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PERIGUEUA

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 150 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PERIGUEUA , a See also:

town of See also:south-western See also:France, formerly See also:capital of the old See also:province of See also:Perigord, now See also:chief town of the See also:department of See also:Dordogne, 79 M. E.N.E. of See also:Bordeaux, on the railway between that See also:city and See also:Limoges. Pop. (1906), 28,199. The town, situated on an See also:eminence on the right See also:bank of the Isle, is divided into three parts. On the slope of the See also:hill is the See also:medieval town, bordered south-See also:east by the See also:river and on the other three sides by esplanades and promenades; to the See also:west is the See also:modern town, which stretches to the station; to the south of the modern town is the old See also:Roman town or cite, now traversed by the railway. Three See also:bridges connect Perigueux with the See also:left bank of the Isle, where stood Vesunna, the capital of the Petrocorii. Hardly a trace of this old Gallic town remains, but not far off, on the See also:Plateau de la Boissiere, the rampart of the old Roman See also:camp can still be traced. On the right bank of the Isle, in the Roman city, there have been discovered some See also:baths of the 1st or 2nd See also:century, supplied by an See also:aqueduct four See also:miles See also:long, which spanned the Isle. A circular See also:building, called the " See also:Tower of Vesunna," 68 ft. in See also:diameter and 89 ft. in height, stands at what was formerly the centre of the city, where all the chief streets met It is believed to have been originally the See also:cella or See also:main See also:part of a See also:temple, probably dedicated to the tutelary deities of Vesunna. Of the See also:amphitheatre there still remain huge fragments of See also:wall and vaulting. The building had a diameter of 1312 ft., that of the See also:arena being 87o ft.; and, judging from its construction, must be as old as the 3rd or even the 2nd century.

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counts of Perigueux used it for their See also:chateau, and lived in it from the 12th to the end of the 14th century. In 1644 it was given over by the town to the See also:Order of the Visitation, and the sisters took from it the stones required for the construction of their nunnery. The most remarkable, however, of the ruins of the cite is the Chateau Barriere, an example of the fortified houses formerly See also:common there. Two of its towers date from the 3rd or 4th century, and formed part of the fortified See also:enceinte; the highest tower is of the loth century; and the part now inhabited is of the 11th or 12th century, and was formerly used as a See also:burial See also:chapel. The bulk of the chateau is of the 12th, and some of the windows of the 16th century. The chief medieval building in the cite is the See also:church of St See also:Etienne, once the See also:cathedral. It See also:dates from the 11th and 12th centuries, but suffered much injury at the hands of the Protestants in the religious See also:wars when the tower and two of the three cupolas were destroyed. The See also:choir and its See also:cupola were skilfully restored in the 17th century. A See also:fine carved wooden See also:reredos of the 17th century and a See also:tomb of a See also:bishop of the 12th century are to be seen in the interior. In the medieval town, known as Le See also:Puy-St-Front, the most remarkable building is the cathedral of St Front, which, till its restoration, or rather rebuilding, in the latter See also:half of the 19th century when the old features were to a See also:great extent lost, was of unique architectural value. It bears a striking resemblance to the See also:Byzantine churches and to St See also:Mark's at See also:Venice, and according to one theory was built from 984 to 1047, contemporaneously with the latter (977-1085). It consists of five great cupolas, arranged in the See also:form of a See also:Greek See also:cross, and conspicuous from the outside.

The arms of the cross are 69 ft. in width, and the whole is 184 ft. long. These cupolas, 89 ft. high from the See also:

keystone to the ground, are supported on a vaulted roof with pointed See also:arches after the manner characteristic of Byzantine See also:architecture. The pointed arches imitated from it prepared the way for the introduction of the See also:Gothic See also:style. Adjoining St Front on the west are the remains of an old See also:basilica of the 6th century, above which rises the See also:belfry, the only one in the Byzantine style now extant. It dates from the 11th century, and is composed of two massive cubes, placed the one above the other in See also:retreat, with a circular See also:colonnade surmounted by a See also:dome. To the south-west of St Front, the buildings of an old See also:abbey (11th to 16th century) surround a See also:cloister dating chiefly from the 13th century. Of the fortifications of Puy St Front, the chief relic is the Tour Mataguerre (14th century). Perigueux is seat of a bishop, See also:prefect and See also:court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of See also:commerce, a chamber of commerce and a See also:branch of the Bank of France. Its educational establishments include a lycee for boys, training colleges for both sexes and a school of See also:drawing. The See also:trade of the town is in pigs, truffles, See also:flour, See also:brandy, poultry and pies known as See also:pales de Perigord. Vesunna was the capital of the Petrocorii, See also:allies of Vercirigetorix when See also:Caesar invaded See also:Gaul. The See also:country was afterwards occupied by the See also:Romans, who built a second city of Vesunna on the right bank of the Isle opposite the site of the Gallic town.

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barbarian invasion brought this prosperity to a See also:close. St Front preached See also:Christianity here in the 4th century and over his tomb there was raised a monastery, which became the centre of the new town called Le Puy St Front. The cite was pillaged by the See also:Saracens about 731, and in 844 the See also:Normans devastated both quarters. The new town soon began to See also:rival the old city in importance, and it was not until 1240 that the attempts of the counts of Perigord and the bishops to infringe on their municipal privileges brought about a treaty of See also:union. During the See also:Hundred Years' See also:War, Perigueux was twice attacked by the See also:English, who took the cite in 1356; and the whole town was ceded to them by the Treaty of Bretigny, but returned to the See also:French See also:Crown in the reign of See also:Charles V. The See also:county passed by See also:marriage into the hands of See also:Anthony of See also:Bourbon, See also:father of See also:Henry IV., and was converted by the latter into royal domain. During the Huguenot wars Perigueux was frequentlya stronghold of the Calvinists,' who in 1575 did great destruction there, and it also suffered during the troubles of the See also:Fronde.

End of Article: PERIGUEUA

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