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SAINT PRIVAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 43 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SAINT PRIVAT , a See also:village of See also:Lorraine, 7 M. N.W. of .See also:Metz. The village and the slopes to the See also:west played a See also:great See also:part in the See also:battle of See also:Gravelotte (See also:August 18, 187o). (See METZ and FRANCO-See also:GERMAN See also:WAR.) At St Privat occurred the famous repulse of the Prussian Guard by See also:Marshal See also:Canrobert's See also:corps. ST QUENTIN, a manufacturing See also:town of See also:northern See also:France, See also:capital of an See also:arrondissement in the See also:department of See also:Aisne, 32 M. N.N.W. of See also:Laon by See also:rail. Pop. (1906) 49,305. The town stands on the right See also:bank of the See also:Somme, at its junction with the St Quentin See also:Canal (which unites the Somme with the See also:Scheldt) and the Ciozat Canal (which unites it with the See also:Oise). The See also:port carries on an active See also:traffic in See also:building materials, See also:coal, See also:timber, See also:iron, See also:sugar and agricultural produce. Built on a slope, with a See also:southern exposure, the town is dominated by the collegiate See also:church of St Quentin, one of the finest See also:Gothic buildings in the See also:north of France, erected during the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. The church, which has no west See also:facade, terminates at that end in a See also:tower and portal of Romanesque See also:architecture; it has See also:double transepts.

Its length is 436 ft. and the height of the See also:

nave 124 ft. The See also:choir (13th See also:century) has a great re-semblance to that of See also:Reims; like the chapels of the See also:apse it is decorated with polychromic paintings. There are remains of a choir-See also:screen of the 14th century. Under the choir is a See also:crypt of the rr•th century, rebuilt in the 13th century, and containing the tombs of St Quentin (Quintin) and his See also:fellow-martyrs Victoricus and Gentianus. The Champs Dlysees, an extensive See also:promenade, lies See also:east of the See also:cathedral. The h6tel-de-See also:vine of St Quentin is a splendid building of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, with a flamboyant facade, adorned with curious sculptures. The See also:council,-See also:room is a See also:fine See also:hall with a double wooden See also:ceiling and a huge See also:chimneypiece, partly Gothic partly See also:Renaissance. A See also:monument commemorates the See also:siege of 1557 (see below), and another See also:close to the See also:river the part. played by the town in 187o and 1871. A building of the loth century is appropriated to the See also:law See also:court, the learned See also:societies, the museum and the library. St Quentin is the seat of a sub-See also:prefect, of tribunals of first instance and of See also:commerce, and of a See also:board of See also:trade-See also:arbitration, and has an See also:exchange, a chamber of commerce and lycees for both sexes. The town is the centre of an See also:industrial See also:district which manufactures See also:cotton and woollen fabrics. St Quentin produces chiefly pique and window-curtains, and carries on the See also:spinning and preliminary processes and the See also:bleaching and See also:finishing.

Other See also:

industries are the making of embroideries by machinery and by See also:hand, and the manufacture of iron goods and machinery. Trade is in See also:grain, See also:flax, cotton and See also:wool. St Quentin (anc. See also:Augusta Veromanduorum) stood at the See also:meeting-See also:place of five military roads. In the 3rd century it was the See also:scene of the martyrdom of See also:Gaius Quintinus, who had come thither from See also:Italy as a preacher of See also:Christianity. The date of the See also:foundation of the bishopric is uncertain, but about 532 it was transferred to See also:Noyon. Towards the See also:middle of the 7th century St See also:Eloi (Eligius), See also:bishop of Noyon, established a collegiate See also:chapter at St Quentin's See also:tomb, which became a famous place of See also:pilgrimage. The town thus gained an importance which was increased during the middle ages by the rise of its See also:cloth manufacture. After it had been thrice ravaged by the See also:Normans, the town was surrounded by walls in 883. It became under See also:Pippin, See also:grandson of See also:Charlemagne, one of the See also:principal domains of the See also:counts of See also:Vermandois, and in ro8o received from See also:Count See also:Herbert IV. a See also:charter which was extended in 1I03 and is the earliest of those freely granted to the towns of northern France. From 1420 to 1471 St Quentin was occupied by the Burgundians. In 1557 it was taken by the Spaniards (see below).

