempts to recapture the town, which they did in During the close of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th, Rouen was a metropolis of art and taste. In 1562 the town was sacked by the Protestants. This did not prevent the League from gaining so firm a footing there that Henry IV. besieged it

unsuccessfully and only obtained entrance after his abjuration. The revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 greatly affected Rouen. During the Franco-German War the city was occupied by the invaders from December 1870 till July 1871. During the World War Rouen played a great part in the supporting organiza tion of the British army in France.

Monuments.

The old city lies on the north bank of the river in an amphitheatre formed by the hills which border the Seine valley. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Martainville, St. Hilaire, Beauvoisine, Bouvreuil and Cauchoise ; 2 2 m. to the east is the industrial town of Darnetal (pop. 7,393), and on the oppo site bank of the Seine is the manufacturing suburb of St. Sever with the industrial towns of Sotteville (pop. 22,476) and Petit Quevilly (pop. 17,839) in its immediate neighbourhood. Finally in the centre of the river, north-east of St. Sever, is the Ile Lacroix, which also forms part of Rouen. Communication across the Seine is maintained by three bridges, including a pont trans bordeur, or moving platform, slung between two lofty columns and propelled by electricity. The central point of the old town is the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, occupied by the church of St. Ouen and the hotel de vale.

The cathedral was built on the site of a previous cathedral, burnt in 1200, and its construction lasted from the beginning of the 13th century (lateral doors of the west portal), to the begin ning of the i6th century (Tour de Beurre). The western façade belongs, as a whole, to the Flamboyant style. But the northern tower, the Tour St. Romain, is in the main of the 12th century, its upper stage having been added later. The southern tower, the Tour de Beurre, so named because funds for its building were given in return for the permission to eat butter in Lent, is of a type essentially Norman, and consists of a square tower pierced by high mullioned windows and surmounted by a low, octagonal structure, with a balustrade and pinnacles. These contrasted towers are the most striking feature of the wide facade. The por tals of the transept are each flanked by two towers. The most remarkable part of the interior is the Lady Chapel (1302-2o) behind the choir with the tombs (1518-25) of Cardinal Georges d'Amboise and his nephew, the statuary of which is of the finest. Renaissance workmanship. Behind the cathedral is the archiepis copal palace, a building of the 14th and 15th centuries.