CAEN, CA DOM s, or CA1 nom, a city of France, in Lower Normandy, and capital of the department of Cal vados, is situated in an extensile and fertile valley, at the confluence of the risers Orne and Odon, about 67 leagues West from Paris. It is surrounded by a high wall flanked with 21 towers, and further ch fended by a strong castle ; part of which is said to have been built by the English when they held the sox creignty of the country. The town hall is a large building, with four turrets ; and the filaceroyale, which is a spacious and regular square, is adorned with some very fine houses, and has an eques trian statue of Louis XIV., in a Roman habit, in the cen tre. Including the four suburbs, Caen has 12 parish churches, an episcopal palace, 2 abbeys, and 14 con vents. The abbey of St Stephen was built by William the Conqueror, and contains the ashes of that monarch. This town has also a celebrated university, which was first founded by Henry VI. of England, in 1431, for the study of civil and canon law ; the faculties of theology and the arts being added in 1436, and that of medicine in the following year, by letters patent dated from Ken sington ; and an academy of sciences instituted in 1706; a society of agriculture and of commerce ; a lyceum, a school for navigation, a botanical garden, and a public library.
Caen has a great variety of manufactures, of which the principal are, drabs and other woollen stuffs, ratteens, scrges, fustians, linens, dimities, hosiery, laces, porcelain, iron-ware, and some extensive tan-works. The drabs and rattecns are made of Spanish wool, and arc in gene ral carried to Paris. The scrges are fabricated from the wool of the country ; and formerly constituted the chief manufacture of this city. Before the Revolution it em ployed 130 looms and 250 workmen, and annually fur nished from 4000 to 5000 pieces. But this number, from the numeious establishments of similar manufactures throughout France, has been reduced to nearly a third. The stocking manufacture has experienced a similar re duction, and of 500 workmen, who were formerly en gaged in this trade, scarcely 100 remain in the city of Caen. Its tanneries, however, still maintain their repu tation, particularly for strong leather. They work no thing but foreign hides, which they derive from St Do mingo, Brasil, the I lavannah, Carthagcna, Curacao, and Mexico, and which they prepare in a manner equal to any place in France.
Caen is conveniently enough situated for commerce. as it has a direct communication with the ocean by the river Ornc. Its foreign trade, however, is chiefly con fined to the cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam ; from whence it draws oak and fir planks, tar, campeachy wood, japan wood, and other dye woods, alum, galls, vitriol, sulphur, oil, copperas, whale-bone, lint-seed, gum-ara bic, steel, tobacco pipes, delf-ware, white thread for lace, cheese, linen, and iron and copper ware ; for which it returns paper, sherbet, junipers, honey, the horns and hoofs of sheep and oxen, green and dried pears. prunes from Maine, raisins from Provence, and sometimes eggs for the refining of sugar. Caen carries on also a consi derable maritime traffic with Rouen and Havre de Grace, where it sends paper. iron, &c.; and receives in return.
copper and iron ware, groceries, and various other arti cles of national and foreign merchandise. But the most active trade is carried on at the free fair, which is held here on the second Monday after Quasinzodo, and lasts for 15 days. This fair is one of the most crowded in the empire. Merchandize of every description, particularly woollen and linen manufactures, meet with a ready mar ket; and cattle and horses are brought here from every quarter of Normandy and the neighbouring provinces. 'fhe goods are generally exposed to sale in booths, built under a covered market place, or under a wooden shed covered with cloth. The payments commence on the 14th day of the fair, and the protests are made on the 15th. Caen has seven other Lairs during the year, each of which, however, continues only for one day. The in terior commerce of this city, according to the Abbe Ex pilly, amounted in 1772 to nearly 4,500,000 livres.
Caen is governed by a prefect, a secretary general, a receiver general, a paymaster general, and a receiver of the customs ; and is the seat of the cour imperiale for the departments of Calvados, Orne, and La Manche. It has also a court of criminal and special justice, a tribunal of commerce, and a chamber of manufactures, &c. The population of this city, according to the recent returns of the post-office, amounts to 36,000. North Lat. 49° 11', West Long. 0° 17'. See Peuchet Dictionnaire, Sc. ; and Tynna Almanach du Commerce 1811. (L)