See also:

Philip commemorated the victory over the relieving force under the See also:Constable See also:Montmorency by the foundation of the Escurial. Two years later the town was restored to the See also:French, and in 156o it was assigned as the See also:dowry of See also:Mary See also:Stuart. The fortifications erected under See also:Louis XIV. were demolished between 1810 and 182o. During the Franco-Prussian War St Quentin repulsed the German attacks of the 8th of See also:October 187o; and in See also:January 1871 it was the centre of the great battle fought by See also:General See also:Faidherbe (below). 1. Battle of 1557.-An See also:army of Spaniards under See also:Emmanuel Philibert of See also:Savoy, invading France from the See also:Meuse, joined an allied contingent of See also:English troops under the walls of St Quentin, which was then closely besieged. See also:Admiral See also:Coligny threw himself on to the town, and the old Constable Montmorency prepared to relieve it. On St See also:Lawrence's See also:Day, loth August, the relieving See also:column reached the town without difficulty, but See also:time was wasted in See also:drawing off the See also:garrison, for the pontoons intended to See also:bridge the canal had marched at the tail of the column, and when brought up were mismanaged. The besiegers, recovering from their surprise, formed the See also:plan of cutting off the See also:retreat of the relieving army. Montmorency had thrown out the necessary protective posts, but at the point which the besiegers See also:chose for their passage the See also:post was composed of poor troops, who fled at the first shot. Thus, while the constable was busy with his boats, the See also:Spanish army filed across the Bridge of Rouvroy, some distance above the town, with impunity, and Montmorency, in the See also:hope of executing his See also:mission without fighting, refused to allow the See also:cavalry under the duc de See also:Nevers to See also:charge them, and miscalculated his time of freedom. The Spaniards, enormously See also:superior in force, cut off and destroyed the French See also:gendarmerie who formed the vanguard of the column, and then headed off the slow-moving See also:infantry See also:south of Essigny-le-See also:Grand.

Around the Io,000 French gathered some 40,000 assailants with See also:

forty-two guns. The cafinon thinned their ranks, and at last the cavalry See also:broke in and slaughtered them. Yet Coligny gallantly held St Quentin for seventeen days longer, Nevers rallied the remnant of the army and, garrisoning Peronne, See also:Ham and other strong places, entrenched himself in front of See also:Compiegne, and the See also:allies, disheartened by a war of sieges and skirmishes, came to a standstill. Soon afterwards Philip, jealous of the renown of his generals and unwilling to See also:waste his highly trained soldados in ineffective fighting, ordered the army to retreat (17th October), disbanded the temporary regiments and dispersed the permanent corps in See also:winter quarters. 2. The Battle of 1871 was fought between the German I. army under General von See also:Goeben and the French commanded by General Faidherbe. The latter concentrated about St Quentin on the 18th of January, and took up a defensive position on both sides of the Somme Canal. The Germans, though inferior in See also:numbers, were greatly superior in discipline and training, and General von Goeben boldly decided to attack both wings of the French together on the 19th. The attack took the customary enveloping See also:form. After several See also:hours' fighting it was brought to a standstill, but Goeben, using his reserves in masterly See also:fashion, drove a See also:wedge into the centre of the French See also:line between the canal and the railway, and followed this up with another See also:blow on the other bank of the canal, along the Ham road. This was the See also:signal for a decisive attack by the whole of the See also:left wing of the Germans, but the French offered strenuous resistance, and it was not until four o'See also:clock that GeneralFaidheibe made up his mind to retreat. By skilful dispositions and orderly See also:movement most of his infantry and all but six of his guns were brought off safely, but a portion of the army was cut off by the victorious left wing of the Germans, and the defeat, the last See also:act in a See also:long-See also:drawn-out struggle, was sufficiently decisive to deny to the defenders any hope of taking the See also:field again without an See also:interval of See also:rest and reorganization.

