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DIGNE

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 269 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIGNE , the See also:

chief See also:town of the See also:department of the Basses Alpes, in S.E. See also:France, 14 M. by a See also:branch See also:line from the See also:main railway line between See also:Grenoble and See also:Avignon. Pop. (1906), town, 4628; See also:commune, 7456. The Ville Haute is built on a See also:mountain See also:spur See also:running down to the See also:left See also:bank of the Bleone See also:river, and is composed of a See also:labyrinth of narrow winding streets, above which towers the See also:present See also:cathedral See also:church, dating from the end of the 15th See also:century, but largely reconstructed in See also:modern times, and the former See also:bishop's See also:palace (now the See also:prison). The See also:fine See also:Boulevard Gassendi separates the Ville Haute from the Ville Basse, which is of modern date. The old cathedral (Notre See also:Dame du Bourg) is a See also:building of the 13th century, but is now disused except for funerals: it stands at the See also:east end of the Ville Basse. The neighbourhood of Digne is See also:rich in orchards, which have See also:long made the town famous in France for its preserved fruits and confections. It is the Dinia of the See also:Romans, and was the See also:capital of the Bodiontii. From the See also:early 6th century at least it has been an episcopal see, which till 1790 was in the ecclesiastical See also:province of See also:Embrun, but since 1802 in that of See also:Aix en See also:Provence. The See also:history of Digne in the middleages is See also:bound up with that of its bishops, under whom it prospered greatly. But it suffered much during the religious See also:wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was sacked several times.

A little way off, above the right bank of the Bleone, is Champtercier, the birthplace of the astronomer Gassendi (1592-1655), whose name has been given to the See also:

principal thoroughfare of the little town. See F. See also:Guichard, Souvenirs historiques sur la ville de Digne et ses environs (Digne, 1847). (W. A. B.

End of Article: DIGNE

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