AMIENS, i'myan', an old French cit.:. once the capital of Picardy, and now of ti~ department of Somme, on the many-channelec.. navigable Somme, 81 miles north of Paris rail. Its fortifications have been turned int: charming boulevards, but it still retains its ot: citadel. The Cathedral of Notre Dame is masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Begun 1220, it is 470 feet long, and has a spire (1Z1 426 feet high; but its special feature is the k,f ness of the nave, 141 feet. In his little wori called 'The Bible of Amiens,' Ruskin says tia; church well deserves the name given it 17 Viollet-le-Dnc, °the Parthenon of Gothic archi tecture? and affirms that its style is °Gothic pure, authoritative, and unaccusable.° Otbr noteworthy buildings are the Hotel de NIL-. (1600-1760), in which the Peace of Amien was signed; the large museum (1864), in Re naissance style; and the public library, founded in 1791. Amiens has considerable manufax tures of velvet, silk, woolen and cotton gores ribbons and carpets. Peter the Hermit and t range were natives, and there are statues cc both of them. The 'Wise of Amiens,' was the
award pronounced by Louis IX of France, ii 1264, on the controversy between Henry III e) England and his people as to the °Provisions of Oxford' The Peace of Amiens (27 Mara 1802) was a treaty intended to settle the dis puted points between England, France, Spaic and Holland. By it England retained possessioc of Ceylon and Trinidad and an open port at the Cape of Good Hope; the republic of the Ionian Islands was recognized; Malta was restored m the Knights of Saint John; Spain and Holland regained their colonies, with the exception of Tnnidad and Ceylon; the French were to quit Rome and Naples; and Turkey was restored is its integrity. In the Franco-Prussian War, a 27 Nov. 1870, General Manteuffel inflicted, nac Amiens, a signal defeat on a French army 30: 000 strong, and three days later the citadel sur rendered. During the European War, with its defenses strengthened, it was important as a garrison railway and supply depot for the al lied armies. Pop. about 92,000.