ORLEANS, a city in France, capital of the department of Loiret, is situated on the right bank of the Loire, 76 miles by railway S. by W. from Paris, 70 N.E. from Tours, in 47' 54' 9' N. lat., 1' 55' 48" E. long., at an elevation of 991 feet above the sea, and had 43,405 inhabitants in the commune at the census of 1851. This town occupies the site of the ancient A arelianis, which according to D'Anvillo had the earlier name of Genabum, a town plundered and burnt by Julius Caesar (IBA Gall.' vii. 3-11); but some recent anti quaries contend that Oren occupies the site of Genabum. It was bealeked by Attila In 45], but relieved by the Romans commanded by Aetius, who defeated Attila under its walla. Orleans subsequently paved into the hands of the Franks, and became the capital of a petty kingdom. The Northmen captured it in 855, and again in 865.
On the accession of Hugues Capet, who had inherited the duchy of Orleans, the town became one of the most important places under the crown. It was besieged for seven months in 1428 by the English under the Duke of Bedford, but they were obliged to raise the siege with disgrace by Joan of Arc, and never after recovered their superiority. At this time the toms gave the title of duke to a branch of the house of Valois, which afterwards came to the throne iu the person of Louis XII. The town suffered much during the religious wars of the 16th century.
Orleans stands in a plain gently sloping down to the river : to circuit of the ramparts, which are now converted into a promenade, forms an arc of a circle about three miles in extent. The aide of the town along the bank of the Loire is about a mile and a half, and the length of the principal street from the north entrance into the town to the bridge over the Loire is about three-quarters of a mile. Orleans is surrounded by numerous country-houses, and has large suburbs, of which that of Olivet is ou the south side of the river. Some parts of the town are well laid out, with wide and clean streets and well built houses. The line of street from the Paris road to the bridge is on the whole the finest, especially that part which lies between the bridge and the Place du Martroy, in which is erected a statue of Jeanne d'Arc. But in the older parts of the town the streets are ill laid out and ill paved, and the houses are built generally of wood. The bridge over the Loire is 1089 feet long and consists of 9 arches, of which the central one has 108 feet span. There is a handsome quay near the bridge; and between the bridge and the suburb of Olivet is a public This suburb abounds with country-houses and with nursery-grounds.
The gothic cathedral of Saiote-Croix is one of the finest religious edifices in France. The present structure was commenced by Henri IV., and has been only lately finished. The architecture has excited much admiration, especially that of the portal entrance; the two towers of the front are of surpassing elegance and lightness. The church of St.-Agnan, the finest except the cathedral, is a beautiful gothic building, although now without nave or steeple. The church of SL-Pierrele Puellier, the oldest in the town, is remarkable onry for its antiquity. Other remarkable structures in Orleans are—the church of St.-Euverte, now used as a storehouse, while the tower is turned into a shot-foundry; the chapel of SL-Jaques, now a salt-storo; the town-house, which was long converted into a museum and pieture-gallery, has been recently repaired; the house of Agnes Sorel in the Rue-du-Taboury ; the court house ; and the house of k'rancois I. in the Rue-de-Recouvrance. The town has a public library of 26,000 volumes, a theatre, and a botanic garden. A now bronze statue of Jeanne d'Aro is about to be erected in front of the newly-repaired taven-liall.
The chief manufactures of Orleans are—hosiery, refined sugar, vinegar, bleached-wax, blankets, and counterpanes. To these articles of manufacture must be added cotton- and woollen-yarn, flue woollen cloths, flannels, hats, files, rasps, and other tools, glue, leather, tin-ware, and earthen-ware. There are numerous breweries and dye-houses. Trade is carried on in the above articles, and in wine, brandy, corn, flour, wool, hides, iron, salt, hoops, dyo-stuffi, saffron, fire-wood, timber, oak-planks, coals, groceries, and spices. Its situation on the Loire, which la navigated by small steamers and communicates with the Seiuo by means of canals, and ou tha railway, to which the lines con necting Bourdcaux, Nantes, Lyon, and the south of France with Paris converge—renders Orleans the centre of a very considerable commerce and of a large transit trade.
Orleans gives title to a bishop, whose see is the department of Loiret. It is the seat of a High Court, which bee jurisdiction over the depart ments of Indre-et-Loire, Loiret, and Loir-et-Cher. The University Academy of Orleans has been recently suppressed by a law passed under the Empire, and the department of Loiret is now included within the limits of the University-Academy of Paris. The town also possesses tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a com mercial court, an exchange, a college, a council of prud'hommes, a theological college, and gratuitous schools of design and architecture.
(Dictionnaire de la France.)