Ten days later the general See also:

armistice was signed. SAINT-REAL, CESAR VICHARD DE (1639-1692), French historian, was See also:born in Savoy, but educated in See also:Paris by the See also:Jesuits. Varillas gave him his See also:taste for See also:history and served as his See also:model; he wrote hardly anything but See also:historical novels. The only merit of his See also:Don See also:Carlos (1673) is that of having furnished See also:Schiller with several of the speeches in his See also:drama. In the following See also:year he produced the Conjuration See also:des Espagnols contre la Republique de Venise en r618, which had a phenomenal success, but is all the same merely a See also:literary pastiche in the See also:style of See also:Sallust. This See also:work and his reputation as a See also:free-thinker brought him to the See also:notice of Hortense See also:Mancini, duchesse de See also:Mazarin, whose reader and friend he became, and who took him with her to See also:England (1675). The authorship of the duchess's Memoires has been ascribed to him, but without See also:reason. Among his See also:authentic See also:works is included a See also:short See also:treatise De la critique (1691), directed against Andry de Boisregard's Reflexions sur la langue franoise. His Euvres completes were published in 3 volumes (1745) ; a second edition (1757) reached 8 volumes, but this is due to the inclusion of some works falsely attributed to him. Saint-Real was, in fact, a fashionable writer of his See also:period; the demand for him in the See also:book-See also:market was similarto that for Saint-Evremond-, to whom he was inferior. He wrote in an easy and pleasant, but mediocre style. See Pere See also:Lelong; Bibliothe ue historique de la France, No.

48, 122 ; Barolo, Memorie s~? ettanti See also:

ella vita di Saint-Real (178o; Saint-Real was an See also:associate of the See also:Academy of See also:Turin) ; Sayous, Histoire de la litterature franKaise a l'etranger. ST REMY, a town of south-eastern France in the department of Bouches-du-See also:Rhone, 15 M. N.E. of See also:Arles by road. Pop. (1906), town, 3668; See also:commune, 6148. It is prettily situated to the north of the range of hills named the Alpines or Alpilles in a valley of See also:olive trees. The town has a See also:modern church with a lofty 14th-century See also:spire. About a mile to the south are Gallo-See also:Roman See also:relics of the See also:ancient Glanum, destroyed about 480. They comprise a triumphal See also:arch and a fine three-storied See also:mausoleum of uncertain date. Near by is the old priory of St See also:Paul-de-Mausole with an interesting church and See also:cloister of Romanesque architecture. In the vicinity of St Remy there are quarries of building See also:stone, and See also:seed-cultivation is an important See also:industry. ST RIQUIER, a town of northern France, in the department of Somme, 8 m.

N.E. of See also:

Abbeville by rail. Pop. (1906) 1158. St Riquier (originally Centula) was famous for its See also:abbey, founded about 625 by Riquier (Richarnis) , son of the See also:governor of the town. It was enriched .by See also:King Dagobert and prospered under the abbacy of See also:Angilbert, son-in-law of Charlemagne. The buildings With century) are occupied by an ecclesiastical See also:seminary. The church, a magnificent example of flamboyant Gothic architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, has a richly sculptured west front surmounted by a square tower. In the interior the fine vaulting, the Renaissance See also:font and carved stalls, and the frescoes in the See also:treasury are especially noteworthy. The treasury, among other valuable relics, possesses a See also:copper See also:cross said to be the work of St Eloi (Eligius). The town has a municipal See also:belfry of the 13th or 14th centuries. In 1536 St Riquier repulsed an attack by the Germans, the See also:women especially distinguishing themselves. In 1544 it was burnt by the English, an event which marks the beginning of its decline.

See Henocque, Hist. de I'abbaye et de la ville de St Riquier," in Mem. See also:

soc. antiq. Picardie. Documents inedits, ix.-xi. (Paris, 188o-1888).

End of Article: SAINT PRIVAT

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