SAUMUR, a town of western France, capital of an arrondisse ment in the department of Maine-et-Loire, 28 m. S.E. of Angers on the railway to Tours. Pop. (1931) 14,388. The Saumur caves along the Loire and on both sides of the valley of the Thouet must have been occupied at a very remote period. The Tour du Tronc (9th century), the old stronghold of Saumur, served as a place of refuge for the inhabitants of the surrounding district during foreign invasions (whence perhaps the name Saumur, from Salons Murus) and became the nucleus of a mon astery built by monks from St. Florent le Vieil. On the same site rose the castle of Saumur two hundred years later. The town fell into the hands of Foulques Nerra, duke of Anjou, in 1025, and passed in the 13th century into the possession of the kings of France. After the Reformation the town became the metropolis of Protestantism in France and the seat of a theological seminary which, as opposed to that of Sedan, represented the more liberal side of French Protestantism (Cameron, Amyraut, etc.). In 1623 the fortifications were dismantled; and the revocation of the edict of Nantes reduced the population by more than one half. In June 1793, the town was occupied by the Vendeens, against whom it soon afterwards became a base of operations for the republican army.
Saumur stands on the left bank of the Loire, which here re ceives the Thouet, and on an island in the river. A large metal bridge connects the Tours-Angers railway with that of Montreuil Bellay, by which Saumur communicates with Poitiers and Niort.
Two stone bridges (764 and 9o5 ft. long) unite the town on the island with the two banks of the river. The church of St. Pierre, of the 12th century, has a 17th-century façade and a Renaissance nave ; and Notre-Dame of Nantilly has a remarkable façade, a doorway and choir of the 12th century, and a nave of the 1 ith. St. Jean is a 12th-century building in the purest Gothic style of Anjou. St. Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, 12th century Gothic, has a fine modern spire. The hotel de ville is a 16th century building and the town has many houses of the 15th, i6th and 17th cen turies, notably that known as the Maison de la Reine Cecile (i5th century), built by Rene, duke of Anjou. The castle was built between the nth century and the 13th, and remodelled in the i6th. There is also an interesting almshouse, with its chambers in part dug out in the rock. The famous cavalry school of Saumur was founded in 1768 and was used for the special training of young officers appointed to cavalry. regiments on leaving the cadet school of St. Cyr. Saumur is the seat of a sub-prefect, and of a tribunal of commerce, a chamber of commerce, and a horticultural garden, with a school of vines. Saumur prepares and carries on a large trade in the sparkling white wines made in the neighbourhood, as well as in brandy, and it manufactures enamels and rosaries and carries on liqueur-distilling.